GENSOCIAL
A new railway station which opened in February has been crowned the West Midlands’ top civil engineering project for 2020.
Worcestershire Parkway in the village of Norton has provided a new transport hub which connects directly with nearby Worcester, Birmingham, Oxford and London.
It won the large project and geotechnical categories before being crowned the overall winner at the 2020 Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) West Awards which were held online last night.
Worcestershire Parkway is the first train station to be opened in the county in more than a century and the project was led by SLC Rail, Worcestershire County Council, Mott MacDonald and Buckingham Group Contracting.
The station, which was in the pipeline for 30 years, drew praise from ICE judges for overcoming technical challenges through a collaborative approach, engineering expertise, tenacity and determination.
The panel added: “The whole design, co-ordination and delivery of the project was highly impressive.
“Worcestershire Parkway is a remarkable piece of infrastructure that the West Midlands can be truly proud of.”
The annual awards are presented to the best civil engineering project teams or to ground-breaking research that has taken place in the West Midlands.
Jo Barnett, ICE regional director for the Midlands, said: “Congratulations to all our 2020 West Midlands Awards entrants – the standard this year was, as always, extremely high.
“Our annual awards play an important role in not only demonstrating the importance of our civil engineers, whose hard work and dedication can often go unnoticed, but also in celebrating the positive impact that civil engineering has on our everyday lives.
“I was delighted that, despite the current pandemic, we could adapt to recognise and celebrate all these achievements online.”
The other winners for 2020 were:
Communications; Heritage
Restoration of grade I-listed 12th century West Gate in Warwick
Warwickshire County Council, Waterman Aspen Atkins, Mark Evans Architect, Balfour Beatty, Croft Building & Conservation
Education and Inspiration Award
‘Trailblazer’ apprenticeship for tramway construction operative
Midland Metro Alliance
Medium Project (£2m-£10m)
Coton Arches roundabout signalisation in Nuneaton
Galliford Try, Warwickshire County Council
Small Project (Under £2m); Team Achievement
Upgrade of railway bridges in Stafford and Walsall
Amey, Staffordshire County Council, Walsall Council, Network Rail, Currall Lewis & Martin Construction, CTS Bridges
Studies and Research Award
Ground and underground infrastructure damage evaluation project
University of Birmingham, Severn Trent Water, Jacobs, British Geological Surveys
Sustainability
Rugby Link Road S278
Galliford Try, Warwickshire County Council
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Bob Dunn Award for Outstanding Contribution
David John, chartered civil engineer, fellow of ICE and associate director at Amey Consulting
Young Achiever
Jonathan Woods, senior engineer at Ove Arup & Partners
Jonathan has carried out voluntary roles and STEM activity that impacts on hundreds of potential future young engineers
STEM Ambassador
Megan Pile, graduate engineer at Amey/Staffordshire County Council
Megan has completed at least three STEM engagement activities over the past year and taken a leading role in the development of new activities, engaging colleagues to deliver them and maximising her impact as an ambassador
Technician
Recognises the achievements of people studying for or working towards civil engineering technician status:
Zubair Dadabhai, Solihull College
Joshua Sansom, University of Wolverhampton
Bryony Wilson, Coventry University
