NFB announces new independent Awards open to all UK construction businesses.
All construction and building businesses in Great Britain will be eligible to enter new Awards designed to recognise those individuals and companies that set the gold standard in the construction sector. The National Federation of Builders (NFB) is supporting the Awards, which are being run and judged entirely independently. Nick Sangwin, National Chair at NFB, said:
“While the industry has a number of awards schemes, they tend to be focused on one particular aspect of the sector or in just one nation but the Construction Awards of Excellence will be a much broader church. These prestigious, UK-wide, independent awards will honour the exceptional contributions of companies and individuals in the construction and building sector across Great Britain. These awards will become much sought-after and we expect a strong list of entries.”
The Awards will be judged by an expert independent panel, chaired by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Stunell. Lord Stunell has been the Liberal Democrats’ Lords Spokesperson for Construction since 2016. While an MP, he brought a Private Members Bill to the Commons, resulting in the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill becoming an Act of Parliament. He said:
“It is a pleasure to take on the role of Chair in this important new Awards scheme, which is a particularly democratic one thanks to it being open to all businesses in the sector across Great Britain, and with a straightforward application process that opens it up to the very small business as much as to the very large. I am particularly pleased to see categories such as Environmental Initiative, Training Initiative and Young Employee, all of which point to the fact that we must be working hard now to secure a strong future for construction.”
To ensure the Awards are open to the whole of the UK, NFB is working with its Scottish counterparts, the Scottish Building Federation (SBF). Vaughan Hart, Managing Director of SBF, comments:
“We’re delighted to be working with the NFB on these Awards to make sure they truly represent the UK as a whole. The Awards represent a wonderful opportunity for the whole sector to come together to celebrate and share in the success of some of its leading companies and inspirational individuals.”
The number of awards has been kept to just 11 to ensure the Awards remain focused. The categories are:
- Building contractor of the year: Scotland
- Building contractor of the year: Wales
- Building contractor of the year: England – turnover under £15m
- Building contractor of the year: England – turnover over £15m
- UK house builder of the year – under 35 units/yr
- UK house builder of the year – over 35 units/yr
- Training initiative of the year
- Young employee of the year
- Environmental initiative of the year
- Heritage building project of the year
- Lifetime achievement award
The awards ceremony will be held on 1 October 2020 at the superb Chelsea Harbour Hotel. More details, including who will sit on the judging panel and when nominations are open, will be announced soon.
