RICS property awards – winning schemes revealed
SOME 31 of the West Midlands’ most impressive property schemes battled it out in Birmingham last night at the RICS West Midlands Awards 2015.
Developer St Modwen’s Longbridge Town Centre Regeneration Phase 1, Birmingham was crowned Project of the Year.
The annual contest celebrates inspirational initiatives in the land, property and construction sectors. The black tie event was hosted by TV personality Phil Spencer – best known for the Channel 4 series Location, Location, Location.
The winners of the eight individual categories were:
• Building Conservation: The Resurrection of the Coffin Works, Birmingham
• Community Benefit: Lion Medical, Stourbridge
• Design through Innovation: Kemball Special School, Stoke-on-Trent
• Infrastructure: Birmingham Airport Runway Extension, Birmingham
• Regeneration: Longbridge Town Centre Phase 1, Birmingham
• Commercial: The School Yard, Birmingham
• Residential: Henley Grange, Henley-In-Arden
• Tourism & Leisure: The Resurrection of the Coffin Works, Birmingham
The title of Project of the Year is presented to the scheme felt by the judges to represent the most outstanding example of the region’s property expertise.
Longbridge Town Centre Regeneration Phase 1 in Birmingham triumphed over what the 16-strong panel of judges said was an exceptionally strong field of entries.
The first phase of the £70m town centre, which has been completed this year, is the new retail and leisure heart at Longbridge and part of a bigger £1bn investment.
Richard Moxon, chair of the awards judging panel, said: “Longbridge is a more than deserving winner of the RICS West Midlands Awards Project of the Year 2015.
“It absolutely embodies the values that the judges look for in a development – it serves its users in a way that few other projects could and St Modwen has delivered the first phase of the £70m Longbridge Town Centre Redevelopment providing new retail, leisure, commercial and open spaces for local resident and the wider West Midlands region.
“This large and complex regeneration project was delivered during a difficult time for the industry and required commercial innovation and tenacity to remain viable.
“Job creation from new business has reached 4,000 and will eventually exceed those lost by the closure of the car plant that used to occupy the site.”
Highly commended certificates were also awarded by the judges to Lion Medical, Stourbridge (Building Conservation); University of Wolverhampton MB Building, Wolverhampton (Design through Innovation); Old Market, Hereford (Regeneration); AHDB Headquarters Building, Warwickshire (Commercial); and East Park Restoration, Wolverhampton (Tourism & Leisure). All were projects which impressed but were just pipped to the post by the winners.
Winners in five of the categories (Building Conservation, Community Benefit, Design through Innovation, Infrastructure and Regeneration) will now automatically be entered into the national RICS Awards, where they will compete against other leading projects from across the UK later this year.
