£2.4m transformation of historic building wins prestigious RICS award
SITE WAS PREVIOUSLY THE COUNTRY’S FIRST CAR FACTORY
THE £2.4m transformation of a historic Coventry building, which was once part of the Daimler car factory, has been given the thumbs-up at the highest level. The Daimler Powerhouse Creation Centre, a creative hub for the region, has been announced as the winner of a top construction award.
It has won the Community Benefit category in the West Midlands at the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Awards 2022. Led by Warwickshire property, development and construction company The Wigley Group which owns the site on Sandy Lane Business Park - the project saw the only remaining part of the Daimler car factory turned into the first purpose-built art production facility in Coventry.
Judges praised the scheme for delivering wide-reaching community benefits as it was announced as a regional winner at a virtual ceremony this week, with winners now progressing to the live grand final in London in October.
And it was not the only building in the region recognised at the RICS Awards. The Houlton School in Rugby was also a winner in the Refurbishment/revitalisation Project category.
The refurbishment and revitalisation of the listed 1929 Rugby Radio Station transmitter creates a distinctive secondary school at the heart of Urban&civic’s growing new community at Houlton. The school combines three state-ofthe-art new blocks with the creative transformation and fabric upgrade of the listed buildings.
Led by VHH Architects, the design team has collaborated with heritage stakeholders and Morgan Sindall’s supply chain, delivering what judges described as “an exemplary school” on time and budget, despite the pandemic. RICS judges said it “creates an outstanding community facility, celebrating the heritage significance of the historic Radio Station, and establishing an iconic building at the future heart of Houlton”.
Speaking about the Daimler Powerhouse award win, James Davies, CEO of the Wigley Group, said: “I am absolutely thrilled. It took almost a decade’s work to make this happen, as we started working with Imagineer and Godiva Awakes eight years ago to develop a plan and find the necessary funding.
“It involved a huge amount of partnership working over a considerable amount of time, but thanks to everyone’s efforts we helped to save a dilapidated building which was the last remnant of the country’s first car factory, and create a community facility and a cultural legacy for Coventry’s UK City of Culture year.
“This has been a real team effort from everyone at Wigley as every part of the business has been involved in the project - from property, construction to development - which gives me an enormous sense of pride. Well done to everyone involved.”
The judges said of the Daimler Powerhouse: “This project delivers wide community benefits as part of a culturally significant event for the city of Coventry and celebrates the industrial heritage of the city.”
The Powerhouse building is the only remaining part of the Lawson’s Daimler factory where the first Daimler car was built in 1897, with the rest of the factory destroyed during Second World War bombing.
Through a partnership consisting of the arts sector, community groups, local authorities, the Arts Council and Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, new life was breathed into the building to turn it into a centre of creative excellence.
The facility, which opened to the public in August 2021, is run by Godiva Awakes Trust and Imagineer Productions, providing dedicated, fully accessible space for the production of outdoor and sitespecific work.
Its transformation is the first phase of the wider regeneration of the seven-acre site on Sandy Lane in Coventry, with phase two being a new residential-led, mixed-use development, subject to planning permission.