Shropshire construction firm wins top Midlands construction award
A Shropshire construction firm which built “the best animal welfare centre in the world” in Shrewsbury has won the top award of Project of the Year at Celebrating Construction 2012.
McPhillips’ redevelopment of Dogs Trust Shrewsbury beat a number of other high profile West Midlands projects to take top prize, said an award spokesman at the event attended by over 800 construction industry professionals.
McPhillips (Wellington) Ltd also won the Integration and Collaborative Working category receiving both awards at the ICC in Birmingham at the awards ceremony presented by the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence along with Birmingham City Council and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).
Hailed as a world beating construction project, the eco friendly £5.25m Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre at Roden, near Shrewsbury, was built last year by the Telford firm putting McPhillips and Dogs Trust at the forefront of sustainable building.
The cutting edge project was designed to save energy and reduce running costs and has achieved the world leading sustainability assessment rating of BREEAM Outstanding which includes the highest post-construction score ever awarded by the Building Research Establishment. Dogs Trust Shrewsbury is the only ‘Bespoke’ building in the world to achieve an Outstanding rating and joins only six other buildings worldwide to have achieved Outstanding across all BREEAM categories.
The team from McPhillips worked closely with the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence (WMCCE) when the project was given demonstration project status as it exemplifies best practice in sustainability, collaboration and integration.
McPhillips’ Joint Managing Director Peter McPhillips said that the innovative methods used to create such a truly world beating project would be of interest across the industry.
“We are very pleased to be commended for our input to the design and our construction skills. It has been a brilliant project to work on and puts McPhillips and Dogs Trust at the forefront of sustainable building projects.”
The team, including Shrewsbury designers Napier and Co, developed a “highly innovative and efficient” project which can be used as a blueprint for similar UK schemes, said the judges. McPhillips has already completed a similar £7.4m Rehoming Centre in Loughborough which opened in June 2012.
Dogs awaiting new homes have a stress free environment with large and luxurious, glass fronted kennels inside a modern timber framed building heated using bio-fuels supplied locally. The airtight construction maximises its thermal performance, minimises heat waste and requires little artificial heating.
A large roof grassed over with native species plants contribute to excellent heat insulation, rainwater stored in large underground tanks is used to wash out kennels, solar panels provide power and the centre even has its own sewage treatment plant to process canine waste.
“This bespoke building has secured the exceptional recognition of being a BREEAM Outstanding building,” read the citation from Celebrating Construction 2012.
McPhillips was also praised for its teamwork which benefitted Dogs Trust including its excellent procurement practices, project management, integrated logistics, and overall collaboration leading to the highest levels of customer satisfaction.
The Shropshire company based in Hortonwood, Telford, now goes forward to the national Constructing Excellence Awards 2012 being held in London in November.
