Four of Nottingham’s finest construction projects have been announced as finalists in the RICS East Midlands Awards 2008.

Now in their 18th year, the RICS Awards celebrate and recognise exemplary projects across four award categories - building conservation (sponsored by Nottingham Trent University), regeneration (sponsored by East Midlands Development Agency), sustainability and community benefit (sponsored by Electical Contractors Association).

This year’s nominees include:

• Lawn View House, which has been nominated in the Sustainability category.

As one of Nottinghamshire County Council’s newest buildings, Lawn View House has already received some high praise, previously winning the “Environmental Sustainability” category at the Nottingham Evening Post’s ‘Commercial Property Awards’.

Opened in October last year at a cost of £9.2 million, Lawn View House was purposely constructed with the environment in mind and has already received an ‘Excellent’ rating for sustainable design, construction and performance from BREEAM (The British Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method), which assesses how environmentally-friendly buildings are.

The building features a ground source heat pump, which provides heat in winter and cooling in summer, assisted natural ventilation system to provide draught free air circulation and night cooling in summer, recycled materials used in construction and wind turbines that produce electricity, saving fossil fuels.

• Nottingham’s open town square, Old Market Square, has been entered in the Regeneration category.

Old Market Square forms the heart of the city of Nottingham and covers an area of over 22,000 m².

Designed by Neil Porter in 2004 and completed in March 2007, the square is built with three shades of granite. The new square is a modern, single tier area, reflecting the history of the city including the recreation of an ancient border which once divided Nottingham.

A multi purpose space, the area has also been home to a number of shows and concerts as well as a regular local farmers market, reflecting the original purpose of the Square.

• Another nominee in the Regeneration category is the Co-operative Department Store.

Located in the centre of Nottingham, the former department store has been refurbished and partly redeveloped to create a vibrant new mixed commercial and leisure scheme, which includes new shops, restaurants, a major casino, grade A offices and 18 new apartments.

• Nottingham’s final nominee also in the Regeneration category is the Icon.

Taking a small single storey building with little architectural merit, the team has worked hard to create two storeys of high quality office space with office accommodation, meeting and reception space.

David Potter, RICS East Midlands operations director, said: “As always, competition for the awards has been at a very high standard so Lawn View House, Old Market Square, the Co-operative Department Store and Icon have done extremely well to be amongst the finalists. Over the last year, Nottinghamshire has witnessed a significant increase in investment, in new facilities, housing, infrastructure and regeneration projects and these nominations are testament to that growth. 

“We wish all the nominees the very best of luck for the next stage of the competition, which will be the regional awards ceremony at the East Midlands Conference Centre, in Nottingham, on May 9.”

The 2008 RICS East Midlands regional dinner and awards ceremony will be hosted by BBC presenter, Janine Machin. Joining her on the night will be special guest speaker, Ron Atkinson, one of football’s larger than life personalities, whose 24 years managerial experience has made him a greatly respected voice in the game and a fantastic after dinner speaker.

In addition to the individual category sponsors, Hays is kindly providing sponsorship for the overall event.