The 2011 LABC National Building Excellence Awards took place on Tuesday 1st November at the Brewery in the City of London. The One New Change development in the City won the award for the best large commercial building and the ‘Supreme’ award for best project overall.

The judges chose the project because of its prestigious location – opposite St Paul’s Cathedral – and complex design with several innovative features such as glazed facade, ‘top down’ construction and geothermal heating, could have caused problems – but didn’t, due to the exceptional attention to detail of all involved.  In the judges view the development changes forever the way people view and use the City.

The other finalists in the large commercial development category were the Waterside Theatre that has reinvigorated Aylesbury town centre; Harlow Leisurezone, Essex; redevelopment of the Percy Gee Building, University of Leicester; the Rock Triangle, Bury – the largest outdoor retail development to open in the UK in 2010; Northumbria Police Area Command HQ, Wallsend; LEMO (UK) Headquarters, Worthing; Brixham Fish Market, Phase 2, Devon; Carmarthen Town redevelopment, Wales; and the new pavilion at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Headingley, Leeds.

This year’s awards showcase how establishing close early working relationships between Building Control, architects and building contractors can lead to better, safer buildings with higher environmental standards and more cost effective builds.

LABC Chief Executive, Paul Everall said, “The judges had a tough job to pick winners from such high quality entries. The thing that marks out the winners is how feedback given by local authority building control, often as early as the design stage of a project, can make the difference.  This early cooperation leads to a better working relationship with customers, which in turn, results in the impressive work featured at our National Building Excellence Awards.

“Our awards are unique because only they recognise this unnoticed work of local authority surveyors in helping to improve building standards and boosting sustainability and efficiency despite continued economic difficulties.  My congratulations go to all the finalists – and especially the winners.”

More than 500 guests, including senior Government and building control officials, along with contractors, engineers and architects attended the awards, hosted by Channel 4 News’s Jon Snow. The event was sponsored by Exova Warringtonfire and Warrington Certification, LABC Acoustics, LABC Warranty and Roger Bullivant. The full list of winners can be found at www.labcbuildingexcellenceawards.uk.com