Neath Port Talbot Council’s £7.9m Bay Technology Centre has picked up the Commercial Property Project of the Year award at the prestigious British Construction Industry (BCI) Awards.

Announced at the Grosvenor Hotel in London, the annual awards judged by industry experts, recognise outstanding achievements in construction, taking into account architectural and engineering design, the construction process, delivery to time and budget and client satisfaction.

The judges said of the energy positive building, based at Neath Port Talbot’s Baglan Energy Park: “Proving the concept of ‘a building as a power station’ the Bay Technology Centre produces more energy than it consumes.

“Targeting tech company occupiers, this step change in building embraces passive features, integrates photo voltaic cells into facades and achieved construction efficiencies through cloud based modelling and data sharing.”

Morgan Sindall was the council’s main contractor on the project, working with the IBI Group (architecture), Hydrock (engineering design work) and The Urbanists (landscape architectural services). Other contributors included FP Hurley & Sons, CMBE Electrical and Central Cladding.

The Neath Port Talbot Council commissioned building, based in one of the premier business and industrial locations in Wales, already has two tenants with a number of others poised to sign up.

The BCI award is the third picked up by the Bay Technology Centre on which construction was completed earlier this year. Previously, it won the Net Zero Award in this year’s Constructing Excellence Wales (CEW) Awards and the Sustainability Award in the Insider Wales Property Awards.

Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Wellbeing, Cllr Jeremy Hurley, said: “We are extremely pleased our new energy positive building at the Baglan Energy Park has been recognised nationally.

“Our thanks go to the contractors involved and this helps to show that Neath Port Talbot Council recognises that tackling climate change is urgent.

“The arrival of this award-winning energy positive building is strongly linked to our DARE (Decarbonisation and Renewable Energy) strategy .”

Geraint Hopkins, Director of consulting engineers McCann and Partners, one of the two new tenants at the Bay Technology Centre, said: “Congratulations to Neath Port Talbot County Council and everyone else involved in being awarded Commercial Property of the Year.

“We are excited to begin this new chapter within a building that promotes low energy and sustainable design. This move enhances our vision and commitment to decarbonisation and energy efficiency, whilst affording state-of-the-art facilities for our team to continue to grow.”

The Bay Technology Centre has been part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Welsh Government and UK Government through the £58.7m Supporting Innovation and Low Carbon Growth Programme, part of the £1.8bn Swansea Bay City Deal regional investment programme.