The Naze Centre wins industry tourism building award

Essex Wildlife Trust’s ‘The Naze Centre’ has picked up a prestigious building industry award.

The visitor centre on the Essex coast was recently named as the winner of the Tourism and Leisure category at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) East of England 2018 Awards, which recognises projects that make an outstanding contribution to tourism, community engagement and the local economy.

Located on a cliff top overlooking the sea near Walton, the £900,000 Naze Centre was substantially funded by the Government’s Coastal Communities Fund, delivered by The Big Lottery Fund, which distributes money raised by players of The National Lottery to communities across the UK.

It was designed by Laurie Wood Associates and built by Cadman Construction, both Colchester-based firms, and according to the Essex Wildlife Trust a quarter of a million people have visited the centre since it opened in 2016.

“We are immensely proud of The Naze Centre, which we designed to sit comfortably alongside the historic Naze Tower,” said Jon Green, director at Laurie Wood Associates.

“The building is an asset to the Naze and it’s wonderful for it to be recognised in this way.”

The Naze Centre will now go forward to the RICS Awards Grand Final, to be held in London on November 2.