International recognition for Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom
Published on July 03, 2018
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom has carried its third major award home to Horowhenua, this time all the way from the United Kingdom.
The Foxton community hub was named as NEC Project of the Year at the international NEC Awards 2018 held in London in June. The award came despite stiff competition from projects as diverse as the Emergency Pathways project at St Thomas’ Hospital, one of the UK’s busiest emergency departments, and the Signature Project to revitalise Hong Kong’s Shing Mun River.
The NEC Awards recognise excellence in project delivery and showcase examples of good practice through collaboration from across the world.
The official citation for Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom emphasised the model of best practice collaboration and transparency that the project offers.
Horowhenua District Council Chief Executive David Clapperton said winning the award was “a real achievement and a testament to the great work carried out by project managers Marc Palmer and Cathy McCartney, the team including Caldow Builders, the project, and the collaboration by project partners Horowhenua District Council, the Dutch Connection Trust and Te Taitoa Māori o Te Awahou Trust.”
He also acknowledged the role of Deputy Mayor Wayne Bishop, who encouraged Council to use a local contractor for the Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom project, one who would use the project to build local construction capacity for bigger projects and use local sub-contractors.
“Using the NEC contract framework allowed us to achieve both of these objectives with the awarding of the contract to Caldow’s Builders from Foxton, and only one non-local contractor being used for this large construction project,” Mr Clapperton said.
Mayor of Horowhenua Michael Feyen said he was immensely proud to see Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom being recognised on the global scene.
“This is a fantastic result that will further raise the profile of Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom and Horowhenua. Those of us involved with making Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom a reality always believed in this project, and it’s great to see the commitment and teamwork recognised in New Zealand and abroad with no less than three awards, as well as a finalist nomination for a fourth,” he said.
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom has also been nominated as a finalist for the Creative New Zealand EXCELLENCE Award for Best Creative Place in the Local Government New Zealand EXCELLENCE Awards 2018. Winners will be announced at the Local Government New Zealand conference dinner in Christchurch on 16 July.