Beard wins Constructing Excellence Award for the Queen's College
- Heritage Award in the 2011 London and South East Regional Constructing Excellence Awards

Beard has won the Constructing Excellence Heritage Award in the 2011 London and South East Regional Constructing Excellence Awards for their refurbishment of a Grade 1 listed 1730’s Palladian building at The Queen’s College, Oxford. This Award recognises the achievement of high standards in the repair, re-use and revitalisation of the region's historic buildings, sites and places. The works took place in The Queen’s College on Oxford’s High Street and the team had to deal with limited access, heavy pedestrian foot fall and strict delivery times. 

Excavating beneath the structure without disturbing the building required a series of temporary works to support it, including the entire four-storey elevation. Working beneath the level of the existing foundations meant that the team had to underpin all of the existing walls as excavations proceeded. 

Logistically the job was challenging; there were huge amounts of soil and debris created from the excavation of the quad, whilst site access was through a small side entrance of a nearby footpath. Underground Beard used a mini digger to take waste to a larger digger above ground, which transferred the waste into a dumper, which then carried it through the tight lane into a skip near the High Street.

8m steel sections were lifted by a 100tonne crane above two Grade 1 listed buildings. The crane driver could not see over the wall so was working blind, only being directed by a banksman. Had this gone wrong the 8m steel sections would have scraped the lead roof and crashed into the historic Bell Tower creating unimaginable damage.

However despite all these challenges Beard completely revitalised the college and created a light, modern, fresh space for 500 people that would have otherwise been redundant. The state of the art kitchen, along with servery and dining hall provides Queen’s College with a unique and attractive asset that will add value to their organisation for decades to come.

Derek Rees, Regional Director of Constructing Excellence and Chief Executive of the South East Centre for the Built Environment (SECBE), who managed the Awards Scheme, said: “Beard demonstrated a painstaking commitment to this very challenging heritage assignment.  The results show clearly that they meet all the requirements to win this Award.” 

Beard will now go through to the Constructing Excellence national finals to be announced on 25th November.