CIOB Awards Winners

With the project of the refurbishment and restoration of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) in London, with a total duration of 66 weeks of execution and a total budget of £30 million, Francisco Javier Fernández Nuevo has recently been awarded with the Silver Award in the category of refurbishment of the awards granted by the Institute of Building (CIOB) in the United Kingdom recently last October 2022.

The project was listed as a heritage listed building built in 1883, where a new height had been planned in order to create an exclusive space for BAFTA members and representatives. With an innovative approach Javier managed in coordination with the structural subcontractor to develop a methodology to lift the existing metal structure of the original skylights saving the use of a total of 18 tonnes of steel to support them as initially specified by Structural Engineering (hanging the existing structure) by replacing the lifting method with hydraulic jacks supported on the internal scaffolding supporting structure, to raise the structure 3.2m by pushing it upwards for connection to the new support pillars. This was one of the major achievements saving cost and a total of 3 weeks over the initial construction programme.

BAFTA has been a truly challenging project, with the latest qualities in terms of finishes, with a design thought out down to the last millimetre and with an exhaustive coordination of the installations in order to create a truly innovative space with the latest technologies within a building of more than 135 years old where the essence of the original decorative elements of the building have been preserved, creating a truly explosive mix of old and new, very well executed and designed by the architectural firm Benedetti Architects.