With the awards ceremony set to take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central Hotel on 11 October, George Watt, chair of CIOB’s independent judging panel, revealed nominations have soared for this year’s contest.

A team of judges, including Sharon Barrie MCIOB and Janice Steel MCIOB, spent weeks sifting through the finer details of nominated projects, searching for worthy winners of categories including Graduate of the Year, Project Professional of the Year, Trailblazer of the Year and Project Manager of the Year.

To give attendees some insight into how the judging process works, CIOB quizzed Barrie and Steel on their experience.

Can you give us some insight into what goes into the judging process?

“The judges are allocated two or three categories and there is a process to ensure there is no conflict of interest,” said Barrie, service lead – design and construction at Highland Council, who is judging for the second year on the spin.

“There is also a lead judge allocated for each category to collate responses and deal with any queries.

“After the closing date, the submissions for each category are collated and grouped. A secure link is sent to each judge and then it’s a case of evaluating each submission against the award criteria. This is the time-consuming bit as submissions need to be read several times.”

Once you’ve been given your nominations, what stand-out things are you looking for?

“It’s important to pick out the aspects in the submissions specific to the person,” Barrie, past chair of the CIOB Highlands and Islands Hub, continued.

“Some categories need to have some background information supplied regarding the project but, for me, it’s not about how complex or successful the project was, a good submission conveys the contribution of the nominee, how they delivered excellence and what specifically their contribution was.”

How impressed have you been by the standard of nominations?

“I am always impressed by the standard of entries but this year especially,” asserted Steel, associate at Quantum Solutions and chair of CIOB’s Central Scotland Hub.

“It’s been great to read what each candidate has done and how they go above and beyond to deliver a quality experience in the delivery of their project on behalf of their employer.”

Why do you think the CIOB Awards in Scotland are important for the Scottish Construction sector?

“As an industry, we deliver some outstanding projects,” continued Steel.

“Whether in residential, commercial, industry, infrastructure, or utilities, rarely do we praise individual people at various levels of experience/seniority and the ‘unsung heroes’ within the design/delivery teams who contributed to the success of the project delivery.

“On behalf of CIOB in Scotland, we are very proud to have pitched our categories to do just that.”

Is there anything about this year’s awards which you are most looking forward to?

“The whole day itself is great with the excitement of the announcements and the upbeat atmosphere,” concluded Barrie.

“I’m most looking forward to seeing colleagues from across the industry whom I’ve not seen in a while, making new acquaintances and spending time with friends and colleagues.”

The glittering event in October will give industry leaders the chance to network while recognising some of the sector’s most talented individuals. It will be hosted by Nicky Marr while comedian Keith Farnan will be the guest speaker on the day.

Tickets are still available and anyone interested can find more information here.

You can also email Wilma Marshall at wmarshall@ciob.org.uk