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Technical
CIOB Awards 2025: Low Rise Accommodation
Gold Award Winner: Graham Potts, Kier Construction
Project:Marylebone Square, London W1 Scope: Construction of 79 apartments in nine-storey block, completed in 158 weeks Client: Concord London Value: £124m
A constrained site in central London, the entire footprint taken up by the building itself, and surrounded by busy roads, schools and commercial premises, posed a tough construction challenge.
This was amplified by the complex technical design and ambitious aesthetic. This was a nine-storey building (including a three-level basement) with bespoke internal and external facades, terraces, a five-storey atrium and premium fit-out.
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Graham Potts used powerful programming and planning to deliver this scheme. He appointed a management team purposely diverse from a gender, cultural, age and experience perspective. This was in line with the CIOB key driver which includes diversity and inclusion, sending a clear message of working as one team.
Other finalists
Andrew Canning Caddick Construction Dominic Coxshall Willmott Dixon Alan French Willmott Dixon Jon Kelly MCIOB Storey Homes Stephen McGinty McAleer & Rushe
His close management and stringent control of the extensive use of offsite manufacture assured quality, buildability and programme compliance. The factory-made glazed ceramic cladding, cast aluminium balustrading for inset balconies, internal steel bridges and MEP services were ready for delivery when needed, speeding up build time.
Potts put huge emphasis on benchmarking to ensure quality standards. Many materials, such as the terracotta facade pieces and bathroom stone, were expensive and difficult to work with. He built a full facade visual mock-up off site, a complete working bathroom on site, and created a ‘first in series apartment’ 12 weeks prior to completion. These early benchmarks set high-quality expectations, which were fully met.
Silver Award Winner: Matthew Lewis MCIOB, Wates
Project: Aspen Grove, Cardiff Scope: Construction of 170 houses, completed in 190 weeks Client: Cardiff County Council Value: £45m
This was Matt Lewis’ first residential project, which he delivered 10 weeks early, under budget, incorporating sustainable tech and boosting the contractor satisfaction rating from two stars to the maximum five.
Building scores of houses simultaneously is challenging. Lewis kept key subcontractors on site for the project’s duration, and divided the project into 22 phases. At the same time, he oversaw delivery of homes to hundreds of happy buyers.
The jump in customer satisfaction came from him working closely with all site workers, sales and aftersales to drive up the build standard.
Lewis saved £150,000 on the groundworks package by removing superfluous works. He cut material and excavation costs by eliminating manifolds for the pipework. And he greatly reduced operational costs by using electricity generated by the solar panels in the show plot to power the site setup.
The November/December 2025 issue of Construction Management magazine is now available to read in digital format.
Powered Access
CM, in partnership with IPAF, has launched a new survey to explore the industry’s views and experiences with powered access machines on construction projects.
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