Awards Archive

Bethell was honoured to take home the Construction Apprenticeship Medium/Large Employer of the Year award, a testimony to our commitment to growing our own talent and investing in apprenticeships.

In addition, Bethell was nominated for the Low Carbon Innovator of the Year award, in recognition of the ongoing action we’ve taken as an organisation in achieving our carbon net zero goals.

Bethell’s own Vinny O’Dowd took home the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising his 45 years of dedicated and influential service in the region’s civil engineering industry.

Vinny began his career as a Site Engineer, then moved to the Kilroe Group and, in 1991, joined a newly acquired Bethell. Moving through the ranks, he became Managing Director in 2010 and played a pivotal role in developing Bethell’s reputation as a leading civils provider, implementing transformational employee wellbeing policies and apprenticeship programmes, and providing over 200 employment opportunities to date. Transitioning to a semi-retired role in 2022, Vinny continues to provide key support to Bethell’s estimating function, with an aspiration to fully retire in 2024.

Bethell itself was presented with a Highly Commended Project of the Year (>£5m category) award for its project at INEOS Inovyn, constructing additional wellheads for the extraction of brine and a series of new haul roads to increase capacity and accessibility across the site using over 400m3 of structural concrete and 10,000 tonnes of aggregate.

Due to the complex and challenging nature of the works, a collaborative approach with multiple subcontractor partners was required.

Bethell hit a treble with another Highly Commended award given to Graduate Quantity Surveyor Connah Evans who joined Bethell in 2016 as an apprentice groundworker.

Connah worked on several projects, including the University of Central Lancashire Campus, Eastway Retail Hub and various United Utilities schemes, building a wealth of operational knowledge. Later, he chose to progress his career by obtaining an HNC in Construction and a degree in Quantity Surveying at Salford University, advancing to become a Trainee Quantity Surveyor within Bethell’s Commercial Department.