Many months of hard work have paid off, as the high profile
Birmingham Gymnastics and Martial Arts Centre (GMAC) won the award
in the 'Projects up to £10m' category at the Construction
News Quality Awards last week.
The centre, located in Perry Park in Perry Barr was designed and
project managed by Birmingham City Council's Urban Design team and
delivered by local contractor Thomas Vale Construction through the
Birmingham Construction Partnership (BCP).
The £7m project is a world-class gymnastics and martial
arts centre located adjacent to the Birmingham High Performance
Centre and Alexander Stadium. The design introduced a number of
innovative features identified to lessen the impact on the local
area. These included sinking the building into the landscape,
planting a green roof over the martial arts halls, and concealing
the plant room within a dropped ceiling.
Councillor Neville Summerfield, Cabinet member for Regeneration
at Birmingham City Council, was delighted with the news. He
commented: "This award demonstrates our commitment to ongoing
regeneration driven by major construction projects that guarantee
continued development activity, job creation and inward investment
during the economic downturn. Such awards also breed confidence in
the construction sector and act as a catalyst for private sector
developments to continue, leaving the city strongly placed for when
the economy has stabilised."
The prestigious Construction News Quality awards are
acknowledged nationally in celebrating the quality demonstrated by
the UK construction industry; especially the benefits of
encouraging innovation, management best practice and
teamwork.
Cllr Martin Mullaney, the Cabinet Member for Leisure Sport and
Culture added that GMAC has been designed and built to Olympic
standards, and it is expected to be the base for one of the major
gymnastics nations during the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic
Games. He commented: "The centre is proving to be extremely
popular with both elite performers and beginners. A variety of
martial arts clubs are now based at GMAC (including Aikido,
Jujitsu, Judo and wrestling) and the gymnastics programme goes from
strength to strength."
The awards evening was a big success for the whole team, as the
BCP, now in it's fifth year of operation, was one of the finalists
in the Supply Chain Integration category for the second year.