BAM Construct was leading the post-award celebrations last night after two of its construction managers were named as Construction Manager of the Year gold medallists and two also took home silver medals.
As well as overall CMYA winner Stephen Roome, BAM’s Daniel Brenchley MCIOB took gold in the New Build and Refurbishment £4-7m category for Hilden Grange School in Tonbridge, Kent.
Ewen Hunter MCIOB received a silver medal for a £38m project to convert a grade II listed transit shed at King’s Cross station into office accommodation, in the New Build and Refurbishment £26-40m category.
On the night, the Scot’s tartan trousers were also rewarded with the compliment of “great trousers” from presenter Sian Williams.
In the New Build And Refurbishment over £100m category, Tony Grindrod FCIOB was also awarded a silver medal for 1 Angel Square, a £115m, 16-storey new build office development in central Manchester.
Willmott Dixon also had a night to celebrate, with a gold medal going to the first-time project manager Alex Emirali for an £8.6m social housing project in Edmonton, north London, the top award in the Housing and Accommodation below £10m category.
Medal winners: (l-r) Richard David, Alex Emirali and Rob Coppen
On the awards podium, Emirali explained how he had visited several other Willmott Dixon sites to discuss the technical challenges he was taking on with his peers.
His colleague Rob Coppen took silver for a £23.8m social housing scheme in Rainham, Essex, in the Housing and Accommodation above £10m section, and Richard David MCIOB was awarded silver for an £8m refurbishment and redevelopment project at Weston-Super-Mare Town Hall in the New Build and Refurbishment £7-10m category.
There were also silver medals for the two women among the 92 finalists. Julia Howard ICIOB from Wates was recognised for bringing a derelict Victorian school building in Greenwich back to life, overcoming structural issues and re-using as many of the original materials as possible.
Bam in the spotlight (l-r): Ewen Hunter, Jim Power, Daniel Brinchley, Richard Bailey, Chris Edwards, Steve Roome, Tony Grindrod, Barbara Cahalane
And Marion Bagnall of Artelia UK won a silver for project managing the delivery of 98 forecourt shop units for Shell, incentivising the site teams to deliver zero defects by offering iPads.
The final award of the evening went to Gareth Lewis FCIOB of Mace for the Shard, taking gold in the New build and Refurbishment over £100m category.
His moment on the podium brought a moment of unintentional humour when Williams congratulated him on the feat of building the Shard “top down”. “That was only the basement,” he replied modestly.
The other contractors celebrating success last night were Denne, John Sisk, Mansell, Kier, Skanska, Farrans Construction, Miller and Robertson Construction, William Anelay, Balfour Beatty and Sir Robert McAlpine.