Engineers in the North West have issued a final rallying cry to the public in an attempt to help Manchester Victoria Train Station achieve success, as it bids to become the winner of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) People’s Choice Award for 2016.
The People’s Choice Award is a top accolade within the industry that recognises the best civil engineering project for the calendar year, and there are 12 projects from different regions around the UK that have been shortlisted for the award this year.
Manchester Victoria is flying the flag for the North West in 2016 following the £44 million upgrade of the station that was completed earlier on in the year, which included a new roof worth £20 million and a tram stop with four new platforms and three new tracks, answering the critics in 2009 who labelled the station as ‘Britain’s Worst’.
“The People’s Choice Award has been created by the ICE to allow members of the public to vote for the infrastructure development they most value” commented Darrell Matthews, the North West regional director of the ICE. “Manchester Victoria’s redevelopment is the centrepiece of a £1 billion-plus transformation of the North’s railways. It’s a stunning feat of civil engineering and ultimately it will help make life better for so many travellers while helping reduce carbon emissions from transport.”
Manchester Victoria will be fancying its chances to win this coveted award following the successful victory in ICE’s North West Award for Best Major Project earlier on in the year based on the successful redevelopment, but with so many quality projects up for the People’s Choice Award we will have to wait and see if Manchester Victoria station has done enough.
The result will be decided by an online public vote with each region competing to win the award, and voting will close on Wednesday 30th November, with the eventual result being announced in January 2017.
