Configured Platforms named Silver Winner, Innovation of the Year, at the National Building & Construction Awards 2026 (NBCA) for its work with Higgins Partnerships in West Byfleet, Surrey
Leeds-based Configured Platforms has been named Silver Winner for Innovation of the Year at the National Building & Construction Awards (NBCA) 2026, from a shortlist of nine finalists. The category was sponsored by bcm.
The winning entry showed how three of the company’s pre-engineered aluminium systems can work together as a single rooftop plant solution. It was delivered on the main roof of a residential scheme in West Byfleet, Surrey, for contractor Higgins Partnerships.
The problem with rooftop plant
On a typical project, rooftop plant needs concrete plinths or upstands cast into the frame, then a primary steel structure craned up piece by piece. The plantroom layout has to be fixed while the frame is still being built, and the finished roof is punctured by fixings, creating a lasting risk of leaks.
One system instead of three trades
At West Byfleet, Configured Platforms combined three of its systems:
- Series 3, a lightweight, non-penetrating aluminium deck that sits on the finished roof and supports the HVAC equipment while keeping roof loadings to a minimum.
- Flatscreen, a fully enclosed, weatherproof, A1 fire-rated plantroom with its own roof and checker plate floor. It houses the hot water pumping system, buffer vessels and other sensitive equipment.
- Peaceflow300, 2,960 mm high acoustic louvre screens around the external plant. They reduce noise and hide the equipment while keeping the airflow it needs.
The system arrived as kit-form packs. The only crane lift was to get the packs onto the roof, so installation was quicker and safer than a traditional steel frame. There was almost no waste on site, and no fixings went into the finished roof surface.
Because the enclosures were built on top of the finished roof, the contractor did not need to design concrete plinths into the frame. That left more time to finalise the mechanical and electrical design.
What the client said
Leonard Miller, Senior Contract Surveyor at Higgins Partnerships said:
“We have benefited significantly in using Configured Platforms’ self-weighted plant enclosures at West Byfleet. In particular, having a single point of responsibility for the design and manufacture of the plant enclosures … By constructing the plant enclosures on top of the finished roof, there is more time to finalise your mechanical and electrical services design.”
Chris Homewood, Project Director at Higgins Partnerships, said:
“These are a real game changer in terms of design and installation. The product works well and looks good too.”
What Configured Platforms said
Jason Elkins, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Configured Platforms, said:
“We didn’t enter a single product, we entered a solution. At West Byfleet our deck, plantroom and acoustic screens arrived as one engineered system from one supplier. They went up on a finished roof without a single penetration and gave the services team more time to get their design right. To be recognised for that from nine strong finalists is a real credit to our team in Leeds and to Higgins Partnerships for backing a different approach.”
| Project | West Byfleet main roof, Surrey |
| Client | Higgins Partnerships |
| Sector | Residential |
| Systems | Series 3 deck Flatscreen weatherproof plantroom (A1 fire-rated) Peaceflow300 acoustic screens, 2,960 mm high |
| Standards | Conforms to BS EN 516:2006 and BS EN 1090-3:2008 |
| Roof penetrations | None |
| Crane use | Lifting the kit-form packs onto the roof only |
| Award | NBCA 2026 Innovation of the Year, Silver Winner, from nine finalists |
