Award presenter Gordon Ridgeon (far left) with Nick Mann (Project Manager Kier Regional, centre left), Petra Oliver (Cocksedge Building Contractors) and Duncan Wisbey (Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce)
The Considerate Contractor scheme is run by the city council and sets out to recognise efforts made by construction firms to minimise noise and disruption.
Last year, 25 participating contractors entered 63 projects into the scheme.
Winners - larger projects
Kier Marriott were awarded the main prize for their works to construct The Sainsbury Laboratory, a new 11,000m plant science research centre set in the University of Cambridge’s Botanical Garden. Works commenced in 2008 and were recently completed, including:
- a new building that houses a new plant science laboratory, which will provide state of the art research facilities and will also house the University Herbarium which contains over one million pressed and dried plant specimens from all over the world, including those collected by Darwin on the Beagle.
- new glasshouses
- plant growth rooms
- extensive landscaping
- new café and meeting room for visitors to the Botanical Gardens.
From a very early stage of the works, Kier were very keen to liase closely with nearby Bateman Mews residents, who were going to be severely disrupted by the works due to the very close proximity of their properties. Monthly resident meetings were established and gave residents the opportunity to discuss any concerns. Kier always tried to minimise disruption, although unfortunately given the complexity of the site, "it was not always possible to satisfy all of the residents".
Certificates of excellence in this category were awarded to:
- Morgan Sindall who constructed an infill extension at the intensive care unit at Addenbrooke’s
- R G Carter (Cambridge) who built a new sports hall and science block extension at the Perse School, Hills Road
- Haymills who registered a number of projects in the scheme with perhaps their most difficult being the refurbishment of Market Hostel, Peas Hill.
Winners - smaller projects
Petra Oliver, Duncan Wisbey (centre) and Richard Bell (Killby and Gayford)
The award for smaller projects and donated by the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce was won by Cocksedge Building Contractors of Mildenhall.
Cocksedge on behalf of the Lutheran Church were responsible for building a new student accommodation building in Westfield Lane. The site was very small, and potentially difficult to manage although the site manager here interacted very well with the local community to ensure that the works were carried out as smoothly as possible.
A certificate of excellence was awarded to Killby and Gayford who were involved in the construction of a secure manuscript vault and the refurbishment of the reading room at the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College.
Awards
The judging panel for the 2010 Considerate Contractors awards were Councillor Mike Dixon, chair of the planning committee, Councillor Robert Dryden, Mr Steve Bowen former director of the Federation of Master Builders and representing the Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce, Mr Duncan Wisbey.
The awards, from builder’s merchants Ridgeons and in association with the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry, were presented by Ridgeons director Gordon Ridgeon at the recent annual dinner of the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry.
