Animal studies centre’s triple award success shows power of retrofitting

The Dudley Animal Studies Centre project, delivered by Cundall, demonstrated the potential of retrofitting by taking home three accolades at the ICE West Midlands Awards 2025.

Instead of demolishing the existing structure and building a new one, the project team recommended retrofitting.

In doing so, they created a facility with impressive energy efficiency and air permeability, bringing the building close to new-build standard. The centre opened for students in September 2024.

Cundall walked away with the Carbon and Sustainability Award, the Medium Project Award and the coveted Overall Project Award, granted at the judges’ discretion.

Held in Birmingham, the ICE West Midlands Awards were presented by ICE President Professor Jim Hall, regional chair Giles Atkinson and guest speaker, Professor Turi King.

Heritage Award

Other winners on the night included WM Longreach, Telford and Wrekin Council, and Balfour Beatty Living Places for their Ironbridge Upper Furnace Pool Restoration project. They took home the Heritage Award.

The judges celebrated the team’s use of long reach excavators to minimise manual handling when removing silt from the local waterways in support of safe working.

This area is now a popular walking location that school children have visited to learn about the engineering process.

Highly commended in the same category was the Radford River Bridge Refurbishment project submitted by Amey in partnership with Staffordshire County Council.

Education and Inspiration Award

Mott MacDonald Bentley won the Education and Inspiration Award for their STEM Initiative, which sought to help bridge the construction skills gap.

Their bootcamp aimed to advance civil engineering knowledge by offering free training, which resulted in job opportunities.

Mott MacDonald Bentley's Centre of Excellence for Active Travel, submitted on behalf of Transport for West Midlands, was highly commended in this category.

Innovation and Technical Excellence Award

JN Bentley, Severn Trent Water and AtkinsRéalis received the Innovation and Technical Excellence Award for their work on the Strongford Net Zero Hub.

New technologies were integrated onsite to reduce and remove carbon, cutting out 34,000 tonnes per year.

The judges were impressed by the innovative ‘Actilayer’ technology, which splits nitrous oxide into nitrogen and oxygen using catalytic material (making the chemical reaction occur faster) and sunlight.

Highly commended in the same category was the Black Country Metro Extension: Delta Junction Improvement submitted by Tony Gee and Partners in partnership with the Midland Metro Alliance.

People awards:

As well as projects, individual engineers were also celebrated on the night.

Regional STEM Ambassador of the Year

Samuela Osei, a civil engineer at Arup, was named STEM Ambassador of the Year for the region.

Osei was recognised for her dedication, tutoring school children to boost their confidence in maths and prepare for their SATs exams.

Before her 9-5 job, she travelled to Ark Tindal Primary Academy to provide support to the children.

Rising Star Award

The winner of this year’s Rising Star Award was presented to Ben Merchant-Smith from Tony Gee and Partners.

Merchant-Smith was recognised by his company for his geotechnical and technological knowledge.

He recently led the geotechnical engineering on their first major scheme.

Serena Gough from Arcadis was highly commended by the judges in the same category for volunteering in various guises for the ICE and for promoting civil engineering for several years.

Bob Dunn Award

The Bob Dunn Award was presented to Andrew Kenchington from Tony Gee and Partners, in recognition of his work on numerous schemes across the region.

One project of note is the Selly Oak Bypass. Kenchington developed an alternative design for two 70 metre, three-span bridges which provided significant construction and environmental benefits by reducing congestion and improving air quality.

Kenchington started his career as a graduate engineer and over three decades later has become a group director for Tony Gee and Partners.

The award, in memory of the late Bob Dunn, celebrates those who make an outstanding contribution to the promotion of civil engineering.

Read the full list of 2025 winners

The ICE West Midlands Awards were sponsored by Taylor Woodrow.