St Mary’s Guildhall has been crowned the overall winner of the RICS East Midlands Awards 2008.
The major restoration project, located in Boston, Lincolnshire, fought off stiff competition to take the ‘Project of the Year’ prize during a glittering ceremony, held at East Midlands Conference Centre, in Nottingham, this weekend.
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 Electrical Contractors Association).
St Mary’s Guildhall, widely considered to be one of the finest medieval guildhalls in England, also won the Building Conservation Award. The Grade I listed 600-year-old building, has undergone a major programme of repair and refurbishment and is due to reopen this year as a visitor attraction.
Stephen Anelay, chair of the judging panel, said: “In our opinion St Mary’s Guildhall is an excellent example of a refurbishment and conservation scheme. The work has been carried out to a particularly high standard and the result is a building that has a very practical and beneficial end use for the community, whilst enhancing the regeneration of this historically important area of Boston.
"Given its two storey nature, it has also successfully embraced the inclusion of a lift to meet DDA requirements, which was no easy challenge given its Grade I listed status.”
He added: “Choosing a winner was no easy task. All of this year’s entries were of a very high standard and each has made an important contribution to the East Midland's built environment.”
The evening’s other top award winners were:
• Madani High School, Leicestershire, winner of the RICS East Midlands Community Benefit Award 2008
• Westfield Shopping Centre, Derby, winner of the RICS East Midlands Regeneration Award 2008
• Heart of National Forest Youth Hostel, Derbyshire, winner of the RICS East Midlands Sustainability Award 2008.
David Potter, RICS East operations director, said: “Congratulations to all those who won an award or received a commendation. All of the entries this year were of an extremely high standard and competition for the top accolades was fierce. I wish all of the winners the very best of luck for the next stage of the competition, which will be the international final in London later this year.
“I would also like to thank our sponsors and all of the other entrants for the huge amount of effort they put in, which ensured that this year’s competition was a big success.”
In addition to the category award winners several projects picked up commendations for excellence in their field. These were:
Building Conservation category
• Highly commended - River View Maltings in Grantham, Lincolnshire
• Commended – Royal and Derngate redevelopment, Northampton.
Community Benefit category
• Highly commended – Spout Yard Arts and Community Park Project, Lincolnshire
• Commended – New Mickleover Library, Derbyshire
Regeneration category
• Highly commended – Marshalls Yard, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
• Commended – Old Market Square, Nottingham
• Commended – Redevelopment of the former Co-operative Department Store, Nottingham
Sustainability category
• Highly commended – Lawn View House, Nottinghamshire
All of the winners of the RICS East of England Awards 2008 will go through to the RICS Awards international final in London later this year.
Friday evening’s regional dinner and awards ceremony was hosted by BBC presenter, Janine Machin, with special guest speaker, Ron Atkinson - one of football’s larger than life personalities. In addition to the individual category sponsors, Hays kindly provided sponsorship for the overall event.
