Oriam Wins BCI Award

Oriam is Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre, and this week it scooped the Best New Building (£10m-£50) prize at the British Construction Industry Awards.

Designed by Reiach and Hall Architects with Max Fordham, the Centre is home to the governing bodies of Scottish football and rugby, and a host of other sports including volleyball and basketball.

The BCI Awards seek to 'recognise and reward excellence in project design, delivery, construction and, crucially, delivering outcomes for society'.

Max Fordham performed environmental engineering design for the project, as well as sustainability services and acoustics consultancy.

The Centre forms part of the campus at Herriot-Watt University and is open to students and members of the public, as well as professional athletes.

Senior Partner at Max Fordham, Mark Palmer said the award was welcome recognition for the building and the design team. 'This is a really innovative sports centre that sits right at the heart of the local community,' he enthused. 'Working with Reiach and Hall and the rest of the design team on Oriam was a privilege and we are thrilled with this recognition from the BCI Awards'.

Palmer noted that is was a doubly happy evening for the architects. 'It was a fun night with a very happy architect. They also won in the £50m+ category with their Glasgow College project,' he explained.

The distinctive shape of the Oriam roof is inspired by a famous free kick taken by Brazilin footballer Roberto Carlos against France in 1997.