World Expo workers win awards

Some of the people working on the Liverpool pavilion in Shanghai are celebrating after collecting awards during the six month event.

The pavilion, which was situated in the urban best practice area, picked up four awards from World Expo officials following Liverpool's presence at the event between May and October.

The pavilion was voted best model city pavilion in the urban best practice area while the management of the pavilion, led by Chris Heyes from Liverpool Vision, the operations and technical manager, was recognised with the best operations management award.

The award for best expo liaison went to Oliver Hayakawa and the team at Liverpool Shanghai Partnership, Liverpool's Shanghai team, while student volunteer Zhang Jin Yu, otherwise known as Joyce, won the golden employee award for her work in welcoming visitors to the pavilion and for her knowledge of her adopted city.

Heyes said: "It has been a real team effort from start to finish in Shanghai and for many people, including myself, it has been a life-changing experience.

"The Chinese really took us to their hearts and the feedback we received from everyone was very positive. I really believe that we have helped put Liverpool on the map in China and that is the ultimate prize."

Liverpool was the only city in the UK to have had a dedicated presence at the World Expo.

Max Steinberg, chief executive of Liverpool Vision, added: "The World Expo may now have finished but our work in Shanghai will continue to ensure that our hard won friendship and links with China's civic, business and education communities thrives and delivers real and tangible economic gains in the future."

Liverpool Vision claims the Liverpool pavilion attracted more than 770,000 visitors during the six months and the Liverpool Day gala evening concert on Saturday 16 October was witnessed by an audience of more than 1,500 Expo visitors.

The gala evening concert was hosted by BBC Radio Merseyside's Roger Phillips with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Scaffold, the Liverpool Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra, and 6ix Toys, which celebrated the city's musical background.

Liverpool's presence at World Expo 2010 was led by Liverpool Vision in partnership with the North West Development Agency, Liverpool City Council, and the Liverpool Shanghai Partnership.

Architects BDP designed the £1.1m pavilion with Uniform, which won a £600,000 design and build contract to work alongside BDP.