Arsenal wins top award for regeneration

Arsenal is delighted to announce that the regeneration created by the move to Emirates Stadium has been acknowledged at a top awards ceremony.

The Club, together with Newlon Housing Trust and Islington Council have won the ‘Best Development Partnership’ at the 2008 Affordable Home Ownership Awards.

The award is huge recognition for the successful partnership between Arsenal, Newlon and Islington Council which has delivered over 1,000 affordable homes in the Borough of Islington, as a direct result of Arsenal moving from Highbury to Emirates Stadium.

The success at winning the Best Development Partnership Award follows on from the Arsenal regeneration programme, which is one of the largest projects of its kind in Europe, also winning the 2008 Housing Corporation Gold Award for ‘Delivering joined-up development’.

Arsenal’s move to Emirates Stadium, which has created over 2,500 new homes in total and a over 2,600 new jobs into Islington, has now won over 20 awards in recognition of both the stadium itself and the regeneration to the local area.

The regeneration associated with Arsenal is only one part of the work of Newlon Housing Trust, which is a charitable housing association founded in Hackney in 1968 to provide decent and affordable homes for local people. Today, Newlon provides more than 6,000 homes across London for key workers.

The regeneration work by Arsenal has completely transformed the area around Emirates Stadium, making use of previously disused land and providing many new community facilities. The project has also been committed throughout its course to providing new and sustainable opportunities for local people through the work of the strong partnership between Arsenal, Newlon and the London Borough of Islington.

Arsenal Director Ken Friar, who played an instrumental role in the Club’s move to Emirates Stadium said: “We are absolutely delighted to win this award. It’s further recognition of the success of our strong working partnership with Newlon and Islington Council.

“Arsenal Football Club is extremely proud of the benefits that have been brought to the community as part of our move to the Emirates Stadium. In addition to the provision of affordable housing, the Emirates Stadium project has provided a host of other community benefits, such as a state of the art waste recycling centre, a wide range of new job opportunities, a learning centre, public transport and open space improvements, as well as major investment in an area that suffered from serious deprivation.”

Awards won by Arsenal as a result of the Emirates Stadium project:

2006 Planning Awards - ‘Best Built Project Contributing to London’s Future’. 
2006 Planning Awards - ‘Mayor’s award for Planning Excellence’.
International Securitisation Report (ISR) - 'Corporate Deal of the Year 2006 – Europe'.
Treasurer Magazine Deals of the Year awards 2006 - ‘Winner of Securitisation and Structured Finance category’.
Building Design – Regeneration Awards 2006 - 'Best Mixed-use Regeneration Project'.
Quality in Construction Awards 2007 - 'Winner of Major Project Award'.
Building Awards 2007 - 'Building Project of the Year’.
Building Awards 2007 - ‘Constructing Excellence Award’.
Building Awards 2007 - ‘Major Contractor of the Year - Sir Robert McAlpine’.
Building Awards 2007 - 'Engineering Consultant of the Year – Buro Happold'.
Building Awards 2007 - 'Specialist Contractor of the Year Award – Keltbray'.
Beaumont Safety Trophy 2006 - Won for the Design of a specialist rig for drilling the holes used to fix the seating in Emirates Stadium.
2007 RICS Awards - 'Winner of the London region RICS Regeneration Award category’.
2007 NAS (National Association of Shopfitters) Design Partnerships Awards - 'Won for the Diamond Club project'.
2007 Retail and Leisure Property Awards - 'Best Commercial Leisure Scheme'.
2007 British Construction Industry Awards - Best Major Project.
2007 Visit London Awards – Business Venue of The Year
2007 Visit London Awards – Emirates Stadium Tours, Silver Award for Sports Tourism.
2007 Institution of Structural Engineers Awards - Award for Sports Structures
2008 Meet England’s Business Tourism Gold Award
2008 Housing Corporation Gold Award for Delivering joined-up development
2008 Affordable Home Ownership Awards – Best Development Partnership – Arsenal FC and Newlon.