Council team nominated for national award
North Tyneside Council’s Building Control team is in the running for a national award after its renovation of a Grade II* listed building was lauded.
The ERS Building, or Block A, at the council’s revitalised Killingworth site has been named as a regional winner in the ‘best non-residential extension or alteration’ category in the LABC Building Excellence Awards for 2022.
The site will now go up against similar projects from across the country at the LABC’s national award ceremony in London.
Before its refurbishment in 2020/21, Block A was largely unoccupied and in a poor state of repair. The building was formerly the Engineering Research Station of British Gas, designed by Ryder and Yates in 1965 and completed in 1967. It has been described as ‘a tour de force of post-war architecture’ and features sculptural elements such as a tall archway entrance and conical roof features that define the Killingworth skyline.
Block A has since been extensively refurbished to provide a safe, modern, and energy-efficient workplace for hundreds of staff, as part of the council’s £12m project to modernise the Killingworth site.
Cllr John Harrison, cabinet member for Housing, said: “We are immensely proud of the work that went into restoring our Killingworth site and are delighted to see it named regional winner at the LABC Building Excellence Awards.
“Given its graded status, it was a big challenge for us to refurbish Block A while continuing to maintain the heritage of the building, but the results have been amazing.
“Thank you to all of our colleagues and partners who worked on this project and made it possible, and we’ll all have our fingers crossed for the national award ceremony.”
As well as the striking new look and feel of Block A, the building is integral to carbon reduction plans on the Killingworth site and boasts a range of green features such as energy efficient heating and lighting systems and will soon have solar panels and recycled electric vehicle car battery systems installed to support energy storage and re-use across the site.
Solar car ports, electric vehicle fleet charging points and air source heat pump technology are among the other measures on site.
Cllr Sandra Graham, cabinet member for the Environment, said: “As a council, we have made a commitment that we will work towards being carbon net zero by 2030, and the refurbishment of Block A exemplifies that work.
“The design is modern and attractive, but also energy efficient. The refurbishment has massively reduced the carbon footprint of the site and has been significant in terms of our progress, which has been outstanding and ahead of our own ambitious targets.
“While we are really happy with the progress we have made to this point, we are definitely not complacent. We will continue to look for ways we can further our work around reducing our carbon footprint at the Killingworth site, and across the wider borough.”
The LABC Building Excellence Awards ceremony will take place on January 27, 2023.
You can find more information on the LABC and the awards at www.LABC.co.uk.