Good luck to Hafan yr Afon!

Hafan yr Afon in Newtown is in the running for a prestigious UK-wide excellence award.

The project team, consisting of Open Newtown, Architype, and Pave Aways Building Contractors, will find out on Friday if they have won the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Building Excellence Awards 2023 Grand Finals in London.

Supported by Powys County Council, the £2.25m project received a significant portion of its funding from the Welsh Government's Transforming Towns programme, as well as The National Lottery Community Fund.

Hafan Yr Afon was previously named Best Public or Community Building in Wales by LABC in September, and it also received the title of Building Project of the Year 2023 by Constructing Excellence in Wales (CEW) in June.

Cllr David Selby, Powys County Council's Cabinet Member for a More Prosperous Powys said:

"I'm delighted that a project we supported through the Welsh Government's Transforming Towns programme has gone on to achieve such success and would like to wish all involved good luck at the LABC Grand Finals,"

"Hafan Yr Afon is proving to be a real asset to Newtown as a community venue and is a building which many residents are rightly proud. It has literally changed the landscape of the town."

Situated next to the River Severn, Hafan Yr Afon is a two-storey, low-energy building that features meeting rooms, a café, tourist information, and serves as a base for outdoor activities.

The National Lottery Community Fund awarded £1.1 million to Open Newtown through its Community Asset Transfer 2 program in February 2018, which included the transfer of 130 acres along the River Severn in Newtown.

John Rose, Director of The National Lottery Community Fund in Wales, praised Open Newtown for creating something special in Mid Wales that promotes sustainability and preserves green spaces for the community to enjoy.