Makers on top with the Podium
Last week saw the submission of the Bath Podium Car Park take first place in the ‘Best Renovation category’ at the British Parking Awards held at the Lancaster Hotel London, hosted by comedian and Radio 4 presenter Mark Steel author of ‘Mark Steel in Town’ now in its 12th series who battled his way through over 20 awards presented at a Gala dinner to celebrate the great and the good in parking to over 600 guests.
The Bath Podium was one of 3 selected finalists drawn from a long entry list which included St Catherines Walk, Carmarthen and Merry Hill Shopping Centre Dudley. The Car Park Renovation Award seeks to see how the car parks have been transformed into an inspiring building with a genuine social value and can host a variety of uses.
“We are delighted for Makers success especially off the back of the award for Ikea Reading, we worked closely with them to overcome some complex issues on both projects and to be recognised by both the LRWA and BPA is pretty special…”
Richard Bowyer National Account Manager Triflex
“Podium had a lot of things to deal with and overcome; with respective tenants and users all having an effect on the refurbishment, coupled with being within a UNESCO heritage site has meant that the work and approach has had to be sympathetic to its environment and leave a lasting legacy to the area and community…”
Polly Church Partner Church, Potter & Holmes Architects
The British Parking Awards started back in 2002 its first host being Richard Hammond of Top Gear who was astounded that we could have awards for ‘parking’ but move forward some 21 years and with the advancement on technology the Awards have been transformed covering a number of sectors that not only cover Parking but include Special Jury Prizes and more recently with the development of the electric car the EVolution Awards, for innovation in this sector.
Makers were finalists at the very first awards and over that 21 year period have reached the Finals 20 times electing to Sponsor in the year of project absence. In that time Makers has enjoyed significant success in the “Renovation Category” receiving 9 Winners Awards as well as receiving 2 Special Jury Awards.
The Awards see a high entry level and interest across all categories so to actually make the final is an achievement in itself and so we offer our congratulations to all the finalists and winners of this year’s awards.
“The criteria gets harder, the competition stronger and so to win is remarkable. We were hopeful as we thought Podium was a strong candidate but on recent judging it’s difficult to call especially when projects under consideration can be so different. Podium for many reasons has been a challenging project and has required the team to work collectively to drive the project forward. I am delighted for all those involved especially those with such personal investment and being recognised by the BPA as their “ Best renovation Project for 2023” is testament to their efforts, so I am especially delighted for them…”
Simon Lamb, Managing Director
We would like to congratulate and offer our thanks to the team and those that made significant contributions to the scheme as well as Makers Staff & Supply chain partners directly involved in the delivery of the project;
DTZ Investors, Cushman & Wakefield, Cogent Building Consultancy, Potter Church & Holmes Architects, Stripe Consulting, MBCE Consulting Engineers and finally Quinn Ross.