‘ello Ladies. For these were the words of a London taxi driver hailed by a pair of decorative peacocks emerging from the Ballroom entrance to the Dorchester Hotel on Mayfair. The event of course was the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Awards 2008 and the Grand Final Ceremony. The

four categories, Building Conservation, Community Benefit (our group), Regeneration and Sustainability had drawn Regional winners like ourselves from around the country and from further afield internationally from the Republic of South Africa, Belgium and Hong Kong and what I thought was a most unusual entry in the Sustainability category, namely the British Embassy building in the Yemen. In total there were 51 entries and in our group there were 13. To give an indication of the general quality, the winner of the Building Conservation category was the restoration of Kew Palace at Richmond’s Royal Botanical Gardens.

The Vice Chairman Mark Lemon and myself were seated at Table 21 along with representatives from the East of England and along with the other 400 guests were treated to an extremely interesting presentation by Kevin McCloud, best known for Channel 4’s Grand Designs and coverage of the Stirling Prize each October. His presentation was racy, witty, considered and common. By common I mean he spoke in a manner easily understood by everyone, devoid of clichés and technical jargon. People do not get to his position without possessing the rarest of qualities I thought.

His main thrust that modern architecture so frequently delivered ‘identikit shopping experiences’ cut by CAD machines that often lacked character even when the building was constructed of the most expensive and traditional of materials. He said a number of entries had raised the bar to a very high level and in his opinion the greatest achievement was to create a ‘sense of place’. 

This concept of ‘sense of place’ is something very dear to my heart and something I have previously waxed on about in previous newsletters and something we have undoubtedly achieved at Bridge End. Sense of place is of course much more than architecture and includes Conservation, the Community, Regeneration and Sustainability, in fact the four categories of the RICS awards, each aspect having been achieved by our project at Bridge End.

In respect of our category, Community Benefit, the judges were looking for ‘the interaction between a project and the community in which it sits, this being at the heart of this award. It values outstanding involvement by the community and looks for the engagement of the community in the scheme, through the contribution of volunteers or through consultation in the design process. Furthermore value is placed on the variety of people that are involved and the schemes that can demonstrate their reach through the whole community. Well how did we do? In fact very well. Of the 51 entries there was one overall winner (the New Bewerley Community School and Children’s centre from Leeds) a winner from each group and a total of only 6 commendations, one of which was awarded to us.

So how do I feel about this? I think it is fantastic and I hope all those involved do as well. It is the volunteers, all of you who have given your time and energy in taking this thing so far. Make no mistake about that but I hope we are not finished yet. Now the physical part of the scheme is coming to an end I want to make one final push to develop its educational side with the local schools for it is through them, and principally through them, that this baton can be passes from generation to generation.

We must remember Francis Gibson who started all this back in 1840 (for very different reasons) and reflect when he died the garden also died, well at least for a hundred years and this must not be allowed to happen again.

I was reflecting these things as I sat on a bollard outside the Dorchester after the event and in a state of some high emotion. ‘Nice Jacket Mate’ I said to a passer by and this I guess was my means of release from the feelings I was experiencing, flushed by your success.  Looking across at Hyde Park where the leaves had barely started to fall and at a quality landscape amongst the highest in the world, the words ‘Thank you Uttlesford and thank you Heritage Lottery Fund for giving us this chance’ passed my lips. They really did.

John