Herefordshire Council has won a prestigious national award for its partnership work with county company Border Oak under the Local Authority Building Control Partner Authority Scheme. The collaboration between the Council and Border Oak won the Best Partnership award. This scheme allows the partner company to use the services and experience of this council in plan checking of its projects outside the County.
The national awards honour exceptional working partnerships across all building companies in the UK and are keenly contested between architects, construction consultants and designers as well as local authority building control departments.
Border Oak set up the partnership with Herefordshire Council Building Control to streamline and support the specialist and innovative nature of their work that is spread across the UK.
Andrew Ashcroft, Herefordshire Council's Head of Planning and Transportation, said: "We have worked closely with Border Oak for many years now on a wide and varied range of projects, and we believe that the relationship between our two organisations is a tremendous example of the LABC Partnership scheme working. There are clear benefits for the clients of Border Oak, for this council and ultimately for the end users of the buildings.
"The LABC awards are most highly regarded as they reward those that achieve the very highest standards in building construction and I am delighted that the partnership has won this prestigious award," he added.
John Greene, managing director of Kingsland-based Border Oak said: "The partnership is an outstanding success. Our design team value highly the constructive guidance and contribution made by the Herefordshire Council's building control team, especially through the special contact with Dave Jones. Through this, an unrivalled mutual understanding of oak framed construction systems has been achieved.
"This unique partnership has enabled us to innovate and develop construction systems which have substantial advantages for the environment and the Herefordshire economy," he added.