The first-ever winners of the FIDIC Contracts Awards have been unveiled at a gala dinner event at the FIDIC International Contract Users’ Conference in London on 3 December 2019.

The new awards, which were sponsored by Accura Consulting, aim to recognise excellence in the use of FIDIC contract forms for project delivery and to showcase examples of good practice through collaboration from across the world. The purpose is to bring FIDIC contract users together to create and further enhance this important global community.

Seven FIDIC Contracts Awards were handed out at the London event - for Project of the Year, Consultant of the Year, Contractor of the Year, Legal or Professional Services of the Year, Trainer(s) or Adjudicator(s) of the Year, Strategic Partners of the Year and a FIDIC Golden Principles Award.

The Project of the Year award was awarded to APM Terminals MedPort Tangier (TM2) in Morocco, the first, fully automated terminal in Africa which has been constructed under the highest quality and safety standards within time, budget and without any arbitration procedures or claims. Remote-controlled cranes will provide the fastest, safest and most efficient loading and unloading services to the newest ultra-large container ships. The conditions of contract used on the project was the FIDIC Red Book and the project was described as a “world record”, delivered on time, to budget and without serious injury to any of the project associates.

Miguel Angel Clare Gonzalez Revilla took the Consultant of the Year Award in recognition of his work advising the Panamanian state on several major infrastructure projects. He played a leading role in interpreting the FIDIC contract used for the administration of the Panama metro line 1 project, and recently the main electricity transmission company of Panama adopted the FIDIC Red Book for the construction of the country's fourth electric transmission line.

The winner of the Contractor of the Year Award was Willemen Groep, one of Belgium’s largest family-owned construction groups, who impressed the judges with their proactive and problem solving approach to clients and their ongoing use of FIDIC contracts and their adherence to the FIDIC principles of cooperation and collaboration which has seen them achieve project success on a global scale.

Pinsent Masons won the Legal or Professional Services of the Year Award in recognition of their ongoing reputation as leading lawyers on the FIDIC suite of contracts. Their FIDIC experience is built on a vast project experience and construction know-how and they have the knowledge required to make FIDIC forms work effectively and efficiently, whether for low value/straightforward procurement/projects or complex mega-projects.

The Trainer(s) or Adjudicator(s) of the Year Award was won by Shura Construction Management. Its CEO Husni Madi has delivered both public and in-house training through FIDIC; in Africa and the Middle East and impressed the judges with the breadth of his experience and training style and the fact that he has develop his training skills over the years by providing public, in-house and online training in addition to speaking and delivering workshops at FIDIC contract users’ conferences.

Turner & Townsend were the winners of the Strategic Partners of the Year Award for their sterling work with FIDIC on the recent contract agreements signed with multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, African Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Finally, the FIDIC Golden Principles Award went to Rob Fraser, formerly of Aurecon South Africa. In over 47 years with his firm, Rob has been a true pioneer in the implementation of FIDIC-based contracts for several large, multi-billion-Rand bulk water projects in South Africa and neighbouring countries. He has consistently advocated and innovatively applied the principles of FIDIC and he continues to provide advice to the Aurecon contracts team, always endorsing the FIDIC Golden Principles.

The first year of the awards was a success in raising the profile of FIDIC contracts and those who use them. This exciting initiative will further unite the global contract user community and is set to be an annual feature for years to come.