The presentation of seven awards recognising achievement in areas ranging from sustainability to capital projects, a drinks reception accompanied by a rousing Welsh male voice choir, a sumptuous dinner, and a standout performance from opera singer, BBC Wales presenter, and star of the Go.Compare insurance comparison website advertisements, Wynne Evans, were the highlights of a gala awards evening held at Cardiff’s historic Coal Exchange Hotel in Cardiff Bay during IHEEM’s May 2023 Wales Regional Conference
The two-day conference, and an accompanying exhibition, were held at Cardiff City Stadium from 11-12 May, with the conference including hard-hitting, topical, and very interesting presentations from – among others – Judith Paget CBE, Director General of Health and Social Services and CEO, NHS Wales, Nicola Prygodzicz, CEO at the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Stuart Douglas, Director, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Specialist Estates Services, Anthony Pitcher, Senior Fire Safety Advisor, NWSSP SES, Scott Hislop, HSIB Principal National Investigator, and John Prendergast, Senior Decontamination Engineer, NWSSP SES, and IHEEM Welsh Branch Chair.
Topics covered were wide-ranging – and encompassed subjects including key fire safety considerations when using natural, ‘sustainable’ building materials, the challenges of providing healthcare both to more prosperous, and less economically advantaged, parts of Wales, rationalisation and reorganisation of services and facilities, apprenticeship opportunities in the sector – with three young apprentices presenting on their own experiences, and a focus on major recent healthcare construction projects, such as the new Grange University Hospital in Llanfrechfa near Cwmbran, and a major refurbishment programme at the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil. Insert IHEEM CEO, Pete Sellars, and Past-President, Paul Fenton, also presented on the need to ‘develop a common language’ for healthcare planning — a subject on which they have also spoken at overseas events. Reports on a number of the presentations will appear in subsequent issues of HEJ.
Historic dinner venue
The Gala Awards Dinner took place a few miles from the conference venue, at Cardiff’s Coal Exchange Hotel, on the evening of the first day. The evening began with pre-dinner drinks in the hotel’s Culley’s Kitchen & Bar. Graham Stanton, a highly experienced former decontamination specialist and Authorising Engineer (Decontamination), who chairs the IHEEM AE(D) Registration Board, and is a member of the Decontamination Technology Platform and the Technical Platform Committee, entertained those enjoying drinks and networking before the dinner with some history on the Coal Exchange Hotel. He also discussed his early career in the Merchant Navy, which was heavily influenced by his father and grandfather. The latter was a boilermaker and foreman in the dry docks in Cardiff until the late 1950s. His father, meanwhile, had served in the Royal Navy during World War II, and often took him to see the ships and docks – including – on many occasions – the coal trucks tipping Welsh coal into the ships in Cardiff. Graham Stanton later enjoyed a lengthy spell in the Merchant Navy, starting in 1968, where he says the first-class engineering ‘education’ and experience he received at the Officer Training School in Warsash, and at sea, proved invaluable in his subsequent NHS career
He went on to explain that before the Coal Exchange Hotel was built in Cardiff’s Mount Stuart Square, the area was a residential square with a central garden, but was later ‘taken over’ by commerce as the city’s prosperity grew. Prior to its construction, coal merchants used to chalk up the changing prices of coal on slates outside their offices, or struck deals in local pubs. He said: “As Cardiff became the world’s biggest coal port, the building was constructed between 1884 and 1888 as a base from which to conduct negotiations for the coalmines of the South Wales valleys, with most of the coal shipped to Cardiff for distribution. The building played an important role in the industrial Cardiff of the 19th century.” During the peak trading hour of midday to 1.00 pm, Graham Stanton explained, the trading floor might see up to 200 men ‘gesticulating and shouting’, while it was estimated that up to 10,000 people would pass in and out of the building daily
Landmarks in hotel’s past
Subsequent landmarks for the building included a ‘lavish refurbishment’ of the interior by Edwin Seward in 1912, and its subsequent re-opening as the ‘New Exchange Building’, an extension to the southern section in 1915, and the closing of the Coal Exchange in 1958, and the ceasing of coal exports in 1964. In 1979 the Coal Exchange was earmarked as a future home of the Welsh Assembly, but was never used for this purpose due to the Welsh people rejecting plans for devolution. The building was later used regularly for filming by the BBC, and in 2016 it was announced that it would be fully refurbished by a private company. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the original company went into administration, and in the summer of 2021 the Coal Exchange Hotel, at risk of closure at the time, was ‘saved’ by Cardiff-based Eden Grove Properties, which reopened it, in the process saving 56 jobs.
Following this interesting and informative historical presentation from Graham Stanton, guests at the drinks reception were entertained by the Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir – which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016, with some stirring renditions of Welsh favourite songs. Guests then made their way to the hotel’s imposing Grand Hall Suite. There they were able to enjoy a four-course dinner, wine, and other drinks, immediately following which they were entertained by the evening’s special guest, Wynne Evans, a seasoned opera singer who, having studied at the Royal Academy of Music, has sung with companies including Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, and Scottish Opera, making his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2009. In 2011, he was cast as the opera singer, Ubaldo Piangi, in the 25th anniversary celebratory production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall. Now a regular radio presenter on BBC Radio Wales, he will, however, be best known to many for having starred in a long-running TV advertising campaign for UK insurance comparison website, Go.Compare, playing the flamboyant operatic tenor, Gio Compario.
‘Tosca’ gets a surprise
A natural showman with a ready wit, he entertained dinner guests with some of the more humorous and memorable moments from his very varied career – for instance recounting how, during a performance of Puccini’s Tosca, starring as painter, Mario Cavaradossi, he found himself in the embarrassing position where – while singing – he felt what he thought was a ‘large bead of sweat’ running down his forehead. Managing to effectively ‘flick’ this off as part of a flamboyant acting gesture, he was alarmed to discover soon after that it was in fact a large fly, which then landed in the open mouth of the soprano playing Floria Tosca, as she was about to commence an aria. Worried she might be choking, a St John Ambulance first responder promptly leapt onto the stage, helped the soprano recover, and – miraculously – the performance was able to continue. As he leaned over her subsequently, Wynne Evans explained that the soprano reportedly whispered to him: ‘Do you think anybody noticed?’
The singer and presenter – who was awarded the British Empire Medal in June 2022 – followed this tale with a series of other amusing anecdotes, before closing with a passionate rendition of ‘The Impossible Dream’, to the audience’s delight.
Apprentice of the Year
The final part of the evening saw the presentation of six IHEEM awards. Joel Holley, an Electrical Engineering apprentice at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership Specialist Estate Services, was presented with the award for Apprentice of the Year, sponsored by AECOM. He has recently started his fourth year of an Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree under the Network75 degree apprenticeship scheme. Operated by the University of South Wales, Network75 is a combined work placement and part-time study route to a degree, which the university says allows students to ‘Work, Earn, and Learn!’
Capital Project of the Year
The award for Capital Project of the Year, sponsored by Mott MacDonald, went to Liz Lloyd and the team at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, for capital projects valued at some £15 m in total that have seen the installation of new imaging equipment across the Health Board’s sites, resulting in ‘significant benefits within diagnostic services, including major reductions in waiting times’.
Sustainability Award
The Sustainability Award, sponsored by Tarkett, went to Paul Williams of Hywel Dda University Health Board, for a 4.5 MW solar farm at its Hafan Derwen site in Carmarthen. The Health Board was recognised for both the solar farm’s sustainability and environmental benefits to the local community. Meanwhile, Beverley Radford, a member of the Estates team at Swansea University Health Board, was Highly Commended for a £13.9 m multi-phased programme of work to ‘introduce decarbonisation’ at a number of the Health Board’s sites, which the judges noted had ‘demonstrated innovation and delivered major savings’
Estates & Facilities Team of the Year Award
The Estates & Facilities Team of the Year Award, sponsored by IHP, was presented to Andrew Poole, Head of Estates & Facilities at the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, on behalf of the team – which was nominated because team members ‘consistently live and breathe’ the Board’s values and behaviours of ‘kind and caring, respectful, trust, integrity, and personal responsibility’. The Operational Estates Team serving both Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda and the Royal Glamorgan Hospital (operated by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board) was Highly Commended for its commitment – ‘during and post-pandemic, and during a number of unforeseen infrastructure challenges over the year’. The Highly Commended certificate was collected by Mark Furmage, Operational Estates Manager at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
Champion of Champions Award
The Champion of Champions Award, sponsored by Getinge, was presented to Chris Scully, Senior Operational Estates Manager at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil, part of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. The judges said he had been ‘the ultimate professional for many years’, having begun his career with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. Dave Francis, an Engineering Supervisor at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, was Highly Commended for his work on the Wrexham Critical Care Project during 2022. As M&E Supervisor, he has been with the Health Board for over five years, and – the judges noted – brought with him ‘a wealth of experience’ from his previous role as an Operational and Maintenance Manager within the chemical industry. In November 2018, he presented ‘Bridging the Gap’ at the All-Wales seminar hosted by Specialist Estates Services, which emphasised the importance of working together ‘to get major projects over the line’.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Graham Jones, the current Welsh Branch chair, a stalwart for the Institute and its activities – including conference and seminar events in Wales – for many years, was awarded the IHEEM Lifetime Achievement Award. The Award – a considerable honour and mark of esteem and appreciation – goes to an Institute member who has given long service to the healthcare industry within the NHS or private sector. The judges said: “Graham’s contribution to the Branch and IHEEM over the years has seen him take on multiple roles within the Committee, including Chair and Treasurer, and his commitment has been one of the main reasons the Welsh branch has survived the hard times, and ‘delivered’ in its current vibrant form.
Best Exhibitor Stand
The two-day Regional Conference in Cardiff also included an exhibition featuring well-known suppliers to the sector, and, in this context, the award for the Best Exhibitor Stand, sponsored by Veolia, went to Tarkett
The awards presentation closed the formal part of the gala dinner, which was attended by over 200 guests, and proved a very memorable evening in a spectacular and historic setting.