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 Diss Infants spread some Christmas cheer
There were Christmas cheers all round at the Christmas School Assembly of Diss Infants and Nursery School as the young winners of this year's CNC Building Control Christmas Christmas card competition were presented with their prizes.
Richard Gawthorpe, Head of Business Support from CNC, said: "We are incredibly proud to be associated with Diss Infants & Nursery School through our work with your new school extension. And also delighted that you all agreed to take part in our Christmas Card Competition. I just can't believe the standard of entries. It was so difficult to choose a winning design. More difficult than we had first thought. So in the end we asked our members of staff to choose. The children have obviously worked very hard on the cards and local shops must have run out of glitter and tinsel! We have had the winning design made into a Christmas card and it has been sent to over 500 local firms and companies and we hope it brings them as much joy as it did us."
This year's winner was six-year-old Maddie Gingell, with her drawing of a Father Christmas and a Christmas Tree laden with presents. She received artists drawing kit for herself and £100 for her school. Her card has now been sent out to over 500 architects, developers and builders in East Anglia.
The school’s head teacher, Marion Dawe, commented, “The children really enjoyed designing these Christmas cards. Even though they did have to design them back in September they still managed to get into the Christmas spirit. We are always pleased to receive donations and the £100 will go towards promoting art to our pupils, something that will help encourage them to use their imagination.”
Runner up was Courtney Wendon (aged 6) with third prize going to Adam Cole-Wilkins (aged 5). Both were presented with artists sets.
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The winning team
Dragon Hall's 'Glass Box'
An interior view of the glass area
Medieval roof timbers at Dragon Hall |
A roaring success for
Dragon Hall!
Work to enhance one of Norwich's most important Grade 1 listed buildings has been recognised with a national award.
Lucas Hickman Smith Architects won the "Best Access/Disability Regulations Innovation" for Dragon Hall at a prestigious National LABC Built-In Quality Awards, held on 18 October at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.
The £1.4 million project involved a sympathetic refurbishment of the main medieval hall and the building of a contemporary temperature-controlled exhibition space, as well as a new north wing housing conference rooms and modern catering facilities. Work started on the project in 1999, with the appointment of lead consultant and architect Lucas Hickman-Smith.
Terry Hickman Smith, from architects Lucas Hickman Smith, said: "It was a great professional honour and responsibility to be commissioned as architects for Dragon Hall. |
This award is the culmination of many years of work to improve the facilities for visitors to this magnificent building and to ensure that access is available to all parts of this complex structure for all people.
"We are delighted to have received this prestigious award in recognition of our work and the important partnership with CNC Building Control Consultancy".
Challenges included making all floors and areas accessible for everybody without undermining the historic nature of the building and providing a coherent journey around the complex building for all visitors.
The site had poor visitor facilities, and access for all was effectively impossible because the hall was subdivided into six major sections with nine different floor levels. The cellars were also on two levels and the additional office area was on a further different level.
The centrepiece of work on the hall was the contemporary "glass-box" which allows visitors to travel between the medieval hall, existing south-wing and newly constructed north wing.
Ramped access within the 'glass-box' offers access to three previously compromised floor levels and accommodation.
Improvements also included a glazed lift, allowing access to four levels in three different directions as well as giving visitors the chance to appreciate the historical value and architectural merit of the medieval hall.
Audio visual facilities were installed for visitors with hearing difficulties and contrasting surface colour schemes and distinguishable ironmongery, for visually impaired visitors.
Gavin Napper, construction business Morgan Ashurst's area director for Norwich, said: "The Dragon Hall restoration project was an exciting combination of sensitive conservation and contemporary construction, which involved a variety of design elements to improve access to the medieval building and its visitor amenities," says. "The scheme involved installing wide doors that feature easy-to-use handles, adapted toilets, a disabled ramp and a lift that takes visitors to the medieval hall on the first floor. The improved facilities will now enable anyone to visit and enjoy this great historic and contemporary asset to the local community for many years to come."
A winning formula?
CNC, in partnership with their customers, have been shortlisted for a number of awards in the National LABC Built-In Quality Awards sponsored by the "Building Magazine."
The judging panel consists of a host of industry leading professionals from across the construction sectors and the winners will be announced at the gala dinner on Thursday, 18th October at The Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London.
Our customers and the awards they are shortlisted for are :-
NPS Property Consultants Ltd
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Best Partnership with designer, architect or construction consultant
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Best Public/Community Project for Norwich Bus Station
Lovell Partnership Ltd
Bovis Lend Lease
Lucas Hickman Smith Architects
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Some of the CNC Award winners on the evening
Project Horizon
Norwich Bus Station |
CNC makes a clean sweep at the Built In Quality Awards
CNC Building Control Consultancy’s clients sweep the boards by winning five “best in their field” awards at the East Anglia Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Built-In Quality Awards held at the DeVere University Arms hotel in Cambridge on 27th April. This was the first year that the Eastern Region of the LABC held an awards evening and the glittering event was attended by over 180 professionals from the construction industry. These awards recognise and reward the most forward looking people and their organisations, and the most innovative construction projects completed over the last 12 months. The eleven awards cover 3 main sections including best partnership, best innovation and best projects. |
The CNC winners on the evening included two 1st prize awards for Project Horizon, in the “Best Commercial Project” & “Best Fire Engineering Innovation” categories. NPS Property Consultants Ltd took 1st prize with CNC for “Best Partnership with a Designer, Architect or Construction Consultant”, & “Best Structural Innovation” with Richard Jackson plc for the Norwich Bus Station project and Lovell’s took 1st prize with CNC for “Best Partnership with a Main Contractor”.
Kevin Love, Director of CNC Building Control Consultancy, said “We are absolutely delighted to have five winners in the regional awards. We were up against very stiff opposition and we are thrilled to have won 5 of the 11 awards available. All these winning projects will now automatically be entered into the National LABC Built in Quality Awards taking place on 18th October at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and we have our fingers crossed already!”
The judges from across the construction industry, including local and central government, were so impressed with Project Horizon it won both the “Best Fire Engineering Innovation”, & “Best Commercial Project” awards and was runner up in the “Best Structural Innovation” Awards.
Project Horizon is Norwich Union’s £ 96 million major refurbishment project and was driven by Norwich Unions desire to provide it’s staff with a “modern working environment” catering for around 3000 employees on it's Island Site in the centre of Norwich. In addition to the refurbishment work associated with the office space a spectacular Atrium was constructed in the former external courtyard between Westlegate, All Saints Green, Life Wing and Surrey House. This atrium creates a new social space for both staff and visitors. It is the focal point from which visitors and staff can radiate into other parts of the building and functions as a staff restaurant and comfortable state of the art welcoming space for visitors to the Norwich Union offices. Judges were impressed with the way that CNC Building Control were involved at the very beginning of this project from it inception and early design stage which lead them to being part of the “design team”. This approach helped overcome many challenges when designing and constructing the spectacular new atrium created by the insertion of a doubly curved wide span steel and glass roof over the courtyard which needed to be structurally independent due to the historic Grade 1 listed Marble Hall (Surrey House) and the structural capacity needed to support a roof of this nature.
Richard Gawthorpe, Head of Business Support for CNC said, “It was a privilege to have been involved in this project. The project involved many challenges and because of our early involvement and bringing together regulatory bodies including Planning, Conservation and the Fire Authority we we were able to help Bovis Lend Lease, Faber Maunsell and the remainder of the design team achieve a building that not only meets the building regulations and DDA requirements but respects the architectural and historical merits of the site.”
Trevor Fowler, Bovis Lend Lease Project Director at Project Horizon, said “It was fantastic to come away with 2 awards and runner up in a third category and this is testament to the whole team’s continued efforts over the past three years on what has been a very challenging project. The support we have received from CNC Building Control Consultancy throughout has been second to none in their assistance with the resolution of complex technical issues, compliance advice and their consultation with other statutory bodies. Their representative has become an integral part of the team. With the final phases of the project now well underway we look forward to maintaining our relationship with CNC and celebrating our joint success at project completion towards the end of the year”.
The second major CNC winner of the evening, NPS Property Consultants Ltd collected with Richard Jackson plc the “Best Structural Innovation” award for the Norwich Bus Station and also, in their own right the “Best Partnership with Designer, Architect or Construction Consultant” Award.
Alan Osborne, Head of Operations, commented “CNC are proud to have been involved in the construction of Norwich’s new bus terminal. The site is very prestigious and demanded a unique one off design to do the site justice. Not only has NPS succeeded in delivering a fantastic new and long awaited transportation facility for the City, they have constructed a modern building with impressive visual features providing Norwich with another landmark building.”
The architectural design for this site posed a number of interesting challenges for structural engineers, Richard Jackson plc, to overcome, from the foundation design on a contaminated and brownfield site through to the lightweight freestanding canopy. To add to the design considerations the structure also needed to be subject to the forces of nature and as a mark of how well the structure is performing against its design criteria it has already been exposed to torrential rain and gales with wind speeds reach 70 mph. The finished article speaks for itself. The choice of materials and design makes the £6million passenger building fascinating to look at during the day and stunning at night when illuminated.
Paul Harman, Building Surveyor & Practice Principal for NPS Property Consultants Ltd, a multi discipline property consultancy delivering a comprehensive range of professional services to both public and private sector clients throughout the UK explained “We are delighted to have won both the ‘Best Structural Innovation’ and ‘Best Partnership with an Architect, Designer or Construction Consultant’ Awards. We have been involved with CNC through the LABC Partner Authority Scheme since August 2004. This close relationship, and designated team responsible for our projects, has resulted in our staff feeling able to discuss projects openly at a very early stage and we find CNC’s views, knowledge and opinions invaluable and feel that we are sharing the same ultimate goals. This approach has paid dividends not only for the Norwich Bus Station but for many other projects that we are and have been involved in with CNC. We feel this trusting professional relationship has benefited both parties in sharing information and experiences that can only be of the overall benefit to our clients and has extended beyond simply seeking building regulation approval.”
The third and final winner for CNC on the evening was picked up by Michael Saunders, Contracts Manager, from the Cambridge office of Lovell, for the “Best Partnership with a Main Contractor”. Lovell were also runners up for “Best Partnership with Client or Housebuilder”.
Housing regeneration specialist Lovell is one of the country’s leading providers of affordable housing and has East Anglia offices both in Norwich and Cambridge.
The judges were impressed with the well-established partnership that Lovell had with CNC Building Control Consultancy. This close relationship has ensured that CNC is automatically part of the design team for projects delivered by Lovells. CNC is currently working with Lovell on a new multimillion pound housing project in the centre of Norwich. Lovell and CNC were involved with Kingspan using Kingspan’s sate-of-the-art structural insulated panel building system to build new homes locally.
Lovell Regional Director, Simon Medler, said “We’re delighted that our strong working relationship with CNC Building Control Consultancy has been recognized by this important award. Being able to draw on CNC’s expertise early in the design phase of projects is a huge advantage in terms of streamlining the process and enabling us to work more efficiently. This team approach benefits both Lovell and our partners.”
Other finalists included
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Robert Mitchell Builders “Finalist” for “Best Sustainability Innovation” & 2nd place for “Best One Off House, Conversion or Extension” Woodland in Hethersett
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John Young’s Builders “2nd place” for “Best Partnership with Main Contractor”
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Foster & Partners “2nd place” for “Best Accessible Building” & “3rd place” for “Best Public Community Project” for the Sainsbury Centre (Basement Extension) UEA
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Lucas Hickman Smith “3rd place” for “Best Accessible Building” , and Finalist for “Best Structural Innovation” & “Best Public/Community Project” for Dragon Hall in Norwich
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Broadway Malyan “2nd place” for “Best Housing or Residential Project” for Phase 1 Fellows Plain, Norwich
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RHWL Architects “Finalist” for “Best Housing or Residential Project” for Riverside Heights
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LSI Architects “2nd place” for “Best Partnership with Architect, Designer or Construction Consultant” and “Finalist” for “Best Commercial Project” with Homeserve at Broadland Business Park
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Richard Pike Associates “3rd place” for “Best Partnership with Architect, Designer or Contraction Consultant”
James Bond Architect “Finalist” for “Best Sustainability Innovation” for New House in Hales C & M Architects “Finalist” for “Best Commercial Project” for Wymondham Business Park.
For further information contact Joan Syrett, Business Development Executive, at CNC Building Control on 01603 430140.
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