A NEW youth centre in Barnard Castle has led the way by collecting three top awards in the Constructing Excellence North East Awards 2011.
The Hub, described as ‘a new street corner’ for young people and communities in the Durham Dales, won Project of the Year, Achiever of the Year and The Legacy Award - Sustainability at Constructing Excellence in the North East (CENE) glittering Awards dinner to celebrate excellence in the North East’s construction industries.
The centre was designed by architects Browne Smith Baker and built for Teesdale Community Resources by Clugston Construction with funding coming from the My Place Initiative. Now in their seventh year, the CENE Awards are a celebration of best practice in bringing building projects to fruition rather than focusing simply on the buildings themselves.
The North East winners are automatically entered in the national Constructing Excellence Awards later this year.
CENE chief executive Catriona Lingwood said: “Despite the economic downturn and the lower levels of activity in the construction sector, firms in the region’s construction sector are still striving to improve their quality. The standard of entries once again was of a very high level and entry numbers were on a par with last year.
“The judges always have a very difficult job to decide between entries in the various categories, but this year it was even harder to identify overall winners. The judges wanted to ensure that quality was recognised and rewarded so made a higher than usual number of highly commended and commended awards.
“Congratulations to all those who were shortlisted, particularly the award winners. On behalf of CENE I would like to thank all those who entered, the judges and the sponsors.
“It is so important in these challenging economic times to celebrate the contribution the construction sector makes to the region, and its quality in delivering buildings that are not only fit for purpose but which address the need to minimise the impact on the environment. We should take heart from the excellent work our construction sector delivers and go forward in a positive frame of mind.”
