The project team that delivered the Hafan Yr Afon community building in Newtown will find out on Friday if it has won a UK-wide excellence award.
Powys County Council is keen to say pob lwc (good luck) to Open Newtown, Architype and Pave Aways Building Contractors at the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Building Excellence Awards 2023 Grand Finals in London.
The council was one of the supporters of the £2.25m project which received a large part of its funding through the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns programme and from The National Lottery Community Fund.
Hafan Yr Afon was named Best Public or Community Building in Wales by LABC in September and was also awarded the title of Building Project of the Year 2023 by Constructing Excellence in Wales (CEW) in June.
“I’m delighted that a project we supported through the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns programme has gone on to achieve such success and would like to wish all involved good luck at the LABC Grand Finals,” said Cllr David Selby, Powys County Council’s Cabinet Member for a More Prosperous Powys.
“Hafan Yr Afon is proving to be a real asset to Newtown as a community venue and is a building which many residents are rightly proud. It has literally changed the landscape of the town.”
The low-energy two-storey building, next to the River Severn, includes meeting rooms, a café, tourist information and a base for outdoor activities.
“Open Newtown has succeeded to create something very special in Mid Wales which embraces sustainability and safeguards green spaces for the community to enjoy,” said John Rose, Director of The National Lottery Community Fund in Wales.
The National Lottery Community Fund awarded £1.1 million through its Community Asset Transfer 2programme in February 2018 to Open Newtown, which included the transfer of 130 acres along the River Severn in Newtown.
