The new water activities centre at Whitlingham Country Park, Norwich, built by ISG Jackson Special Projects for Norfolk County Council, has scooped a prestigious Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Built in Quality award. Architect for the scheme, Snell Associates, picked up the award in the Best Public/Community Project category at a prestigious ceremony held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The judges described the £1.6M development as exquisite and were impressed with how well the innovative structure fitted into its setting.

The water activities centre is situated on the banks of the Whitlingham Great Broad, and comprises eight cabins, clad in marine-grade plywood, arranged in a semi-circle, with a large fabric canopy structure, approximately 35m by 50m in size, providing a highly flexible central all weather area.

It is Norfolk County Council's main outdoor education centre, funded by The Big Lottery, Sport England and Norfolk County Council, and attracts children, young people and adults from across the county for a range of activities including canoeing, sailing and windsurfing.

Michael Manning, construction director for ISG Jackson Special Projects, commented: “Everything about this project has been innovative, from the use of screw anchor piling techniques to reduce the environmental impact of our work, through to the specification of the off-site manufactured cabins and the unusual design of the canopy. We are delighted that the project has received the formal recognition it richly deserves, which is a testament to the hard work of all the stakeholders involved in making this unique development a reality.”