CENE Awards 2023 – Category information

The conservation or rehabilitation of old or historic buildings and sites is often an important part of neighbourhood revitalisation, providing physical and psychological focus for the community and creating jobs and investment opportunities. Construction work that involves the conservation and regeneration of historic buildings requires great care and specialist skills and techniques.

Judges will be looking for excellent outcomes and high standards in the repair, re-use and revitalisation of heritage sites and buildings in the region.

Exemplary projects will be able to demonstrate a number of the following attributes:

1. Evidence of research and innovation to replace, repair and match traditional methods and materials encountered, together with the evaluation of alternative options.
2. Choice of appropriate procurement that reflects the risks in such work.
3. Application of well-considered and sympathetic technical solutions, both traditional and innovative.
4. Delivery of customer satisfying quality and enduring outcomes.
5. A clear commitment to the development of heritage skills and training opportunities to sustain heritage related works.

SPONSORED BY NOTIFY TECHNOLOGY

Health, Safety & Wellbeing is of paramount importance and a culture of ‘safety first’ is crucial to performance. Overarching health and safety risk management systems and effective health initiatives are fundamental to reducing or eliminating all types of incident and promoting health and well–being across the supply chain.

The winner may be able to demonstrate consideration of either project health & safety at the pre-construction and/or construction phases of a project or an organisational initiative impacting on multiple projects or their workforce.  Judges will be looking for an approach that demonstrates a number of the following attributes:

1. An overarching health & safety management culture.
2. Leadership and innovation leading to new health & safety schemes, tools, processes or actions which ensure protection and improvements occur.
3. Clear strategies that provide sustainable and effective risk management.
4. Workplace health and workplace safety considered in equal measure.
5. Real benefits for all parties, evidenced by objective measurement criteria such as KPIs, AIR, AFR and RIDDOR performance.

Sponsored by DAC Beachcroft

Innovation is widely recognised as the critical factor for increased and sustained productivity and growth. It demonstrates an organisation’s confidence, capacity and appetite for improved performance and productivity gains.  Innovation is most effective as a holistic approach that identifies both demand and ideas and is most successful when supported by collaboration between customers and the supply chain.

Judges are looking for an organisation or project that has developed and applied the most innovative approach to overcoming one or more construction challenges.  Winners may have developed a demonstrably new and different technique or process or may have harnessed emerging or existing technologies to create new or improved products, tools or services leading to better built outcomes.

The exemplar winner will show judges how they have:

1. Defined the challenge, identified possible solutions and secured agreement from key stakeholders.
2. Focused their outcomes on constructor needs and user or occupier benefits, leading to more work on subsequent projects.
3. Been able to demonstrate improvements compared to previous or 3rd party performance through objective measurement data, such as KPIs.
4. Created a solution that can be used or applied elsewhere in their organisation or their industry sector.
5. Taken the lessons learned and the new best practice benchmark to the industry and shared them so others can benefit.

What is a residential project? This could range from an individual dwelling, to larger housing developments including apartments and specialist housing such as supported housing, residential care and the like. This award recognises developments that provide a desirable and sustainable place to live. That demonstrate creative approaches from concept to delivery.

To impress the judges enough to win this award your entry will evidence an outstanding project that:

1. Demonstrates great team working between the client and entire supply chain; employing collaborative working tools.
2. Was delivered before the programmed completion date, below the approved cost plan and to quality exceeding expectation whilst delivering the highest of health safety and wellbeing standards.
3. Achieved the lowest environmental impacts, particularly minimising carbon, during construction and its planned lifecycle.
4. Delivered outstanding customer satisfaction and may have also received praise from other stakeholders.
5. Demonstrates the highest levels of the application of best practice, innovation and technical achievement to overcome the project’s challenges.

High environmental and climate performance in construction aims to meet present day needs for housing, working environments and infrastructure without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs in times to come. It seeks to limit impact on the natural environment and demonstrate whole life sustainability. It is most effective when organisational culture, high design quality, technical innovation and transferability are abundant.

Judges are looking for projects or organisations whose achievements, in relation to the legacy their work leaves, demonstrate strong environmental performance in terms of carbon and other Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, in waste and water efficiency and in sustainable materials over the life of a project (including its ultimate decommissioning).

Exemplary environmental and climate performance will be evidenced by some of the following:

1. Reduction in greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions through design and construction measures, leading to reductions both in the build and operational phases of assets and demonstrating progress towards net zero.
2. Use of sustainable materials and achievement of waste, materials and water efficiency performance during construction, through design and construction innovation.
3. Achievement of strong biodiversity performance.
4. Economic feasibility and sustainable commercial viability with the above.
5. Assets which evidence their environmental performance matching or exceeding the design modelling and ratings.
6. Engagement across the project or organisation to achieve the above.
7. Details on how the project or organisation is industry-leading on the above with good potential for transferability.

SPONSORED BY SILVERSTONE BUILDING CONSULTANCY

Judges are looking for an initiative, project or series of projects that has focused on the value of facilities in use and the outcomes for owners and users. Good facilities add value by enabling owners and/or users to live or work better in them.

Winners will demonstrate how whole life cost and value have been considered from the outset; combining capital costs of construction with maintenance, operational and occupiers’ costs.  The most important factor will have been the outcomes for the owners and users of the facilities, and these should have been a key driver throughout the design and construction process.

Entrants should be able to evidence the balance of expenditure between design, construction and operation, and must provide evidence or forecasts for improved outcomes for owners and/or users.  Such outcomes may be financial, social or environmental.

Winning exemplars of Value will demonstrate some of the following attributes:

1. Increased value for owners and/or users and better outcomes for all stakeholders.
2. Value for owners and/or users a key driver throughout the design and construction process.
3. Supplier engagement to ensure value outcomes are understood and maintained.
4. Examples of where decisions were determined by future outcomes/benefits ahead of short-term considerations.
5. Performance data collected and compared against modelling/forecasts.

SPONSORED BY H MALONE & SONS

SMEs are the backbone of the industry and are recognised by Constructing Excellence for their dominance of and contribution to the supply chain. According to the Office for National Statistics annual “Construction Statistics” although the number of UK construction companies has increased year on year since 2012, SMEs remain 99.9% of the companies annually. The part played by SMEs in innovation and product development is also recognised by BEIS in the Construction Playbook.

Judges are looking for an exemplary organisation, with 249 or less employees and with turnover less than the equivalent of €50 million. This award is not to recognise organisations who have achieved considerable commercial growth or excelled in just one aspect of the entry criteria. It is about outstanding organisations who have achieved business changes across the board to improve in all aspects below over the preceding year:

1. Evidence of growth through engaging with and developing best practice in construction and organisational management.
2. Investment made in employees, through training, development and setting organisational culture.
3. Action to improve their productivity and work smarter including harnessing digital technologies.
4. Supply chain engagement that adds value to the organisation’s contribution to projects, Clients or suppliers.
5. Evidence of setting and monitoring development and performance targets, e.g. KPIs, specific achievements, etc. with results as a means of charting progress with change and achievement of goals.

Sponsored by Northumbrian Water Group

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) are seen as a route to transforming how we deliver public works projects and create a more effective construction industry. MMC is a wide term covering a range of offsite manufacturing and onsite techniques, providing alternatives to traditional delivery with significant improvements in productivity, efficiency, and quality.  If MMC has been set as the goal and defines ‘what we are seeking’, then Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) is the process that describes ‘how it is done’.

A number of factors are convening to make MMC and DfMA a more attractive solution than ever before. It can deliver enhanced outcomes including:

• Supporting a green revolution including diving out waste and associated carbon and achieving net-zero targets.
• Support for a more Equitable industry and strengthen the foundational economy.
• Delivery of better quality assets and better outcomes.
• Driving sector innovation.
• Developing world-beating skills, techniques and products.
• Increases in the speed of project and programme delivery.
• Improved sector productivity and reduce capital cost.
• Increasing the predictability of employed capital.

A winning approach will demonstrate a number of the following attributes:

1. A systematic approach to the implementation of MMC solutions that builds on platform-based approaches driving towards repeatability and standardisation.
2. Drives out carbon and waste from the construction sector and enhances social outcomes.
3. Demonstrates the value of new and innovative approaches to drive better outcomes using manufacturing and digital technologies.
4. Tangible benefits delivered by using an MMC approach over and above traditional methods including value against time, cost (fiscal and environmental), quality.
5. Contributed to the commercial demands of the client and sustained the needs of the local community.
6. Provided a unique and innovative environment when benchmarked against other building solutions.
7. Delivered additional USP’s against traditional construction methods.
8. Supports development of the skills required for the future.
9. Demonstrates a construction technology that utilises fabrication of elements prior to instillation on site.
10. Enhances the image of the construction sector and its value for future generations.