The team at B & K Structures are celebrating an award-winning streak picking up no less than five trophies at two prestigious ceremonies held during UK Construction Week – the Offsite Awards and the Structural Timber Awards.
Greg Cooper Pre-Construction Manager at B & K Structures said: “Winning at both award ceremonies is rewarding and it is gratifying to be recognised for our achievements by such prominent judges.”
Offsite Awards
The 2016 Offsite Awards took place on the main stage at UK Construction Week at the NEC Birmingham on Tuesday 18 October, where more than 200 industry innovators gathered to celebrate innovation in offsite construction.
B & K Structures came out on top of three of the awards categories picking up the trophy for Best Hybrid Construction Project for the University of Essex, Commercial Project of the Year for the new sound stages at Pinewood Studios and the evening culminated in the team scooping the prestigious ‘Winner of Winners’ award which is presented to the highest scoring submission across all of the categories.
Structural Timber Awards
The award-winning week continued the following evening when more than 500 pioneers from across the construction sector gathered at the International Conference Centre, Birmingham, for the Structural Timber Awards. The prestigious award ceremony truly made its mark on the timber industry by rewarding outstanding projects, innovative products and dynamic people, promoting excellence in structural timber across the UK.
With over 200 outstanding submissions the Structural Timber Awards were hotly contested, with B & K Structures collecting Best Commercial Project for Pinewood Studios and for picking up the Best use of Solid Wood for Essex Business School. The lively awards ceremony was hosted by TV presenter Mark Durden-Smith.
Pinewood Studios
In partnership with manufacturer, Rubner Holzbau, B & K Structures designed, manufactured and installed a full facade and roof package for five new sound stages at Pinewood Studios. This project was part of the first phase of the expansion and development programme for the studios. The stages will be used for film production, TV production, video filming and motion capture for making cartoons. The enhanced facilities will offer much greater flexibility, as well as additional capacity, to address the increasing global demand for UK production facilities.
The timber cassettes installed at Pinewood Studios are used for both the facade and roof package of the sound stages, incorporating materials specifically selected to meet the appropriate levels of acoustic, fire safety and thermal inertia performance in one system.
Commenting on the project the judges said: “This is a fine example of superb engineering achievement to meet the exacting performance standards required for the project, with the construction speed and structural and performance needs combined in one timber cassette.”
University of Essex Business School
B & K Structures worked with Engenuiti, Morgan Sindall and BDP Architect on the Essex Business School project. The University has a reputation for excellent teaching, ground-breaking research and exciting business collaborations, so it was essential the school’s new building reflected the University’s vision for growth, excellence and sustainability.
Designed with architects BDP, the new School comprises of a three-storey main building, single storey lecture theatre and a winter garden in an ‘Eden Project’ style dome. The building features a range of innovative sustainable elements including structural timber for the superstructure, a green sedum roof and photovoltaic cells.
As structural timber has the lowest embodied energy of any building material across its lifetime, it was the natural choice to ensure the lowest carbon footprint for the superstructure of the building.
The building is the UK’s first zero-carbon business school and the use of timber significantly contributed to this exceptional achievement.
