A war-time hangar which was transformed into Norwich's International Aviation Academy has won an award for its 'outstanding' design
A second world war hangar which was converted into the International Aviation Academy in Norwich has won a Regeneration accolade in the annual East of England RICS, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Awards.
The academy, which was officially opened by Carol Vorderman last August, was declared the winner for work by RG Carter in transforming the Type C hangar into the academy, featuring an emulation zone housing a Boeing 737.
Hundreds of students from across the UK will take their first steps into the aeronautical world, courtesy of this facility, described at the RICS awards as 'outstanding' and which is the first of its kind in the UK, said to have placed Norwich at the forefront of the UK's aviation industry and given the city a place on the world stage.
The awards, held in Bury St Edmunds on Thursday evening, celebrate inspirational initiatives in the region's land, property and construction sectors across seven categories.
Other winners were entries from Cambridge, Bedfordshire and Luton with the Monkey Lodge in Ipswich being named as Highly Commended in the Residential category; this project saw the transformation of a dilapidated Grade II listed lodge and gateway into an accessible family home through internal modifications and a contemporary glass extension.
Twenty property schemes battled it out for the honours which saw the overall winner, the East of England's Project of the Year, being named as the North West Cambridge Development, a scheme to provide a new urban extension to Cambridge, centred around a mixed academic and urban community. The first phase opened last year with 700 affordable homes and community facilities for university key workers who are priced out of the local housing market.
The International Aviation Academy was designed by architects Hamson Barron Smith, which has an office in Norwich. Partners of the project included Norfolk County Council, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, KLM UK Engineering, City College Norwich and the University of East Anglia.
For a full round up of winners you can see https://ww2.rics.org/uk/training-events/rics-awards
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