Staffordshire projects up for building awards

The Remembrances Centre at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas and the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research site near Stafford have already won awards on a regional level but now go on to face other award-winning projects from across the UK for a chance of national honours.

More than 100 schemes will be battling it out for the 2017 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Grand Awards Final at the the InterContinental London, Park Lane Hotel in November.

Chair of the judging panel for the RICS Awards, West Midlands, Gurdip Chamba MRICS of Crossland Property Consultants Ltd said: “The RICS Awards showcase the achievements and community impact of each region’s most inspirational built initiatives and developments, and this year’s winners from the West Midlands heat are truly exemplary and world-class.

“The teams behind them have demonstrated just what can be achieved with vision and a joined-up, collaborative approach. I wish them all the very best of luck in having their talent and expertise recognised nationally, and gaining nationwide recognition of the positive impact these schemes are having on their local communities.”

The £15.7 million Remembrance Centre was officially opened in the spring by the Duke of Cambride. Prince William was also shown shown a ‘digital poppy field’, which forms part of new educational exhibits at the 150-acre site.

The official opening followed a nine-year fundraising appeal to upgrade facilities for visitors to the centre in Alrewas. It allows for increased visitor numbers to the site’s 330 memorials, opened its doors a year ago after receiving a £2.85m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Birmingham Institute of Forest Research at the University of Birmingham (BIFoR), a major 10-year series of experiments to study the impact of climate and environmental change on woodlands, officially opened in Staffordshire this summer..

Scientists say the facility, near Stafford, will ‘assess the impact of rising carbon dioxide levels on whole forest ecosystems’.

This will be achieved by artificially raising the carbon dioxide level around patches of mature woodland without enclosing or damaging it. The institute is unique in the northern hemisphere, and one of only three worldwide.

The two are among seven award winning property schemes from the West Midlands that are up for the national prizes.

The Remembrance Centre has already won both the Community Benefit and Tourism & Leisure awards from the RICS in the West Midlands. The forest research institute took the Infrastructure award and was also judged Project of the Year.

Other finalists competing in London include the Grand Hotel redevelopment in Birmingham, the new Birmingham Dental Hospital and School of Dentistry, the city's iCentrum project and its Chamberlain Residential Scheme.