3 July 2017
We are delighted to announce that two of our projects have won prestigious RICS Awards Northern Ireland, 2017. Stoneyford Integrated Constructed Wetland won in the infrastructure category while the Belfast Waterfront won in the commercial category, both entries beating stiff competition.
Stoneyford Integrated Constructed Wetland
Winner of the Infrastructure Award, the flagship Stoneyford Integrated Constructed Wetland (ICW) project for Northern Ireland Water provides a sustainable, environmentally-friendly replacement for the overloaded wastewater treatment works serving the village of Stoneyford.
Our water team developed the ICW solution which uses a natural ecosystem to break down and treat pollutants, providing significant environmental and ecological benefits, low operational and maintenance requirements and costs. Since construction, the facility has matured into a lush, biodiverse habitat now recognised as an industry-leading example of how to integrate wastewater treatment into a local indigenous ecosystem.
In addition to specialist surveys, hydraulic modelling and flood risk assessment, we also provided the detailed design and project management services to satisfy the discharge consent standards set by the Environment Agency and guide the project through to planning approval. Throughout the project, we worked collaboratively with NI Water, the contractor, BSG Civil Engineering, and specialist designer, Vesi Environmental.
The judges were particularly impressed with the project’s fresh sustainable approach and partnerships with local universities, ensuring maximum learning outputs to shape further similar projects. The development team established a dialogue with the local community at a very early stage to overcome concern and secured a ‘Green Apple’ environment award in 2015 for enhancement of the local ecosystem.
Paul Cooke, WYG Associate Director, said: “We are very proud to have won this prestigious award. It is an accolade to the hard work of the entire team.”
Belfast Waterfront
Winner of the Commercial Award, the £29.5m extension to the existing Belfast Waterfront was delivered by Belfast City Council with part funding by Tourism Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund.
This complex and demanding scheme was delivered for Belfast City Council by the McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd integrated supply team including Harvey Group PLC, WYG Mechanical & Electrical Engineers, Fire Engineering and BREEAM services. The client brief established high expectations of this finely built extension to an existing structure abutting Belfast’s riverside, and constructed without interruption to the operation of the Belfast Waterfront and adjacent Hilton Hotel.
Although built to a cost of £29.5 million, in its first six months of operation the facility delivered 15 major conferences, including 16,540 delegate days, generating an economic impact for the city of £9.5 million — a figure which is anticipated will rise to £45 million by 2020/21 when the venue reaches its full potential. This judges considered that this was a worthy public investment giving benefit to many and well deserving of its BREEAM “excellent” rating
Stuart Kyle, WYG Head of M&E, said “This complex project was delivered through close co-ordination with the Contracting Team and its success was due to the diligence of the team and the quality of the 3D Revit Design.”
All category winners will go on to compete against other regional winners at the RICS Awards Grand Final on Thursday 2 November 2017, for the chance to be crowned the overall UK winner in their respective category.
