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Construction excellence in the spotlight at industry awards
The 2015 Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber (CEYH) Awards, organised by the Centre for Knowledge Exchange at Leeds Beckett University and sponsored by AtlasCloud, brought together over 350 industry professionals, representing a wide cross-section of the construction sector, in a glittering celebration to recognise and reward the very best examples of construction excellence, collaboration and best practice the regional built environment industry has been involved in over the last 12 months.
Hosted by BBC Look North’s Amy Garcia, the ceremony saw 14 different awards handed out, each representing the core themes of the Constructing Excellence strategy, including leadership and people development, SME of the year and, new for 2015, BIM project of the year.
Keynote presentations were delivered by Professor Chris Gorse, Director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute at Leeds Beckett, headline sponsor AtlasCloud and Jacqui Snape from inspiring local charity, Disability Action Yorkshire.
Professor Chris Gorse, Director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute at Leeds Beckett University, said: “It was an honour to be asked to provide the keynote address at such a prestigious event, rubbing shoulders with many of the leading companies in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The quality of submissions was very high and if the work presented is representative of the standard of work being undertaken in Yorkshire and Humber, we really are the Power House of the North.
“Innovation and creativity shone through in the projects shortlisted, with many being underpinned by research in the region. I felt quite proud, seeing some of our graduates and organisations that we work with receiving awards. The event was a demonstration of how organisations collaborate and excel to produce real excellence. I’m now looking forward to next year’s event and seeing how the industry continues to drive change forward.”
Pete Watson, CEO of AtlasCloud, added: “The awards were a wonderful occasion to celebrate the great projects and innovation spearheaded in Yorkshire. Atlascloud were delighted to play our part as sponsor and to celebrate alongside our clients, partners and prospects. We look forward to further collaboration with Construction Excellence, as we both strive for more innovative solutions for clients and members.”
The night’s biggest winners were Carillion Morgan Sindall who walked away with three awards for their A1 Leeming to Barton improvement project securing the Innovation, Best of the Best and BIM Project of the Year categories. Morgan Sindall Grontmij Joint Venture rounded off a successful night for the Morgan Sindall Group by scooping the much coveted project of the year award for a highly inventive time and cost efficiencies implemented at Castleford Waste Treatment works.
Other winners included Interserve who won the Value category for Huddersfield Royal Infirmary project, Opus Consultants who won the leadership and people development category and M B Roche & Sons who walked away with the SME of the Year prize. Individual winners on the night included Tom Dolan of Kier Construction who was named Achiever of the Year and Danielle Kirk-Mitchell from Henry Boot Construction who triumphed in the hotly contested Young Achiever of the Year. The event raised over £2000 for inspiring local charity Disability Action Yorkshire.
Regional CEYH Chair, Tom Oulton, commented: “The sheer breadth of shortlisted projects, schemes and organisations represented at this year’s awards demonstrate once again that our regional construction sector continues to push boundaries and drive up industry standards. It is important that amongst all this brilliance we take time to stop and shout about what we do and tonight’s awards have been the perfect forum to do just that. A big thank you to all our sponsors, participants and supporters who have set the bar extremely high for next year!”
The winner’s now go on to compete at the National Constructing Excellence Awards in London in October this year.
Over the last seven years the CEYH Awards have grown to be one of the highlights of the regional construction calendar with last year seeing a record number of submissions and over 350 professionals, representing a broad cross section of the construction industry, coming together on the gala presentation evening to witness the very best that our sector has to offer.
Organised by the Centre for Knowledge Exchange at Leeds Beckett University, the awards are open to organisations, companies and project teams involved in delivering “excellence in construction” across 13 different categories, each one representing the core themes underpinning the Constructing Excellence movement and improvement agenda.