Bouygues UK’s Pentre Awel project wins Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) award at Constructing Excellence in Wales awards

Bouygues UK, the contractor for Llanelli's Canolfan Pentre Awel, proudly picked up the ESG award at the Constructing Excellence in Wales Awards.

 

The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Award aims to celebrate social, economic and environmental sustainability. Bouygues UK’s Pentre Awel site team were applauded by the judges for their dedication in having a positive impact in Carmarthenshire, creating career opportunities, raising education and skills levels, supporting local businesses, and actively engaging with the community. 

 

With every project, Bouygues UK aims to address the urgent challenges of climate change and create positive changes and benefits to the communities in which it works. It does this by incorporating clear carbon guidelines, working closely with clients, supply chain partners and employees to help reduce the impact on the environment, and enabling communities to thrive.

 

As the largest project Carmarthenshire County Council has ever undertaken and with significant investment from Swansea Bay City Deal, Bouygues UK was committed to delivering an exemplary project which had ESG at its core. This commitment resulted in the team overdelivering on its social value commitments and targets, including more than 5,300 weeks of targeted recruitment and training, as well as achieving net zero for the build.

Social value advisor Nina Williams said the award win was testament to the dedication of the team, its partners and the wider supply chain who’ve worked together to leave a lasting, positive legacy for Carmarthenshire.

 

She said:

"Bouygues UK places social value at the heart of every project, ensuring that local people benefit from job opportunities, training, and educational outreach. We have achieved fantastic results though collaboration with supply chain partners and the local community. We exceeded our targets with 76 new entrant jobs, 62 apprenticeships and a grand total of £35 million in social value (Social Value Portal, 2025).

Through collaboration with our stakeholders we were able to deliver project specific activity such as a dedicated employment hub with Acorn by Synergie and The Carmarthenshire Employment Support Group, supporting 36 local people into employment. Devising a 10-week design challenge with the support of the Regional Learning and Skills Partnership and Carmarthenshire County Council Education Department and engaging with Coleg Sir Gâr Art School to design our hoarding to represent the 7-wellbeing goals of the WBFG. This collaboration was instrumental in ensuring that we delivered positive impact".

The project achieved net zero through implementing carbon-reducing strategies, such as the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) from waste cooking oil, solar-powered site cabins and CCTV, and green materials with high recycled content. The contractor also collaborated with Carmarthenshire-based Gaia to monitor and reduce energy use through AI and sensors, achieving energy savings of 47.9%. A dedicated carbon consultant continues to advise on low-carbon strategies and upskill the workforce on climate and environmental best practices.

 

Peter Sharpe, Project Director at Canolfan Pentre Awel added:

 

As a business, we have a responsibility to create a lasting, positive impact for future generations. Every project we deliver is an opportunity to make a real difference by improving lives and supporting the environment and we’re committed to making the most of each one. We are delighted to get this recognition and award from Constructing Excellence in Wales.

 

Canolfan Pentre Awel is an innovative, multi-million-pound development which will bring together life science and business innovation, community healthcare and modern leisure facilities at the 83-acre Delta Lakes site on the Llanelli coastline. It is part-funded by the Swansea Bay City Deal (£40million) and is the largest regeneration scheme in south-west Wales.

 

Carmarthenshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Leisure, Culture and Tourism, Cllr Hazel Evans added:

 

This award is a fantastic recognition of the transformative impact Canolfan Pentre Awel is already having in Carmarthenshire. It reflects the strong partnership between Bouygues UK, the County Council and our wider stakeholders to deliver a project that creates economic value for our local communities. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those involved in the project as it reaches this milestone.