2023 Concrete Society Awards success
1 New Park Square in Edinburgh awarded Outright Winner for its vision of a low-carbon community
1 NEW Park Square (1NPS), in Edinburgh, was awarded Outright Winner at the prestigious Concrete Society Awards, which took place in London on Wednesday 15 November. 1NPS is the first landmark project for the wider vision of a low-carbon community of working, living, and leisure at Edinburgh Park.
Around 400 members, guests, and construction industry representatives attended the awards dinner held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. The event celebrates excellence in the use of concrete and is one of the longest-running awards programmes in the UK construction industry, celebrating its 55th year. This year’s awards ceremony was hosted by broadcaster Marcus Brigstocke.
Judges from The Concrete Society’s Advisory Service visited all nominated projects – unique among construction awards programmes. The Society Awards are based on expert appraisal in person, not merely decided in committee. The Outright Winner was unanimously agreed by the judges, who said: ‘Viewing the main reception to see the exposed concrete complemented by various forms of art and decoration is stunning.’
Stella Cochrane of architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), the nominating company, said: ‘AHMM and the wider project team on 1 New Park Square – including the developer, Parabola; structural engineer, Woolgar Hunter Structures; contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine; and subcontractors Cidon and Border – are delighted to have been awarded the Outright Winner of the 2023 Concrete Society Awards.’
Four more projects were highly commended: DAMAC Tower, Nine Elms, London – nominated by WSP UK; Newlyn Coastal R&D project, Penzance – nominated by the Environment Agency; Osiers Road, Wandsworth – nominated by Techrete UK; and The Salvation Army New Territorial HQ, Denmark Hill – nominated by Davies Maguire.
Kathy Calverley, managing director of The Concrete Society, said: ‘We are really pleased to be able to showcase once again the ‘best of the best’ in good concrete practice, both structurally and visually. There is constant innovation demonstrated in all of the projects and many of the features could only have be achieved because of the properties of that most versatile of materials – concrete.
'With such a high standard, it was difficult to make the final decision and we felt that four projects were particularly notable. The Outright Winner, though, is definitely in class of its own.'
The Society’s 2024 Awards scheme will start in January and the competition will be open to structures completed between October 2022 and April 2024.
