The Midlands office of Willmott Dixon has scooped an industry award for its construction of the Landau Forte Academy in Tamworth.
The Coleshill-based contractor won the “Value Project of the Year” category at the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence’s annual industry awards.
The £30.67million 11-16 Centre and Post 16 Centre was commissioned by Staffordshire County Council under the Partnerships for Schools (PfS) framework. It is operated by the Landau Forte Charitable Trust, whose trustees include property developer Martin Landau and hotelier Sir Rocco Forte. The new facilities opened in September last year and provide places for more than 1,800 pupils.
Willmott Dixon impressed the judges by shaving £2million off the original project build costs and by sourcing and installing an innovative heating and ventilation system, which reduced annual running costs by around £200,000.
Gary Church, sales and marketing manager at Willmott Dixon and bid leader on the project, said: “More schools are urgently required across the Midlands to meet the growing need for pupil places. At the same time, the government is driving down costs in the education sector. Our work at Landau Forte shows best value can be achieved whilst still delivering high quality facitilies.”
Aedas Architects designed the buildings; Cox Turner Morse were structural engineers on the project.