NEC Winners at BCIA 2018

NEC-procured projects have again featured strongly at this year’s British Construction Industry Awards, which were presented in London last month.

Marlborough Primary School in west London won the Social Infrastructure Project of the Year Award in recognition of the ‘exceptional social impact’ it delivered for stakeholders. Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea engaged Mace under a £22 million NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) Option A (priced contract with activity schedule) to replace an existing outmoded Victorian school.

Multiple winner

Completed on time and budget last summer, the five-storey building has cascading rooftop playgrounds to create more indoor and outdoor space from its tight 80m x 40m site. The project, which the BCIA judges described as a, ‘magnificent success’, also won the Royal Institute of British Architects’ National and London awards earlier this year.

Other NEC-procured project winners included a £2.1 million beach hut replacement scheme in Milford on Sea, Hampshire, which won Climate Resilience Project of the Year, and a £0.4 million flood alleviation scheme in Harlow, Essex, which won Small Project of the Year.

The new storm-proof beach huts were delivered by Knights Brown for New Forest District Council under ECC Option A, while Topbond built a landscaped earth bund and floodwater storage area for Essex County Council using ECC Option C.

Initiative awards

NEC-procured projects also did well in the BCIA ‘Initiative of the Year’ awards. The £4.2 billion Thames Tideway project won the Health, Safety and Wellbeing category while the Environment Agency’s £310 million Thames Estuary Asset Management 2100 project received the Digital Transformation award.

Transport Scotland’s £3 billion A9 dualling programme won the Skills Impact category and Belfast City Council’s £26 million Connswater Community Greenway Phase 2 project picked up the Community Engagement prize.