Police HQ takes top gong at BCO awards

Joint venture developers Ask and Goodman and architects Aedas are celebrating after winning a national award from the British Council of Offices for best corporate workplace for the Greater Manchester Police Force Headquarters at Central Park, East Manchester.

The project beat other regional award winners in an awards ceremony in London to win the Best of the Best award.

The BCO judges said: "Central Park has given the Greater Manchester Police an iconic, state of the art headquarters with a real presence."

The citation continued: "The building shows the GMP as a modern, outward-looking, forward-thinking organisation and provides the optimum working environment for its team. The building's environment provides a sense of drama, inspires the individual and lifts the spirit of the end user."

BCO Awards chairman David Partridge said: "Despite a continuing recession and cuts to public expenditure, this building has made its working areas highly collaborative and effective.
"The use of open space has a positive impact on both the workforce and visitors, and the exterior manages to balance being highly robust, yet inviting."

The 240,000 sq ft building was developed by Ask:Goodman, a joint venture between Ask Developments and Goodman.

The Force HQ is one of two GMP buildings recently completed by Ask: Goodman at Central Park – earlier this year North Manchester Divisional Police moved into its new 125,000 sq ft headquarters.

Jim Johnston, managing director of Goodman, on behalf of developers, Ask: Goodman, said: "BCO Awards decorate the best developments across the UK, and it's a great honour to be recognised for our work at Central Park. The award not only supports the excellence of the design but also the collaborative way in which our respective teams have worked together, which has led to the delivery of a building superbly suited to GMP's programme to replace existing facilities in order to improve services.

"Ask: Goodman has delivered a total of 700,000 sq ft of new business space in Central Park and more than 1,500 people will occupy the two buildings. This will boost the vibrant business community already based here and proves that Central Park is an ideal location for many businesses."

Northern winners in full

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• Corporate workplace: Greater Manchester Police Force Headquarters, Central Park, Northampton Road, Manchester

• Commercial workplace: No 4 St Paul's Square, Liverpool, English Cities Fund
• Fit-out of workplace: BBC North, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays
• Projects up to 2,000m²: Arts Council England – North West Offices, The Hive, 49 Lever Street, Manchester
• Refurbished / Recycled workplace: North of England P&I Association Headquarters, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Innovation nominee: University of Salford MediaCityUK, Plot 4B, Salford Quays, Manchester