A COLLEGE built on the site of the former Erne Hospital in Enniskillen has been named as UK Project of the Year by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The South West College campus was named overall winner at the prestigious awards held in London on Friday afternoon.
The £34 million campus in Fermanagh became the world’s first educational building to achieve the highest international standard in environmental construction, when it opened in September 2021.
The college, which accommodates 800 full-time students, 2,000 part-time students and 120 staff, was also named as the UK’s best public sector project by RICS on Friday.
It was one of three Northern Ireland building projects recognised at the awards.
The team behind the new North West Multi Modal Transport in Derry was named Infrastructure Team of the Year, while Derry’s ‘An Chroí’ (The Heart) community hub, was ‘highly commended’ by the judges in the community benefit category.
The final of the annual building competition saw winners from 12 regional categories vie for the overall UK prizes at The Londoner Hotel, Leicester Square.
In the end the judges said it was the sustainability credentials of the South West College, which impressed them most.
The environmental nature of the building’s constriction will see it yield an anticipated 90 per cent reduction in energy costs for the college.
The campus has also been recognised as one of 26 UN centres of excellence for high performance buildings, ranking alongside the Apple 2 campus in California.
Commenting on their decision, the judges said: “The vision and its subsequent delivery of the replacement led by a chartered surveyor is a fascinating story in itself.
“Suffice to say that given local, regional, national and international difficulties over the development period it got built as a result of strong, local and later regional support.
“More importantly for our awards, it represents an exemplar of how despite many obstacles that it needed to overcome, the project also scores highly in the social value.
“Not only has it generated a centre for excellence for local students of the built environment as a core curriculum subject, it has also raised the profile and the pride in all its inhabitants and neighbours in an area that has suffered much in recent times.”
Chair of the judging panel David Brooks-Wilson said: “Each of the winning projects is having a profoundly positive impact on their local area and the RICS is delighted to recognise the hard work that went behind ensuring these projects were delivered successfully, particularly in such challenging and uncertain times as we navigated through the pandemic.
“The teams behind them should be incredibly proud of the part they have played in helping to improve their community and wider local economy.”
RICS Awards 2022 winners:
• Commercial Development Project – Hylo, London
• Community Benefit Project – The Wilds, Barking Riverside, London
• Environmental Impact Award – St Sidwell’s Point, Exeter
• Heritage Project – Seaton Delaval Hall, Whitley Bay
• Infrastructure Team of the Year – North West Multi Modal Transport Hub Project Team, Northern Ireland
• Outstanding Large Surveying Firm Team - Investors and Insurers Team, Arcadis Lenders
• Outstanding Small Surveying Firm/Team - Modus Construction Consultants Ltd
• Public Sector Project - Erne Campus, South West College, Northern Ireland
• Refurbishment/Revitalisation Project - Buxton Crescent Hotel and Thermal Spa Project, East Midlands
• Residential Project - Perry Barr Regeneration Scheme, West Midlands
We are proud to announce the winner of the Project of the Year Award at the RICS UK Awards 2022 Grand Final is Erne Campus, South West College, nominated by, Hamilton Architects pic.twitter.com/5rA9gkvUS0
— RICS (@RICSnews) October 21, 2022
