The restored Great Barn at Bolton Abbey has won a prestigious national building award from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). 

Situated on a ridge overlooking the River Wharfe, and owned by the Bolton Abbey Estate, the barn was built in 1519 to store produce for Bolton Priory, with teams of oxen pulling into place the giant oak “A” frames that support its magnificent roof structure.  It is one of the largest and best preserved medieval aisled barns in England, and now a major wedding venue run by the Cripps Group, wedding barn specialists since 1990. 

The refurbished building won the Best Commercial Project from the RICS at a special ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London last week.  This follows its success earlier this year, when it won three regional awards from the RICS as well as two from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). 

The transformation of the barn from a cluttered agricultural store into a magical wedding venue was described by the national RICS judges as “exemplary”.  They also praised the project team behind it, which included Pearce Bottomley Architects, Lichfields and Universal Projects, for sensitively restoring the listed structure and transforming it into arguably one of the finest wedding barn properties in the country.

“We are thrilled to win,” said Ben Heyes, Director of the Bolton Abbey Estate.  “It took five years to do all the necessary research and planning work, since the Barn is a Grade II* Listed Building and Scheduled Monument in a Conservation Area in a National Park.  We are therefore endebted to Historic England, the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the rest of the team for their help and hard work.” 

“This is great news,” added Mark Henriques, Head of Cripps.  “The barn is a magnificent building in the most stunning setting.  We are absolutely delighted to be the operator, and to make this marvellous building accessible to so many.”

After a period of self-implemented intensive penetration testing and evaluation of our IT systems, policies and procedures, our organisation has been granted the benchmark accreditation for the Cyber Essentials Plus scheme, passing with flying colours.

Many thanks to our IT team, led by BIM & 3D manager Matt Biggs, for their tireless efforts in making sure SL continues to have the security in place pursuant to the sensitivity needs of our client base – well done!

Our certifcate can be viewed online at - http://www.qgstandards.co.uk/qgce896-2/

Silcock Leedham projects received no less than a fantastic five nominations in the prestigious Constructing Excellence Awards – Yorkshire and Humber.

This included two nods for Project of the Year, the £40m state of the art Airedale International Manufacturing Facility and the new national headquarters for TPP, the UK’s leading healthcare software provider.

Both projects are in Horsforth, a stone’s throw from Silcock Leedham HQ – a real boon for the local area to have the investment and new jobs created by two stellar projects on our doorstep.

The gala dinner and awards ceremony held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds saw a fantastic occasion attended by the cream of Yorkshire’s construction industry and Silcock Leedham were absolutely delighted to see TPP picking up the award for Client of the Year! A hearty congratulations to Frank and his team, you were a pleasure to work for.

We are proud to have been part of the Elliotts Modular team who won the National Supplier of the Year for their programme of modular build restaurants.

The client praised the “can-do attitude and ability to react to changes” during the exceedingly tight project timescales – a credit to everyone involved.

Darren Barnett, Elliott Contracts Manager commented “I must say a big thank you to all of you for your hard work and effort in delivering a fantastic product that all of us should be extremely proud of.  Can I also say that your continued commitment to improve what we do is much appreciated by all of the team at Elliott”

Barnsley Sixth Form College and Construction Centre has been shortlisted for the ‘Best Educational Project’ and the ‘Best Commercial Project over £1million’ award at the South Yorkshire and Humberside LABC Building Excellence Awards.

The awards ceremony will take place at the Forest Pines Hotel on Thursday 12 May 2016.

Silcock Leedham was part of the team, led by Bond Bryan Architects, working on these ground breaking initiatives.

Image provided curtesy of Bond Bryan Architects.

We are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted at Insider's Yorkshire International Trade Awards 2015 in the Emerging Overseas Exporter category.

This is a welcome recognition considering that our international business is still in its infancy and reflects the amazing progress we have made since opening our office in Dubai and serving the middle east  in  September 2014.

Prior to this we have had  some international success in Egypt, Sudan, Middle East and Europe and as our knowledge of the international market has grown, we have become increasingly aware of the growing opportunities in the Middle East and North African region (MENA).

Our client’s in the UAE and wider Middle East are serviced from our Dubai office with active projects in Oman, Qatar and Dubai and a growing number of quality enquiries from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond.

Our Dubai operation is headed up by one of our experienced engineers who was originally based in our Leeds office and took the decision to relocate himself and his young family.

Chris Tate, who is our ‘Country Manager’ based out in Dubai, is familiar with our high standards of quality of service and he has adopted the same work ethic and the same UK ISO9001 quality standards that we are accredited for at our head office in Leeds. Chris also understands our company ethos and from day one of operating in UAE we have seen a seamless transitional process.  This was achieved by establishing an open communications principle with Chris using simple file sharing technology and lots of SkyPE meetings.

We are now able to mobilise quickly with an international team fully supported by UK engineers, technicians, modellers and designers and this has enable us to win some prestigious commissions including:

• Arabian ranches courtyard , Dubai

• Etihad first class lounge, Abu Dhabi airport

• SIBCO, Jeddah

• British school, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Chris said  “Our overall approach has been based on a Yorkshire culture of ‘no nonsense’ focussed on the ‘end-game’ of delivery and results – it’s not a magic formula, we’ve been doing it for years, but it is seen as refreshing and positive in the UAE, generating enthusiasm.”

The restored Wentworth Castle Glasshouse, which was reopened to the public in November 2014, is one of just 6 projects to win a Civic Trust AABC Conservation Award this year alongside Kings Cross Station in London and the Middleport Potteries.

The awards are given to projects that make an outstanding contribution to the quality and appearance of the built environment. With the conservation award in particular recognising the highest standards of building conservation. The judges looked for an understanding of significance, diagnosis of problems and deficiencies; and development of a philosophical and practical approach specific to the project circumstances.

Issues at the glasshouse included significant structural repair and restoration, designing out original defects and making new design decisions to allow for public access and year round opening.

This is a complete reversal of fortunes for the fragile glasshouses which were in perilous condition and on the buildings at risk register.

Claire Herring, Director of the Wentworth and Stainborough Park Heritage Trust said:

“The transformation of the Glasshouse from derelict eyesore to the dazzling centrepiece of the Gardens is the culmination of a 10 year dream for the Trust.  Its fragile beauty is a credit to the perseverance of the professional team and the craft skill of the contractors.”

Silcock Leedham was part of the Buttress Architects team working on this commission and provided detailed design of the building services From RIBA stage B to L and BREEAM assessment services.

We are delighted to announce that one of our main projects from 2013, the University Technical College (UTC) Sheffield, has won a prestigious Sheffield Design Award, bestowed jointly by RIBA Yorkshire and the Sheffield Civic Trust. The SDA are held every two years and open to any project within the city’s boundary.

​The UTC offers a unique opportunity for education and business to come together and develop the skills that are needed in the industry of the future. It is a perfect fit with the activities carried out within the Cultural Industries Quarter creating a symbolic relationship between the two, to the benefit of the whole area.

The judging panel felt that the building ‘integrated seamlessly within the city's fabric and is a relevant project for the times.’ 

Silcock Leedham acted as part of the Wates team during the competitive bid stage with HLM Architects, BWB Structural & Ares Landscapes, to develop a winning formula before producing performance documents for M&E tendering and finally being novated to complete the detailed design & coordination.

The project not only features a 3G sports pitch on the roof, it's sustainable credentials are enhanced by connection to the Sheffield District Heating network, deriving all heating & hot water, ultimately, from incinerated household waste.

Many of the graduates are likely to progress to industry via UTC partners on the Advanced Manufacturing Park on the outskirts of the city, on which another 2 recently completed Silcock Leedham commissions were coincidentally nominated for the same award.

Wentworth Castle and Stainborough Park has been short-listed in the semi-finals of The National Lottery Awards in the Best Heritage Project category.

The awards, which are voted for by the public, have been set up to recognise various projects across the country.

There are seven categories in the awards, each reflecting the main areas of lottery funding: Arts, Sport, Heritage, Health, Environment, Education and Voluntary/Charity.

The winning project from each of the categories will receive national recognition at an event later this year, broadcast on BBC One, as well as £2,000 to spend on their project.

Silcock Leedham has worked alongside the team at Wentworth Castle on the recently completed lottery funded renovation works to convert the grade II listed conservatory into a visitor gateway for the castle and gardens.