Our eye-catching new addition to Romford, Sapphire Ice & Leisure, was crowned Civic Building of the Year at the SPACES Awards which showcase the best projects delivered by local authorities. Sapphire wasn’t done just yet though, also notching up the Community Building of the Year award while the National College for High Speed Rail in Doncaster took the vocational category.

Sapphire Ice & Leisure is managed by Everyone Active on behalf of Havering Council and was praised by The Society for Public Architecture, Construction, Engineering and Surveying (SPACES) for its architecture, complex construction, and high standard of building practice.

Mark Butler, technical director at OneSource who work on behalf of Bexley, Havering and Newham councils commented,

“Scooping both awards, including the overall Civic Building of the Year award is testimony to both the design quality and collaborative construction approach reflected throughout Willmott Dixon’s supply chain. Great for the facility and the delivery team to get the recognition so richly deserved.”

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Doncaster's national college

The National College for High Speed Rail in Doncaster was created to address the skills gap in railway engineering and make UK a world leader for high speed rail skills.

The judges said:

“This campus seeks to address the national skills gap in the industry and to ensure vocational training options are as attractive to young people as traditional academic higher education. This BREEAM ‘Excellent’ scheme pays homage to Doncaster’s culturally significant contributions to the rail industry and railway heritage. Glazed windows at each side shining as beacons and the saw-tooth roof form acting as a contemporary interpretation of the traditional engineering factory make this a striking building.”

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