Design and build specialist for the care sector, Castleoak, has recently completed a spectacular new care home development for Barchester Healthcare.  The Bryn Ivor Lodge Care Home at Castleton near Newport provides high-quality residential and nursing care to the elderly, including those individuals living with dementia including Alzheimer's. 

The 80 bed residential care home was officially opened on 23^rd July 2015 and has been constructed with cutting edge environmental and waste management techniques, including the use of BIM design before and during construction to forecast opportunities for maximum efficiencies.

Throughout all phases of the project development the project team at Castleoak has been focused on reduction of materials wastage and reuse, working towards a goal of zero waste to landfill.

Environmental Manager Miles Thomas comments on Castleoak’s commitment to sustainability: “At Castleoak we are proud of our sector leading approach to sustainability and we implement bespoke site waste management plans at all of our developments”.

Miles continues: “Working closely with Constructing Excellence in Wales on the Enabling Zero Waste and Recipro projects has given us an opportunity to put waste avoidance and management in the spotlight, and donating small quantities of surplus construction materials has helped us achieve our targets of working towards zero waste”.

Castleoak donated small quantities of good quality reusable materials to Recipro Wales, a collaborative project between Constructing Excellence in Wales, Swansea Care and Repair and Recipro-UK, the concept is to divert surplus materials (that may otherwise be disposed of to landfill) to charitable organisations and community projects. 

As the site was nearing handover, Miles made contact with Recipro Wales and invited the team to visit the Castleton site to view potential surplus materials. Items were collected from Castleton and returned to the Recipro Wales HQ, where they are now available for community groups, schools and social enterprises to access, at heavily discounted rates, for use in projects – giving useful materials a second chance and avoiding costly disposal. 

If you are interested in finding out more and would like to join a growing of network of businesses who are reducing site waste and supporting local communities, see our web pages  or make direct contact with the project team - Jim Owen on 07913 993280 or Tony Berry email or call 07825 250963

For more information about Castleoak please visit their website

2016 marks the tenth year anniversary of the Constructing Excellence in Wales awards, to celebrate this we are holding a half day best practice conference during the day further details to follow, our awards dinner is now accepted as the biggest, best and most important celebration of Welsh built environment best practice. But will you be ready in time?

Competition for the CEW Awards is always tough because the industry wants to showcase its talent at the premier ceremony. Every year we receive more entrants and despite the difficult economic climate that has affected the industry in recent years, the standard continues to rise. Now, with the atmosphere in the industry picking up and a clearer view of local authority work plans and more private development we anticipate an even wider range of projects and a higher standard than ever in our tenth anniversary awards. 

So, we’re challenging the Welsh engineers, designers, builders and everyone else in the supply chain to step up and enter the 2016 awards.

Each category gives an opportunity for all those involved in the Welsh built environment to demonstrate their achievements and promote the principles of collaborative working and best practice.

You can get a flavour of this from the quality of the winning candidates from the 2015 awards.

Register your interest to make sure you receive all updates by emailing CEW Awards 2016

Awards Drop in Sessions:

If you are already intending to submit an entry to 2016’s CEW Awards but you need some top tips, then you might be interested in attending a drop-in session for some advice and guidance on the type of things the judges want to see in a winning entry. Previous winning entry forms will also be available to view. Look out for full details will be sent soon or contact

The Zero Carbon Hub released an informative, simple to use guide that promotes good craftsmanship and highlights key construction details when building a new home. Aimed at on site personnel, this new “Builders’ Book” will improve quality of the homes by identifying, and recommending solutions to, the most common construction issues which may lead to poor performance, loss of comfort, and increased energy bills in new build homes.

Further information about the Builders’ Book can be found at here

'7 Brother's' SME guides:

• Builders Book Masonry (complete)
• Thermal Bridging Guide
• Design Guide
• SAP Guide
• Cost Guide
• Services Guide
• Builders Book Timber