Ocon wins RICS Award
Design & build contractor, Ocon, had its position at the vanguard of university accommodation schemes confirmed this weekend when the company won the ‘Residential’ award at this year’s RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) Pro Yorkshire Awards.
Hosted at Leeds United FC on Friday evening, the awards are designed to showcase the best construction projects completed in the Yorkshire region over the past year. Ocon was shortlisted for two awards – ‘Residential’ and ‘Conservation’ - for the £46 million Opal 3 scheme in Sheffield and beat strong competition from four other finalists to take home the ‘Residential’ accolade.
Built on the site of the former ‘Titanic Works’ foundry, Opal 3 sits at one of the key gateways into Sheffield off the A61 and is adjacent to the Kelham Island Conservation area. Combining 998 students bedrooms with a new 36,000 sq ft English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) for the University of Sheffield, the scheme has seen Ocon rebuild the old forge as an indoor recreation area for students and preserve the underground furnaces for posterity. The project is one of a number of recent student accommodation and university schemes undertaken by Ocon , and the company is currently on site at similar projects in Dundee, Sussex, Exeter and Loughborough.
Commented Clive Williamson, managing director of Ocon: “Opal 3 is a showpiece development for Ocon, for Sheffield and for the university accommodation sector. We believe that it raises the bar for university accommodation, combining contemporary living spaces and excellent build quality with a true focus on creating a sustainable student community. It was a challenging scheme involving environmental features and a substantial conservation element but the university is delighted with the results and we are very proud both of the scheme and of the RICS Pro Yorkshire award it has won.”
