Martin Barnes 2025 Awards honour NEC projects, parties and people

The 2025 Martin Barnes Awards were presented to exemplary projects, parties and individuals at the NEC annual conference on 16 June 2025. The awards recognise excellence in NEC project delivery and showcase examples of good practice through collaboration from across the world.

Project awards

Perth and Kinross Council’s £150 million Cross Tay Link Road project, which features the 307 ^m span Destiny Bridge over the River Tay and 6 km long New Kingsway, won the Project Excellence and Innovation Award. It was procured on time and budget using an NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) Option C (target contract with activity schedule) in March 2025.

The Future-focused Collaborations Award went to the £390 million National Emergency Area Retrofit Programme that SMP Alliance has recently completed on Britain’s smart motorways. Delivered as part of a £2 billion NEC4 Alliance Contract (ALC), the work involved delivering 138 new safe-stopping areas on 800 km of existing all-lane-running motorways within budget and by the March 2025 deadline.

The Hong Kong Water Supplies Department’s HK$590 million (£59 million) Shek Wu Hui Water Reclamation Plant succeeded in winning the Climate Change Initiatives Award. It is being delivered under an NEC3 ECC Option C and, on completion in the fourth quarter of 2026, will save around 22 million m³ of non-potable freshwater use each year.

Party prizes

Client of the Year Award was presented to Proyecto Especial de Inversión Pública – Escuelas Bicentenario (PEIP-EB) in Peru for its procurement of 75 schools worth US$ 1.6 billion (£1.2 billion) using NEC contracts. The three-year investment programme, launched to mark 200 years of Peru’s independence, is due to for completion in the third quarter of 2025.

PEIP-EB’s project manager Koulu, a joint venture of UK firms Mace and Gleeds, also won the Professional Services of the Year Award. Contractor of the Year Award went to Graham in the UK for delivering a £67 million programme of healthcare projects in Cumbria under NEC3 ECC Option C contracts. The projects for North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust included the Northern Centre for Cancer Care in Carlisle that opened in May 2021, the West Cumberland Hospital phase 2 in Whitehaven that was completed in September 2024 and the Workington Community Diagnostic Centre, which is due to finish this summer.

People honours

Peter Winnicott, commercial and procurement director at SMP Alliance (see above) won the Individual Excellence Award for demonstrating exceptional creativity, leadership and innovation in implementing NEC principles.

Finally, the Distinguished Contribution Award went to Tony Ho, deputy secretary for development (works) at the Hong Kong Development Bureau. The award recognises his exceptional leadership and dedication in driving collaboration, efficiency and sustainability, leaving a lasting legacy in the NEC community and wider society.