Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson is celebrating a triumphant triple win as two of its recent projects received three accolades, including ‘Project of the Year’, at the 2020 RICS Social Impact Awards.
RICS (Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors) announced winners of the RICS Social Impact Awards for the East Midlands via a virtual ceremony last week (6 May), hosted by British tv presenters Phil Spencer and Emma Jesson.
The inaugural awards recognise the built environment’s positive and transformational contribution to society.
The Dorothy Goodman Special Needs School took home the headline award for ‘Project of the Year’, as well as receiving the winning spot for the Education category.
Construction to improve facilities at the school was completed by G F Tomlinson in late 2018, and involved the creation of a new specially-equipped school building.
The contractor worked collaboratively alongside the school, Hadland Manning Bullock Quantity Surveyors, Grayling Thomas Architects and Ian Harban Consulting Engineers to ensure that the needs of the pupils, staff and the local community remained the focus for the design and delivery of the new building.
The specialist school in Hinckley, Leicester caters for 110 pupils aged between 11 and 19 years with a wide range of learning disabilities.
On the Dorothy Goodman SEN School’s award, RICS Social Impact Awards head judge for the East Midlands, Sally Walters commented: “As a project dedicated to the support of pupils with special educational needs, the Dorothy Goodman School excels in providing social value not only to the young people who attend, but also the wider community.
“The open and honest design approach promotes the facility and assists with the pupil’s development, whilst integrating them throughout their education into the wider world.
“The design is innovative and centres on a wide range of special and challenging needs that allow users of the facility to further themselves.”
Winner of the Leisure category was the Tower Gardens Community Pavilion, which was completed by G F Tomlinson at the start of 2020, with the project team including global property and construction consultancy Gleeds and Lincoln-based Core Architects.
The new £1.6m mixed-use community building was delivered through the Scape Regional Construction framework for Skegness Town Council, and was built to bring new inclusive community facilities to Skegness to transform the town into an inclusive environment and workplace, as well as a vibrant place to visit.
On the Tower Gardens award, judge Sally Walters commented: “The Tower Gardens Pavilion has breathed life back into a previously neglected area of Skegness town centre. The new Pavilion will provide easier access to crucial town council services, as well as providing flexible spaces and a café for the community to access all year round.
“The enthusiasm from the team behind the project, as well as the support from the local community is impressive and the judges believe this project will have a positive social impact for both residents and visitors to the area.”
Chris Flint, director at G F Tomlinson, said: “We’re delighted that two of our projects have been winners at this years’ RICS Social Impact Awards, with one of the accolades including the prestigious ‘Project of the Year’.
“With a company that has social value rooted so deeply in our ethos, these awards are testament to what we stand for as a business. We’re proud to be able to deliver projects which have had such a positive impact on the communities we work in, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results.
“Although we couldn’t be there to celebrate this incredible triple win, we’re pleased that the awards could still go ahead virtually. We’d like to thank the project teams for their work on both of these developments, including our supply chain partners. Congratulations everyone, this is well deserved.”
