Winner Gold Award: Danial Moore MCIOB, Willmott Dixon
Project: New Bedfordshire Police Custody Suite
Scope: 22 detainee cells over two wings with associated facilities and office space
Client: Bedfordshire Police
Form of contract: NEC3 Option A
Value: £19.2m
Danial Moore took a deep dive into custody suites in preparation for this project, visiting several facilities alongside his Bedfordshire Police client team to talk to the buildings’ users about their experiences. The information gathered helped inform the design of the new custody suite and set the tone for Moore’s total attention to detail throughout the job.
Delivered under the Scape Framework, this project was unusual in that Bedfordshire Police chose not to employ any external consultants. Instead, the client team of four – a senior estates manager, estates manager and two facilities managers – worked directly with Moore, a decision he attributes to the trusting relationship they had developed in the precontract stage.
Other finalists
Rob Bell Henry Boot Construction Heart of the City Phase 2 – Pound’s Park
Dermot Bradley MCIOB Gilbert-Ash, The National Portrait Gallery
Jason Ellam-Brown MCIOB Portsmouth City Council, Portsmouth International Port Terminal Annexe
Alex Stace Willmott Dixon, Gloucestershire Constabulary Operations Centre
Andy Taylor Galliford Try, South West Water AMP7 Framework
The new suite, which was constructed in the middle of a live police station site, consisted of 22 detainee cells in a north and south wing, a charge desk at the centre of the facility, a two-storey office space, interview rooms, exercise areas, visitor rooms and various other facilities.
A late addition to the scope of the project was a forensics grade medical inspection room, which came just 12 weeks before practical completion. The conversion of a nurse’s office required multiple changes, including the upscaling of the air handing unit.
However, in liaison with the Home Office inspector, with whom Moore had also established a rapport during the pre-contract stage, the necessary products and works were procured and installed without extending the programme.
Winner Silver Award: Katharine Cary, Sir Robert McAlpine
Project: The Covid Memorial, St Paul’s Cathedral, London
Client: St Paul’s Cathedral
Scope: Double-height, elliptical timber portico within the cathedral, a physical memorial to all those who died due to covid
Form of contract: JCT minor works with contractor’s design
Value: £1m
Although she has worked on many heritage projects, this was Kat Cary’s first job as project manager for Sir Robert McAlpine. With a micro-team of two full-time site personnel, including herself, and five part-time staff, Cary was responsible for every aspect of the project from design management and programming to managing trades on site, cost control and administering the contract.
The memorial is a double-height elliptical structure – a glulam frame clad in English oak that visitors can walk within – in the North Transept. It is the first project of its kind to be built in St Paul’s for 150 years.
As well as working around cathedral activities, Cary had to adapt the design to accommodate its sloping floor. With the nation’s gaze upon her, Cary delivered a quality of structure that befits its purpose.
