Out of the ashes of the former building the latest landmark development from the University of Nottingham wins the RICS Awards, Project of the Year 2017, East Midlands title.
The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry building within the award winning Innovation Park on the Jubilee Campus takes home the highly acclaimed title, which is presented to the scheme which demonstrates outstanding best practice and an exemplary commitment to adding value to the local area.
The new building serves as a hub to catalyse sustainable scientific collaborations within the industry. It incorporates the latest technologies in design to allow it to be carbon-neutral within 25 years of completion and is constructed of materials intended to have the least possible impact on the environment.
Other winners on the night include:
Building Conservation – The West Mill, Darley Abbey Mills, Derbyshire
Commercial – Derby Innovation Hub
Community Benefit – Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Nottingham
Design through Innovation – The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry, Nottingham
Infrastructure – London Road Fire Station, Nottingham
Regeneration – London Road Fire Station, Nottingham
Residential– Heathcott Road, Leicester
Tourism & Leisure – The West Mill, Darley Abbey Mills, Derbyshire
The annual event has been running for over ten years and demonstrates the best built environment projects from the land, property and construction sectors. This year the event, sponsored by Forbo Flooring, was held at The Athena in Leicester, played host to over 200 attendees to celebrate some of the region’s best initiatives.
Chair of the RICS Awards, East Midland’s judging panel, Will Evans FRICS, Licenced Valuer at Enterprise Inns commented: “No amount of words will ever give this project the justice it deserves and following a devastating fire anyone could have taken an easier route to rebuild. However, the teams behind this project have taken careful consideration to not only deliver a building for the future but have looked at how this building will impact the future of scientists. By embracing an innovative concept of energy efficiency and managing to successfully integrate this into a typically energy heavy environment, this building has captured it all and in an honest and well-designed shell.”
Alongside the winners our judges put forward one project for Highly Commended. This project impressed our panel of judges but was just pipped to the post by the winners.
Tourism & Leisure – Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Nottingham
Angus Fotheringhame, General Manager Benelux from headline sponsor Forbo Flooring: “This is the fourth consecutive year that Forbo Flooring Systems has sponsored the RICS Awards and we know, like RICS, it’s important to reward excellence in the built environment. We are also keen to promote the need to take a multi-faceted approach to specification. We recognize that our flooring products are just one component of a building and that it’s the skill of the people who enter these awards who have carefully blended together a huge number of varied components in order to deliver the stunning developments that these awards celebrate.”
Winners of all categories will now go forward to the RICS Awards Grand Final 2017, held at The Intercontinental, London on 2 November 2017 to compete against other regional winners for the overall title of National Project of the Year.
