R G Carter has reached the national finals of the prestigious Constructing Excellence Awards for its build of the striking and innovative Digi-Tech Factory at City College Norwich.
R G Carter was selected through a regional awards programme before being named a finalist. They will attend the national finals on Friday 18th November 2022, at the London Marriott Grosvenor Square Hotel, where they’ll compete against the country’s leading construction companies.
Director and General Manager at R G Carter, Mario Rackham, an alumnus of City College Norwich said, “The awards are a celebration of everything the UK construction industry has to be proud of. Being a national finalist is an accolade for our team who worked tirelessly on the project but it’s also a great honour in other ways – it puts the region on the map and gives state-of-the-art buildings such as the Digi-Tech Factory visibility.”
To reach the national awards, R G Carter won Project of the Year at the Norfolk Construction Excellence Awards in April 2022 and subsequently beat a project from Hertfordshire to represent the East of England in the ‘Project of the Year’ category.
The East Anglian construction firm will compete against other Project of the Year winners from Wales, London, Southwest England, Northwest England, Northeast England, The Midlands, and Yorkshire & Humber for the prestigious national prize.
Designed by Coffey Architects, the Digi-Tech Factory is an innovative digital study facility that positions Norwich and Norfolk as leaders in digital innovation. Situated on Ipswich Road, Norwich, it brings together the college’s digital skills provision into a single, purpose-built space, allowing the college to significantly increase the number of students and apprentices studying digital courses.
Mario Rackham added, “Collaboration with City College Norwich was key to the success of this project, and we are delighted to have worked with them on this innovative build. Here at R G Carter, we pride ourselves on being a forward-thinking and pioneering construction company – this building reflects this culture and our commitment to embrace new technology and construction processes.”
Attending the awards ceremony will be RG Carter employees who worked on the project, all of whom attended City College Norwich over the last three decades. The team includes Director and General Manager, Mario Rackham, Preconstruction Director Paul Cushing, Construction Director Alex Mackay, Surveying Director Jon Dicks, Senior Estimator Ollie Fairweather, Assistant Project Manager Ed Carr and Senior Site Manager Richard Reeve.
Commenting on making the finals, Jerry White, Principal, City College Norwich, said “It is less than a year since the Digi-Tech Factory opened first opened its doors and we have already seen major benefits to the teaching and learning of digital skills across a wide range of disciplines – from digital infrastructure to computer games design. We are proud of the fact that so many of the team who worked on the Digi-Tech Factory are former students of ours, which is a real testament to the long-standing, and continuing contribution, of our construction courses to the sector.”