Construction's perseverance shines in CIOB Award category winners

Since the last CMYA took place, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has not stopped this year’s CIOB award winners achieving above and beyond in their respective endeavours. Categories introduced this and last year have produced a range of impressive finalists, with the winners coming from Merthyr Tydfil Council, BAM Construction and Henry Boot Construction respectively. 

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council are the winners of CIOB’s first Client of the Year award. In a field of strong entries from areas such as Commercial, Sport and Leisure and Education, the client of Morgan Sindall and a Capita design team had a vision for a state-of-the-art new facility and a modern high quality transport hub which stood out. When Wales’ 3rd busiest Bus Station needed a revamp they took on the challenge, and the addition of electrification of public transport and the commissioning of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV) is a story in itself. 

They further impressed judges with examples of collaborative working and shared vision. 

This year’s Team of the Year brought you the ‘T-Zone’ building within the King’s Cross redevelopment. From day one, the team from Bam Construction displayed excellent communication with the client, ensuring that financial and programme planning was based on collaboratively formed designs pre-construction. This exemplary behaviour remained throughout the whole process. The project itself achieved a design stage certification of BREEAM Outstanding, and is also on track to achieve this at construction stage. 

Lydia McGuinness of Henry Boot Construction is this year’s Rising Star. 

She has achieved success on construction projects for the NHS, education and social sectors, completing HNC and BSc Honours with top marks while working. An active STEM and CIOB ambassador, she is involved in all site activities and ensures her experience, enthusiasm and skills make the difference. “Stepping up to the mark”, “ahead of schedule” and “confident manager” were key phrases from the glowing set of third party testimonials. 

Caroline Gumble, Chief Executive of CIOB, said: 

“The inaugural CIOB Awards have been everything I had hoped for – the standard of entries was very high and I was incredibly impressed by the calibre of our finalists. Many congratulations to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council as winners of CIOB’s first Client of the Year award and to the Bam Construction Team of the Year award winners for their work at King’s Cross. 

I’m also delighted to congratulate Lydia McGuinness as the winner of our second year of the CIOB Rising Star award. These awards are an important way to acknowledge the emerging talent in our industry and recognise the hard work and dedication shown by those likely to be leading the industry in years to come.” 

For more information on these awards and how you can nominate next year, see here.