Third Successful Year for Scott Wilson at Property Awards
27 October 2008
A Scott Wilson project, The Orchard Building at Stranmillis
University College in Belfast, has been named as sustainability
winner at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) 2008
Awards. A second Scott Wilson project, icon Business Centre in
Leeds, was commended in the same category.
Scott Wilson’s achievement at this years’ prestigious ceremony
follows success at the awards the previous two years. In 2007 the
Oxford Castle won Project of the Year and in 2006 Spinnaker Tower
was awarded the same title.
John Horgan, Scott Wilson Global Head of Buildings &
Infrastructure, comments, “The triumphs of The Orchard Building and
icon Business Centre marks another memorable year for Scott Wilson
at the RICS Awards. It is particularly gratifying to be recognised
for the sustainability work that we have achieved. In 2006, the
spectacular Spinnaker Tower was named Project of the Year – at the
time its exciting and contemporary design brought life back into an
area left stranded by the restructuring of the defence industry.
Today it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the UK.
A year later and Scott Wilson was again victorious when the Oxford
Castle was awarded the same title. This project was to renovate the
historic, Grade I Listed prison and castle buildings to a 4-star
hotel for Malmaison. Our 2008 achievements demonstrate our ability
to adapt to changes in the industry, with sustainability now often
top of the agenda.”
The Orchard Building is situated within a scenic 18 hectare
woodland site in Belfast. It has facilities for art & design,
health & leisure, technology & design and physical
education. A key focus for the design was to limit its impact on
the local environment. The building is situated on previously
demolished prefabricated buildings to minimise the impact on the
existing mature trees surrounding the site. Numerous sustainable
building technologies have been incorporated in the design, such as
the installation of biomass boilers. In addition, to ensure that
the building remains as sustainable as possible, its performance
will be monitored via the college’s existing software. Scott Wilson
was the clients’ Technical Advisor for the project, providing
architecture, structural and civil engineering and landscape
architecture services.
The icon Business Centre in Leeds, for which Scott Wilson acted
as project manager and structural engineer, was commended for
achieving its vision to create a commercially viable sustainable
office building. The £6 million, 4,500m2 building has been awarded
the highest ever BREEAM rating for any category, at 87.55%.
The RICS awards are an annual celebration of built and natural
environment projects that demonstrate excellence in the categories:
regeneration, building conservation, community benefit and
sustainability. The Project of the Year award is given to any entry
that is judged to have excelled in any (or all) of the main
categories.
For press enquiries, please contact Rachel Brierley on +44 (0)20 7821 4166 or email rachel.brierley@scottwilson.com
