RICS: Derby College wins Project of the Year

The Roundhouse campus is a new vocational skills college which provides a state-of-the-art educational facility for 2,500 students, spans brand new high tech buildings and Grade II Listed railway sheds. The buildings included in the project are integral to the historical, architectural and social history of Derby, key to the industrial heritage of the Midlands and nationally important because of their unique architectural qualities and rarity.

More than 450 building projects entered the RICS Awards which is regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of the built and natural environment. After winning both the Regeneration category and the coveted Project of the Year award at the regional heat of the RICS East Midlands Awards in May, the project team behind the 18,000-m² new build Derby College were ecstatic about winning the coveted Project of the Year award. The development has transformed the crumbling remains of Derby’s extensive Victorian railway works into Derby College’s new flagship vocational campus.

Ian Harris, Project Director from Maber architects, said: “We are absolutely delighted to win this award. A lot of very good buildings were shortlisted, so to be judged by fellow construction professionals to be a cut above the rest really means something.

“This is easily the best preserved early purpose-built railway works in the world. The buildings had been abandoned and falling down for 20 years. There were all sorts of problems due to rainwater pouring in and some significant areas of floors and roofs had collapsed. I think the most interesting bit of engineering was the roof to the roundhouse which had been designed in 1839 by Robert Stephenson.”

The category winners from the RICS Awards are:
Blencow Hall, Penrith (Building conservation)
Scala Cinema & Arts Centre, Prestatyn (Community benefit)
Stonebridge Estate, London (Regeneration)
New Library, Queen’s University, Belfast (Sustainability)


Derby College and the 2010 winners join an elite group of past winners including St Paul’s Cathedral, St Pancras station in London, Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, the Eden Project in Cornwall and the site of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.