City centre office block wins top UK award

THE One Central Square building in Cardiff has been named the best commercial scheme in the UK.

The landmark development in the city centre has been named the UK’s best commercial property scheme at the prestigious RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Awards Grand Final.

One Central Square – a winner at the RICS Awards, Wales earlier this year – provides 135,000sq ft of much-needed Grade A office space in the capital.

The building, which was completed in March 2016 and fully let within six months, was designed by Rio Architects for Rightacres Property Co. The project team also included Willmott Dixon Construction.

RICS judges praised the project team for creating a BREAAM excellent building that has proved exceptionally popular with tenants, whilst acting as a catalyst for further development in and around the area, which will further enhance Cardiff as a commercial destination.

The Urban Village on High Street in Swansea was highly commended in the Regeneration category.

The project teams for the two schemes collected their accolades at a gala event at the InterContinental London, Park Lane Hotel last night.

The event was hosted by BBC Breakfast news and Walker.

The six category winners from this year’s RICS Awards, Wales were automatically entered into the RICS Awards Grand Final, where they competed sport anchor Dan against more than 95 regional winners for the chance to be crowned the overall UK winner in their respective category.

The 2018 RICS Awards Wales are now open to enter.