Winner – The team who delivered London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Barking Town Hall Refurbishment. Application Barnes Construction
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Barking Town Hall Refurbishment
Client – London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Architect – LAP Architects
Surveyor – Potter Raper
Contractor – Barnes Construction
This is an award where the panel want to specifically recognise the collaborative efforts of one particular client and delivery team during this year’s visits.
The scheme itself is a great example of a restoration project that embraced new technologies with a listed building refurbishment. There were plenty of technical challenges along the way and unforeseen works in a clock tower which had been damaged in WWII and some exemplary work installing new UPVC windows that looked vintage to stay in keeping with listed building status. The insulation to the building wasn’t just designed but was the subject of a thesis for some Phd students at University College London and as such, created extensive data to compare before and after the works with regards to energy usage.
However in this instance the Judges were particularly impressed with the way the leaders of the council bought into the scheme and the management teams’ approach to involving all stakeholders throughout the process. The top down approach that led to completely new ways of working for the local authority and has transformed the way staff carry out their day to day activities. They were also impressed with the collaborative value engineering approach by the contractor to ensure the client’s vision continued to be delivered within a challenging budget.