Somerset Council has won a prestigious national award thanks to dedicated teamwork with its term service surfacing contractor, Heidelberg Materials, in delivering the M5 Junction 26 Chelston Link project.
The Council’s Infrastructure Programmes Group (IPG) won Project of the Year at the prestigious Highways Award, securing further national recognition for its consistent delivery of major highway infrastructure projects.
The award was presented at the Highways Awards ceremony in London. The Somerset Council team faced strong competition from projects and organisations nationwide to take home the coveted title.
The achievement builds on the team’s recent success at the NEC Contract Awards, where it won the Project Excellence Award, further cementing its reputation for delivering high-quality, innovative and sustainable infrastructure projects.
The Project of the Year award for schemes under £10m recognised the team’s ability to deliver complex and strategically important highway schemes on time, within budget and to a high standard, and demonstrates how ambitious carbon reduction can be successfully delivered in a major infrastructure project.
Established in 2018, Somerset Council’s Infrastructure Programmes Group has delivered more than £110 million of major infrastructure projects, with a track record of meeting agreed programme milestones, staying within approved budgets and maintaining rigorous governance and audit standards.
The team’s focus on innovation, sustainability and continuous improvement has helped deliver tangible benefits for Somerset’s residents and businesses.
Councillor Richard Wilkins, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Highways and Transport, said:
Winning Project of the Year at the Highways Awards is an outstanding achievement for our Infrastructure Programmes Group and a real testament to the hard work, dedication and expertise of everyone involved.
To win this award, against such impressive competition from across the country, is a fantastic recognition of what the team has achieved. These are some of the most prestigious awards in our industry, and this is a particularly special one to bring back to Somerset.
I would like to thank our contractor, Heidelberg Materials, whose expertise, commitment, and willingness to embrace innovative construction methods were fundamental to the project’s success. I would also like to thank the wider project team, whose professionalism, determination, and collaborative approach helped turn our ambitions into reality.
