Llanelli school wins construction award
Carmarthenshire County Council has scooped a top award at the prestigious Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Wales awards.
Property Services and Education staff picked up the award – seen as the Oscars of the construction industry – after impressing judges in the Community Benefit category with an entry for Llanelli’s Ysgol Maes Y Morfa.
Also shortlisted for awards were Ysgol Y Dderwen in Carmarthen, which was shortlisted in the Sustainability and Community Benefit categories, and Carmarthen Indoor Market in the regeneration category.
Both competed against other projects from across Wales, and although narrowly missing out, came in for praise from the judges.
The entry submitted for Ysgol Maes Y Morfa took a unique angle – that ‘community benefit’ went far beyond the school walls.
The school features an integrated family centre and community library as part of the school building, but Property Services staff highlighted that during its construction an entire community ‘workforce’ benefitted from the school.
Through innovative schemes such as Shared Apprenticeships, Next Steps and Building Your Own Future in Sir Gar, where the council’s Property Services team partners up with Coleg Sir Gar, Carmarthenshire Construction and Training Association Ltd (CCTAL) and Communities First, the council was able to demonstrate how much local apprentices gained from working on the development.
Head of Property Services, Phil Lumley, said: “We are extremely proud to have picked up such a prestigious national award.
“The Ysgol Maes Y Morfa project is testament to the unique strong partnership ethos we have developed both within council departments and with external partners.
“By integrating and working so effectively together, we have not only benefitted pupils, staff and parents at Ysgol Maes Y Morfa – we have also benefitted local families and the local workforce, many of whom had hands-on experience in the building of the school.
“This proves that by working together, we can achieve great things.”
The awards were announced in Cardiff on Friday, May 13.
The council now goes forward to a UK-wide final, which will be held in London in the autumn.
Property Services and Education staff picked up the award – seen as the Oscars of the construction industry – after impressing judges in the Community Benefit category with an entry for Llanelli’s Ysgol Maes Y Morfa.
Also shortlisted for awards were Ysgol Y Dderwen in Carmarthen, which was shortlisted in the Sustainability and Community Benefit categories, and Carmarthen Indoor Market in the regeneration category.
Both competed against other projects from across Wales, and although narrowly missing out, came in for praise from the judges.
The entry submitted for Ysgol Maes Y Morfa took a unique angle – that ‘community benefit’ went far beyond the school walls.
The school features an integrated family centre and community library as part of the school building, but Property Services staff highlighted that during its construction an entire community ‘workforce’ benefitted from the school.
Through innovative schemes such as Shared Apprenticeships, Next Steps and Building Your Own Future in Sir Gar, where the council’s Property Services team partners up with Coleg Sir Gar, Carmarthenshire Construction and Training Association Ltd (CCTAL) and Communities First, the council was able to demonstrate how much local apprentices gained from working on the development.
Head of Property Services, Phil Lumley, said: “We are extremely proud to have picked up such a prestigious national award.
“The Ysgol Maes Y Morfa project is testament to the unique strong partnership ethos we have developed both within council departments and with external partners.
“By integrating and working so effectively together, we have not only benefitted pupils, staff and parents at Ysgol Maes Y Morfa – we have also benefitted local families and the local workforce, many of whom had hands-on experience in the building of the school.
“This proves that by working together, we can achieve great things.”
The awards were announced in Cardiff on Friday, May 13.
The council now goes forward to a UK-wide final, which will be held in London in the autumn.
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