Member Article

Northumberland projects celebrated at prestigious awards ceremony

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) North East has announced two Northumberland projects as the winners of this year’s prestigious Robert Stephenson Awards.

A third project from the county further marked Northumberland’s success in the 2013 awards, with the team behind it taking a commendation in the under £4m category. A scheme in North Yorkshire was commended in the over £4m category.

Presented by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Professor Barry Clarke, at ICE North East’s annual dinner, the awards recognised projects in the Under £4m and Over £4m categories.

The under £4m category was won by Northumberland County Council for the Rothbury Bridge Strengthening project.

The judges said: “This scheme provided a sensitively undertaken refurbishment of a medieval structure and scheduled ancient monument. The design and build scheme sympathetically incorporated traditional and modern techniques ensuring continuity of an important local transport link. Extensive community involvement resulted in a successful and popular project with careful reinstatement of the site allowing the works to blend seamlessly into its rural surroundings.”

A commendation in this category also went to Northumberland County Council, alongside Royal HaskoningDHV and BAM Nuttall Ltd, for the Berwick Breakwater Refurbishment.

In the over £4m category, the winning project was the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) scheme, with the award presented to Narec, Red Box Design, Shepherd Construction, Arup, Turner & Townsend and Heyrod Construction.

Judges said: “This scheme demonstrated great technical ingenuity in both the design and construction processes. The requirements of the scheme set unique challenges for the designers to understand and calculate the huge loads applied during the testing process and the construction demanded tolerances more normally associated with a laboratory than a construction site. The judges were impressed by the integration of the entire team of client, designer, main contractor and subcontractors and felt that this integration was a large factor in the overall success of the project.”

A commendation in this category was given to Network Rail, AECOM and BAM Nuttall Ltd for the Esk Valley Bridge replacement scheme, on the line between Middlesbrough and Whitby in North Yorkshire.

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Picture captions:

Esk Valley Bridge Replacements

Andy Vipas (Bam Nuttall), Greg Rutherford (AECOM), Paul Musgrave (AECOM), Darryl White (Network Rail), Dave Lugsden (Network Rail), Professor Barry Clarke (ICE President), Professor David Toll (Chairman, ICE North East), John Longthorne (AECOM), Brian Walton (Bam Nuttall).

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Recognition PR Business Team .