Iconic bridge and boulevard win top award for design
Archived press release
Date Published: 12/11/09
The Bourg Walk Bridge
The new Bourg Walk Bridge and Station Boulevard in Aylesbury have won a prestigious award for design excellence.
The multi-million pound scheme received the top honour in the 2009 Aylesbury Vale District Council Design Awards.
The awards are run annually to recognise design excellence and raise awareness of the contribution good design can make to the quality of the built environment.
Bourg Walk Bridge and Station Boulevard, designed by Jacobs and built by Birse Civils as part of Buckinghamshire County Council’s transport hub project, give pedestrians and cyclists safer and easier access to the town centre, and Southcourt and Aylesbury College.
More than 100 builders were involved in the project over a period of nearly 15 months using some 380 tonnes of steel and 2,615 tonnes of concrete. The bridge itself is approximately 250 metres long and 4.6 metres wide with a mast which stands 35 metres high.
Station Boulevard is a short, tree-lined highway adjacent to the bridge which takes public transport and pedestrians up from the Station to Friarage Road.
Four other projects received commendations at a special presentation night held at The Dairy, Waddesdon Manor, on 11 November. The commendations were:
• Church View, Padbury – Four new houses and a barn conversion in the conservation area close to the church, commended as a good, small development in a village setting. Designed by David Coles Architects Ltd, developed by Andrew Inchbald, Pridefair Ltd and built by Impact UK Developers Ltd
• Boycott Farm Shop, Stowe – Conversion of a Grade II listed barn to a farm shop, tea room and kitchen, commended as being a good renovation of a redundant agricultural building to a successful rural business use
• The Chalet, near Aston Clinton – Commended for skilled restoration, this Grade II listed 1887 Rothschild summer pavilion was extended and historic internal decoration was reinstated together with remodelling of the grounds. Design work by Alan C Watson Design Ltd and built by Burlington Construction (Bucks) Ltd
• Old Barn Cottage, Haddenham – Extension and partial rebuilding of a witchert barn to provide an annex, study and library, commended for a combination of building and garden design which creates a very strong and memorable sense of place. Designed by Michael Dolan Associates and built by Basil Wyatt Ltd.
The awards were open to both residential and non-residential developments and a shortlist of eleven schemes was drawn up for consideration by a panel of judges including the Chairman of AVDC, Councillor Janet Blake.
Councillor Blake was joined on the judging panel by Councillor Carole Paternoster, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning at AVDC, Richard Rose-Casemore, a regional representative of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, Chris Lamb, Chief Executive of Kent Architecture Centre and Sue McGlynn, Executive Director of Transform MKSM.
To decide on the winners, each scheme was visited and scored by the judges against the following criteria: context; quality; fitness for purpose; sustainability; accessibility; innovation; and attractiveness.
Councillor Sue Polhill, Cabinet Member for Planned Development at AVDC, said: “These awards promote the importance of good design and show the council’s commitment to working in partnership with owners, architects and contractors to raise the standard of development and improve the appearance of the district’s built environment.
“The standard of nominations this year was, as always, very high and this made the judges’ task of deciding on a winner even more difficult. I commend all the entries put forward in this year’s design awards and hope that the scheme will continue to raise awareness and encourage high standards of design as the district develops.”
This year’s design awards ceremony was sponsored by Waddesdon Manor, Howard Sharp and Partners, Aylesbury Vale Advantage and Savills.