Newnham College and SDC Win at the CDC Awards

It was the Cambridge Design and Construction Awards last night, and Cindy, Nichola and Rob spent an enjoyable evening with the contractors SDC, the project manager and two of our clients from Newnham College.

The standard of projects was very high, and we were delighted to win the Craftsmanship Award, jointly with MUMA’s Storey’s Field Centre. Our project was also commended in the Best New Building (Large) category.

SDC got a well-deserved Certificate of Excellence in the Considerate Contractor category, and we were very proud when Peter Armstrong was awarded Site Manager of the Year.

Pete has been exceptional: he understood straight away that this would be a unique building with a high level of craftsmanship and was dedicated to delivering it. There was never a sense of ‘us and them’ between contractor and architect. It was a pleasure to work with someone whose communication skills are so honest, fostering mutual trust and respect: he even pointed out the poor quality of finish on a granite floor – knowing that we wouldn’t be happy either – and together we found a solution. There aren’t many site managers who would do that. He recognised hard work and saw value in acknowledging it, including organising for 16 members of the team to text the chief bricklayer ‘Well Done Kev’ after a particularly hard day. That commitment to high quality design, ability to motivate, manage and solve problems quickly is a rare combination, even more so when done with a cracking sense of humour.