The new Remembrance Centre at the National Memorial Arboretum has been crowned UK Project of the Year at a prestigious awards ceremony.

Judges at the RICS Awards Grand Final said the Alrewas centre "stole their hearts" at the London ceremony hosted by BBC Breakfast News and sport anchor Dan Walker on Thursday, November 2.

RICS, or the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, is a global body promoting the highest international standards in land, real estate and infrastructure. It hosts the awards to recognise the most inspirational developments in land, property and the environment.

The National Memorial Arboretum

The £15.7m Remembrance Centre won the accolade for demonstrating outstanding best practice and significant benefit to its local area and wider economy.

More than 95 regional winners competed against each other for the chance to be crowned the overall UK winner in their respective category, and for the opportunity to take the coveted national Project of the Year title at the grand final.

The latest addition to the arboretum was described by RICS judges as a unique building that is of "beautiful, sustainable and detailed construction".

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Sarah Montgomery, managing director at the National Memorial Arboretum, said: "It is great that our fantastic new Remembrance Centre has been named UK Project of the Year by RICS, in recognition of its architectural prowess and contribution to the community.

"Our new building helps us engage visitors in new ways, through our permanent and temporary exhibitions and new dedicated spaces for learning groups.

"New visitor amenities including a new restaurant, coffee shop and gift shop help the arboretum remain financially sustainable."

National Memorial Arboretum
The arboretum attracts thousands of visitors a year

The eight national category winners of the 2017 RICS Awards Grand Final are:

  • Building Conservation - Glynde Place, Glynde, South East
  • Commercial - One Central Square, Cardiff, Wales
  • Community Benefit - The Word, South Shields, North East
  • Design through Innovation - British Airways I-360, Brighton, South East
  • Infrastructure - Wemyss Bay Pier Walkway, Wemyss Bay, Scotland
  • Regeneration – New Waverley, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Residential - Clementhorpe Maltings, York, Yorkshire and Humber
  • Tourism and Leisure - Remembrance Centre at the National Memorial Arboretum, West Midlands

David Brooks, chairman of the RICS Awards Grand Final judging panel, said: "In a year that has seen the centenary of Passchendaele and the passing of our last Spitfire pilot and chartered surveyor, Ken Wilkinson, it is indeed fitting that our winner celebrates and remembers our fallen heroes in such an innovative and commercially successful setting.

"The latest addition of the Remembrance Centre, whilst deceptively simple, succeeds in meeting diverse and complex requirements.

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"It engages both with its environment and its visitors, as a place of welcome and orientation leading to the new Heroes' Square and onto the Arboretum itself.

"The team have really encapsulated the NMA's vision, as an arboretum of joy where the lives of people are remembered by living trees that grow and mature.

The National Memorial Arboretum, in Croxall Road, is the UK's year-round centre of remembrance where visitors can honour those who have fallen.

Galleries in the Remembrance Centre

Town opticians raise cash for veteran

A Burton opticians has raised enough money to allow a blind veteran to march at the Cenotaph in London this Remembrance Sunday.

Specsavers in High Street have been fund-raising via bucket collections to help Gary Stevenson and other blind veterans travel to London this Sunday, November 12.

Gary will be marching at the Cenotaph in London with more than 100 other blind veterans supported by Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-service men and women.

Gary Stephenson

In 1989, Gary joined the Royal Corps of Transport as a stevedore and he was involved in the loading of ships at military ports. Gary served in Norway and in Saudi Arabia during the First Gulf War. Due to damage he had suffered in his knees, Gary was medically discharged as a Private in 1991.

It was years later, in 2009, that Gary lost his sight. After several months of feeling unwell, Gary was advised by his GP that he had mumps. Soon after this, despite feeling like he was on the mend, Gary had a stroke in the middle of the night.

Gary was rushed to hospital where he was told that he did not in fact have mumps. Instead he discovered that he had meningitis, an illness which ultimately robbed him of his vision.

Gary is set to march with other veterans supported by Blind Veterans UK as part of the national Remembrance Sunday commemorations in London on Sunday, November 12, 2017.

The Burton Specsavers team have collection buckets in store and will be running cleaning and adjustments on glasses for customers and passers-by. Their activity can be supported online at blindveterans.org.uk/helpgary.

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