National Centre for Food Manufacturing shortlisted for RIBA
design award
Posted 13 August 2009
The building, designed to serve the food industry, which was officially opened in March 2009 by Sir Stuart Rose, is in the running for a 2009 RIBA Royal Institute of British Architects East Midlands award for architecture.
The awards are designed to celebrate the finest examples of architectural excellence in the region.
The National Centre for Food Manufacturing in Holbeach was designed by Lincoln-based Stem Architects to provide a bespoke conference centre with a technical training facility and associated academic and factory unit space to serve the food industry.
The building provides unique facilities for the local food sector businesses in the surrounding area, where academics and major food manufacturers can jointly develop new technologies within the industry.
Says Tony Parr, Chair of RIBA East Midlands: "It is a fantastic achievement for this new centre for the food industry in Holbeach to be shortlisted for these prestigious regional awards."
Dean Professor Val Braybrooks says, "The building was commissioned by Lincolnshire County Council (LCC), and the University works successfully in partnership with LCC, the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and the European Regional development fund (ERDF) to support and engage with local food manufacturing employers using the facilities in this fantastic building."
Mike Dudbridge, Principal Lecturer at the University, comments, "The new centre has provided a great boost to our work. The levels of engagement with food manufacturing companies has increased greatly since the centre was opened earlier this year. our student numbers are at their highest ever levels for our innovative Foundation Degree in Food Manufacturing, and recruitment is still not finished for the next course starting in September.
"The reaction that this building, and the facilities within it, get from people who visit us is outstanding. For that we must thank Stem Architects and our partners who have made the dream of a modern learning and research environment a reality, right here in Holbeach."
Another honour for Holbeach
The University of Lincoln’s Holbeach campus is celebrating another honour for its work supporting the UK’s food manufacturing industry.
Val
Braybrooks, Dean of the faculty with responsibility for Holbeach,
collected the Food and Drink Innovation Network Stafforce
Recruitment Award for People in Food at the first ever Food and
Drink iNet Innovation Awards.
The gala dinner and awards ceremony took place at the National Space Centre, Leicester, and was hosted by BBC Working Lunch presenter Declan Curry.
The University of Lincoln’s Holbeach campus was commended by judges for the way it has developed new courses to meet the needs of local employers.
Val and her team were nominated for the award by QV Foods – a major local employer whose staff are among the 2,000 students who attend courses at Holbeach each year.
Val said: “It’s a great compliment to everybody at the Holbeach campus that the work we do is held in such high esteem by the sector.”
The accolade comes just six weeks after Holbeach was highly commended in the Times Higher Education Awards 2008 in the category of Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative.
The Food and Drink iNet co-ordinates support for businesses, individuals and academic institutions working in the food and drink industry in the East Midlands, and was launched earlier this year. It is funded by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and managed by a consortium including The Food & Drink Forum, the Food Processing Faraday Partnership, the University of Lincoln, Nottingham Trent University, and the University of Nottingham.
University highly commended
A new £3.5m training facility is due open at the
Holbeach campus early in 2009
The University of Lincoln’s Holbeach campus has been highly commended in the Times Higher Education Awards 2008.
The University had been shortlisted in the category of Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative in recognition of the role it plays in supporting the UK’s food manufacturing industry.
The awards ceremony was held on Thursday 23 October at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, London.
The University of Lincoln was one of just over 100 universities to be shortlisted for an award out of more than 500 entries to the THE Awards 2008.
Although the University did not win the category, it was one of only a handful of universities to be highly commended by the judges.
University of Lincoln Vice Chancellor, Professor David Chiddick, and Dean of Faculty with responsibility for Holbeach, Val Braybrooks, were among those representing the University at the ceremony.
Val said: “It was an amazing event – I think there were 1,500 people there. When you saw the size and scale of the event, you realised what a fabulous achievement it was to be highly commended from such a big field.
“This isn’t the end of the story – it’s the start of a very exciting partnership. As the reputation and profile of Holbeach rises, more and more employers and universities are becoming interested in collaborating with us.”
The University of Lincoln’s Holbeach campus sits at the heart of the UK’s food manufacturing industry in southern Lincolnshire.
Since the redeveloped site was opened in 2004, it has evolved into an internationally-recognised provider of vocational training, undergraduate and postgraduate education, research and technical business support to the sector.
Its development has been driven by the needs of businesses in the food manufacturing industry.
Each year around 2,000 employees of 200 different companies study at Holbeach.
These businesses have been pivotal in the success of Holbeach and the next exciting stage of its development - a new £3.5m food processing factory for education and training.
This building, which will be known as the National Centre for Food
Manufacturing, is due to open early in 2009.
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Ian Richards: Media and PR officer
(01522) 886042
irichards@lincoln.ac.uk
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