Southern Regional College’s Estates team have won the Workplace and Estates Team of the Year at the 2026 Facilities Management Awards. The team received their award on 11th March at the Radisson Blu, Royal Convention Centre, Dublin, head of a strong field of finalists, including major organisations such as PayPal, NIE Networks and Maynooth University.
Across the College network, the team manage 8 campus sites within the Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon and Newry, Mourne & Down district councils. The team have worked tirelessly over the past year to deliver ambitious goals while operating within challenging financial constraints.
The team have delivered excellence on scale. Managing an annual budget of £7.8 million and delivering services within 1% of the allocation, showing strong financial control and operating discipline. Their work also supports a large capital programme which includes the College’s flagship Newry Innovation Centre currently under construction.
The team have fully embraced sustainability and carbon reduction principles, introducing energy efficiency upgrades resulting in the 23% reduction of scope 1 emissions from 2016/17 and launching a 10,500m2 rewilding programme to restore natural habitats, enhance biodiversity and healthier ecosystems.
Their impact goes beyond the College itself. The estates team actively support other colleges within the sector, contributing to regional collaboration groups, providing expertise on major external projects, digital construction, sustainability and asset management.
Despite mention of large budgets, many of the teams’ achievements have been delivered without additional project funding. Looking inwards to existing in-house expertise and systems, the team have digitally transformed processes.
The team have devised and implemented a ‘Caretaker Digital Logbook’, a mobile app to manage estate inspections and initiated a ‘Digital Shadow’ project, integrating multiple data sources into a single user interface. This has become a user-friendly interface, providing meaningful analysis and insights for everyone across the estates team and external maintenance contractors.
Mrs Lee Campbell, Principal & Chief Executive of Southern Regional College commented:
“This award represents the professionalism, innovation and sheer commitment of our Estates Team. They have not only delivered exceptional services across all our campuses, but have done so while driving real change, embracing digital transformation, improving sustainability, and consistently finding smarter ways to work.”
Other finalists for the award included Macfar Property Management, Henderson Group Property, Hanley Energy, Casey Kennedy Estate Agents and Reactive Maintenance Team.
Receiving the Workplace and Estates Team of the Year Award at the 2026 Facilities Management Awards in Dublin were members of SRC’s Estates Team; Chris Chambers (Estates Technician), Eamon Quinn (Estates Manager), Philip Kenwell (Estates Manager), Gary Young (Head of Estates), Sarah Burns (Health Safety and Environmental Officer), Sharon O’Hare (Estates Quality and Business Process Manager) and Peter Monaghan (BIM Manager).