BCO_National_Awards_2026_Suplement - Flipbook - Page 43
PROJECTS UP TO 2,500M2 NET
BCO Awards 2026
Client
NESO
Occupier
NESO
Regional Winner
Projects up to 2,500m2 Net
The Midlands and Central England
NESO The Energy
Lab Warwick
Project Manager
AECOM
Quantity Surveyor
AECOM
Brief Consultant
Motionspot
Interior Designer
AECOM
M&E Engineer
AECOM
Sustainability Consultant
Rype
Contractor
Overbury
B3, Faraday House, Gallows Hill,
Warwick Technology Park, Warwick
T
he Energy Lab at
Warwick Technology
Park is playing a vital
role in forging the identity of a
brand-new organisation.
Until October 2024, the
team now based at Faraday
House in Warwick worked
for National Grid, sitting
inside its Electricity System
Operator division rather than
as its own organisation.
That changed when the
UK government paid £630m
to take the division out of
National Grid and set it
up as the National Energy
System Operator (NESO),
launching on 1 October 2024.
Overnight, the staff had a
new employer, but what
they didn’t have yet was a
new identity. NESO is now
government-owned and sits
apart from any company
with a stake in energy
infrastructure, responsible
for balancing Great Britain’s
electricity supply and
demand in real time and
planning the country’s future
energy networks.
Delivered by AECOM and
Overbury, this impressive
project was the pilot scheme
bco.org.uk
tasked with building the
workplace identity to
match. The design process
helped shape that identity
as much as the finished
space did. The judges were
impressed by the staffled design process, which
involved 90 of NESO’s own
people in creating a design
and place that would help
foster the new culture,
identity and support its
workers to attain the
organization’s key values.
Sustainability mattered
just as much, with reuse
and remanufacturing
favoured over replacement
throughout the fit out.
The judges praised the
strength of this approach.
Circular economy principles
were adopted, with the
reuse of existing materials
and remanufacturing of
furniture forming a core
part of the delivery. The
notable achievement of zero
waste to landfill further
impressed the judges. The
team’s commitment has
produced a successfully
operating workspace that
has exceeded expectations.
October 2026 • ESTATES GAZETTE • 43
