The electrification of the Core Valley Lines impressed the judges at the 2026 British Construction and Infrastructure Awards.
A programme to transform the Core Valley Lines, part of the South Wales Metro, has taken home the Sir John Armitt Prize at the 2026 British Construction and Infrastructure Awards (BCIA).
Back for its second year, the prize celebrates a project that went above and beyond to deliver not just for the client, but end users, too. It’s named after ICE Past President, Sir John Armitt.
The £1.5bn Core Valley Lines transformation earned it for its “very strong and widespread community benefits”, according to the judging panel.
Modernising 170km of railway across one of the UK’s most economically deprived regions, the programme included:
- electrification of the lines
- digital signalling coordinated from a bespoke Integrated Control Centre
- £800m of new electric and hybrid trains
- station upgrades
- two new stations
The judges called it a “benchmark project for the challenge ahead for Great British Railways (GBR)”.
The programme also took home the Transport Project Award on the night.
The other Sir John Armitt Prize nominees
- Church House
- Crawshaw Woods cast iron arch
- Foyle Street Network Upgrades Project
- JR Clynes Building
- Redefining Clerk of Works Delivery
- Waterside Bridge - Active Travel Bridge
Church House
The major renewal of this Grade II listed building in Westminster restored space, daylight and ventilation through innovative, low-carbon methods.
Trapping 1,260 tonnes of CO2 and achieving a net zero, carbon-negative refurbishment won it the Net Zero Carbon Impact Award.
Crawshaw Woods cast iron arch
Having turned brittle, the Crawshaw Woods Grade II-listed cast iron arch bridge needed repair.
As part of the electrification works on the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), the bridge was removed, repaired, repainted and re-installed with greater clearance for future overhead cables.
Foyle Street Network Upgrades Project
Transforming ageing wastewater infrastructure in Derry, Northern Ireland earned this project a finalist spot for the Sir John Armitt Prize, and the top prize for the Upgrade & Renewal Project Award.
The scheme replaced a 100-year-old combined sewer with a modern separated gravity foul and storm system. These systems use two independent networks of pipes to separately transport wastewater and rainwater.
JR Clynes Building (Oldham Old Library)
After serving the community for over 130 years, Oldham Old Library closed its doors in 2017. It stood vacant in for years, and became a symbol of decline in the Greater Manchester town.
In 2025, a project to regenerate the Grade II listed structure began, and it was renamed the JR Clynes Building (after an Oldham-born British politician).
It’s now a civic and cultural hub, featuring a new council chamber, community spaces, a refurbished art gallery, landscaped gardens and more.
The building also won the Cultural & Leisure Project Award and the Retrofit & Reuse Project Award.
Redefining Clerk of Works Delivery
Through early engagement and technical input, the Clerk of Works supported the delivery of a 2MW heat pump energy centre and district heating network for the Cambridge University Hospitals estate.
While the Clerk of Works’ role has historically been about identifying faults and compliance, this project team didn’t wait to identify issues – they prevented them.
Waterside Bridge - Active Travel Bridge
Spanning the River Trent in Nottingham, Waterside Bridge provides a new pedestrian and cycle crossing east of the city centre.
Its construction was highly challenging due to its complex, 87m steel network arch (a tied-arch bridge with inclined hangers that cross one another) main span.
The British Construction and Infrastructure Awards
A project that displayed excellence while engineering in extreme environments took home three awards on the night.
The Rothera Modernisation Project in Antarctica delivered a new wharf, runway upgrades, life support systems and the new Discovery Building, a £100m operations and scientific support facility.
It took home the Social Infrastructure Project Award, the International Project Award and the Project Team Excellence Award.
Taking home the Environmental Project Award and the Placemaking Project Award, the Salisbury River Park scheme was designed to tackle flood risk while improving natural spaces for the community.
The scheme works with nature to manage water more effectively while also supporting biodiversity and encouraging active travel through improved pedestrian and cycling routes.
The Dearne Reach Integrated Constructed Wetland in Huddersfield took home two prizes on the night: the Water Project Award and the Sustainability & Environmental Impact Award.
Designed to improve water quality along 4km of the River Dearne, the wetland uses natural processes to reduce pollution, particularly of un-ionised ammonia (which is highly toxic to aquatic life).
The project also won the Centenary Award at the 2026 ICE Yorkshire and Humber Awards.
The full list of BCIA 2026 winners
- Commercial Property Project Award: Angel Square
- Cultural & Leisure Project Award: Oldham Old Library
- Housing & Residential Project Award: Ebury Bridge Estate Regeneration
- Retrofit & Reuse Project Award: Oldham Old Library
- Social Infrastructure Project Award: Rothera Modernisation Project
- Energy Project Award: Birmingham Airport Solar Project
- Environmental Project Award: Salisbury River Park
- Placemaking Project Award: Salisbury River Park
- Transport Project Award: Electrification of the Core Valley Lines
- Upgrade & Renewal Project Award: Foyle Street Network Upgrades Project
- Water Project Award: Dearne Reach Integrated Constructed Wetland
- International Project Award: Rothera Modernisation Project: Discovery Building, Antarctica
- Small Project Award: The National Gallery Roden Centre for Creative Learning
- Digital Impact Award: Transforming Water Demand Through Data and Engagement
- Health, Safety & Wellbeing Impact Award: Controlling of High Energy Hazards
- Innovation Impact Award: Coventry Very Light Rail Demonstrator Track
- Net Zero Carbon Impact Award: Church House
- Social Value & Community Impact Award: The Plan & Pitch Project
- Sustainability & Environmental Impact Award: Dearne Reach Integrated Constructed Wetland
- Architectural Design Excellence Award: The Gradel Quadrangles - New College Oxford
- Construction Excellence Award: Grain to Tilbury Tunnel
- Engineering Excellence Award: Colne Valley Viaduct
- Project Team Excellence Award: Rothera Modernisation Project
- Sir John Armitt Prize: South Wales Metro – Building the Core Valley Lines Transformation
Learn more about the BCIA 2026 winners
The winners were announced at an awards ceremony at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 14 October 2026.
Sustainable Development Goals:
You may also be interested in
- Type
- News
RAEng names 4 leading ICE members as Fellows
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) has announced 75 individuals who are making outstanding contributions to the profession.
- Type
- Lecture
Beyond Monitoring: Leveraging AI and Space Technology for Resilient Applications of Geosynthetics
Discover how space technology, AI, and satellite data are transforming infrastructure asset monitoring and geohazard risk management. Explore how soil moisture and multi-layer data insights are enabling smarter, more proactive infrastructure resilience.
- Type
- Webinar
Geo-data management in an AI world: why does it matter?
This webinar explores why trusted geo-data matters in an AI-enabled world. It will consider data quality, validation and verification, tools, data specification, close-out, consistency across datasets, and the value of sharing data with the British Geological Survey.