Cardiff’s Wood Street and Central Square Scheme wins second major award

Cardiff’s Wood Street and Central Square Scheme has been awarded a second major civil engineering award.

In June this year the scheme picked up the Civil Project of the Year Award, to which it has now added the Bill Ward Sustainability Award, which was won at the Ice Wales Cymru Civil Engineering Awards 2023, on Friday, September 22.

The Civil Engineering Awards recognise individuals and organisations for innovation, smart engineering, and sustainability in the industry in Wales.

The latest award relates to the transformation of Wood Street, which includes a new road layout; new bus lanes; rain gardens to manage surface water drainage; improvements to the public realm and a highway network which gives priority to buses ready for when the new Transport Interchange opens to the public.

Submitted by the Council’s contractor ARUP and delivered by Cardiff Council and Knights Brown, the Bill Ward Sustainability Award assesses the principles of sustainability, social, economic and environmental benefits during the delivery of a scheme and when it is completed.

Cllr Dan De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: “This is the second award that this scheme has won and is a testament to all the hard work carried out by our staff and contractors.

“The scheme uses the latest engineering to manage surface water drainage, with a series of rain gardens and specific soil and planting that cleans rainwater – so it doesn’t have to be pumped to the sewage treatment plant – creating a sustainable solution that saves time and money.

“Sustainable Urban Drainage (SuD’s) systems are recognised as the best way to manage surface water drainage, improving the resilience of our drainage and sewer infrastructure. This method is endorsed by the Welsh Government and is being used at several sites across the city including Greener Grangetown, Cathays Terrace Tudor Street, Station Terrace and Churchill Way.

“The sustainability award shows how the city is adopting new methods to manage rainfall on the road network, so that the roads do not flood in bad weather, and this water is managed and treated at source, benefitting the environment and reducing overall costs.”