WYG is highly commended at British Expertise International Awards 2015

Laura Ulanowski, our Business Development Executive based in Nottingham, shares her highlights from the award ceremony:

What a night! After a champagne reception and the opportunity to speak to some hard-working souls you never can quite get hold of, the WYG team* took their seats at table 24 of the Royal Garden Hotel function room. We were very pleased to also welcome Christos Gianakopoulos from Planet, Gordon McLaren from ESEP, Daren McLaren from AMEC, as well as Richard Wotton from Roughton, to the table.

With at least 30 tables, comments were made on how the ceremony had grown bigger and better every year.

Then, BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton took to the stage and HRH Duke of Gloucester opened the ceremony. I felt nervous for the first time as the Outstanding International Development Infrastructure Project category was announced. WYG had been shortlisted for the Republika Srpska water project, but, alas, we were unlucky this time. ARUP were the deserving category winners with their work on the Ntunga Maternity Centre in Rwanda.

WYG was also shortlisted in the Outstanding International Collaboration Award category for the EU-South Africa Dialogue Facility. With both Gerry McDonald and Gerry McAlinden in attendance, representing two-thirds of the Project Management Unit, and Varsha Ramballey, our South Africa Director having collectively travelled a few thousand miles to attend the evening, the pressure was on. We were very pleased to be highly commended for the category, a close second to MET Office, who won the award for their South East Asia Climate Analysis & Modelling Framework.

Keith Cook presented the WYG-sponsored award for the ‘Outstanding International Development Project in a Fragile State (Non Physical)’, which went to British Council, for the DFID-funded Pyoe Pin Fisheries programme in Burma.

We all had a wonderful night and were pleased to see so many achievements produced by our partners, competitors and friends. Well done to all!

The team* attending the event alongside Graham Olver, Chief Operating Officer:

Keith Cook, Managing Director, Nottingham
Sohail Hassan, Associate, Belgrade
Gerry McDonald, Associate, South Africa
Gerry McAlinden, Associate, South Africa
Varsha Ramballey, Managing Director, South Africa
Charles Reeve, Associate, South Africa
Laura Ulanowski, Business Development Executive, Nottingham