Regional Accolades for Building Excellence
CHARNWOOD Borough Council scooped two high commendations at the (LABC) East Midlands Excellence Awards in Nottingham.
The regional awards recognise excellence achieved through building standards, technical innovation and sustainable designs.
The refurbishment of Loughborough’s Old Magistrates Court into a community hub was highly commended in the Best Community Development category with the authority’s Building Control team supporting the work of scheme architects Turnkey Design Partnership.
They picked up a similar accolade in the Best Partnership category for their work with Turnkey, which also extended to assisting with a project to convert an oast house in Kent into six dwellings.
Councillor Matthew Blain, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, said: “These accolades are richly deserved by our Building Control team which works very hard behind the scenes to forge strong partnerships and help ensure buildings are safe, well designed and energy efficient.
“They play an important role in helping the Borough grow and prosper in line with our new Corporate Plan and I’m delighted their efforts with Turnkey have been recognised.”
The Old Magistrates’ Court is a building of national significance, containing one of the few surviving examples of a traditional Victorian court, and underwent a major refurbishment last year to become a vibrant base for autistic adults as well as offering advice and education services to the wider community.
The Building Control team had to work closely with architects, contractors and conservationists to change the Old Magistrates’ Court from single-user status to a premises with several occupiers while recognising the importance of retaining the Victorian police cells.
The team’s work with Turnkey was also acknowledged in the partnership category. Turnkey has been the design consultant to the Council for the past five years as well as scheme architects on capital projects, including the refurbished Syston Leisure Centre.
Charnwood Borough Council has also illustrated its highly-developed working relationship with Turnkey through the “complex and challenging” conversion of the oast house, originally used as a building to dry hops, to a family dwelling.
The authority also had three other schemes shortlisted in the LABC awards. A property in Shepshed Road, Hathern, was nominated in the Best Individual Dwelling category (developer David Granger) while Forest Edge, Quorn, featured in the Best Large Housing Development category (Cadeby Homes). The Council was also nominated for the Loughborough Eastern Gateway scheme in the Best Social Housing Development (William Davis).
