May 2010
The Halcrow-designed Owen Street Relief Road project has won two awards, “Project of the Year” at the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence (WMCCE) awards and the ICE West Midlands Construction Award.
The winners of the WMCCE awards were announced at the Celebrating Construction 2010 event, a showcase and awards ceremony that provides recognition of the professionalism, excellence and innovation that lies at the heart of the West Midlands’ construction community.
The awards aim to represent the broadest possible spectrum of achievements, and are open to both public and private sector organisations based in the West Midlands and whose business is construction related.
The Project of the Year was awarded to the project team that showed exemplary technical achievement, team working, innovation, and application of best practice whilst delivering a project to time and budget.
The ICE West Midlands Construction award winner was announced during the ICE West Midlands Annual Dinner on Wednesday12 May. The construction award was given to the project which could demonstrate excellence in construction.
Owen Street Relief Road was constructed by BAM Nuttall, and provides a new road passing beneath the West Coast Main Line railway in Tipton. It required off-line construction of a 5,500 tonne, 54m long concrete box structure that was pushed forwards 60m into place beneath the railway during Easter 2009.
The relief road was commissioned by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to ease the severe traffic congestion on Tipton High Street caused by the barriers at the existing level-crossing frequently being closed for around 45 minutes per hour, which was stifling local prosperity and causing economic decline.