The CN Specialists Awards 2026 revealed its full list of winners on 3 September at a ceremony held at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel in London, with 25 categories contested before an audience of almost 700 people. Hosted by comedian Aurie Styla, the event drew on an independent judging panel of more than 100 judges who selected winners from 196 shortlisted entries.
Three firms took home multiple trophies on the night. Zed Pods won both Excellence in Social Value and Project of the Year by a Specialist Contractor (subcontract up to £1.5m), the latter for its Crofts House rural brownfield transformation. GLC Projects secured Demolition & Enabling Specialist of the Year alongside Specialist Contractor of the Year (turnover up to £25m). BHC completed its own double, claiming Steel Specialist of the Year and Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability.
CN Specialists Awards 2026: the project and category winners in full
The most contested award of the evening was Project of the Year by a Specialist Contractor (subcontract £3m to £10m), which attracted 13 shortlisted entries. Rhodar Specialist Enabling Works won the category for the Darwin Tower deconstruction for Edinburgh University. In the adjacent subcontract band (£1.5m to £3m), Allen & Foxworthy took the prize for the Blenheim Palace roof restoration project, and Tilbury Douglas Engineering won the over-£10m band for its work on the Stepping Hill Hospital project.
GW Power picked up MEP Specialist of the Year. NG Bailey won MMC Specialist of the Year. James Johnson & Co triumphed in Fit Out Specialist of the Year. John F Hunt won Health, Safety and Wellbeing Excellence, while Erith Contractors received the Outstanding Contribution to Specialist Construction award. Careys won Specialist Contractor of the Year in the turnover over £25m category.
Among the product and innovation awards, Hyperion Robotics won Specialist Construction Product of the Year for its low-carbon foundations offering, a category directly relevant to the sector’s embodied carbon agenda. Spencer Bridge Engineering’s AeroTruss claimed Specialist Innovation of the Year, and Buildscant won Technology Supplier Innovation of the Year for its Smarter lead targeting tool. DWJ Harkin won Digital Construction Excellence, Southern Hoist Services took Equipment Specialist of the Year, Slipform Engineering won Concrete Specialist of the Year, and M R Scaffolding Services won Access & Scaffolding Specialist of the Year. Caxton Group received the Training Excellence award.
Individual recognition went to Ibrahim Arshad of Galldris Group, who won the Rising Star award, and to Terence Hakurekwi of Crown House Technologies, who took Apprentice of the Year.
Raising the bar across the built environment
Construction News editor Colin Marrs said: ‘For more than two decades, our awards have recognised the very best of the UK’s specialist contractors whose skill and sheer determination underpin everything that is achieved across the built environment. Congratulations to all the winners. Your innovation and commitment continue to raise the bar for the construction industry.’
The CN Specialists Awards have run across multiple years, with the 2024 ceremony having taken place in September of that year, according to Buildpass. The 2026 edition extended the programme to 25 categories, drawing entries from across the specialist contracting sector, from demolition and enabling works through to digital construction and sustainability.
The breadth of the winner list reflects the range of disciplines on which the UK’s construction supply chain depends. Categories spanning social value, sustainability, and low-carbon products sit alongside the more traditional trade and project awards, mapping the sector’s gradual shift toward performance criteria that go beyond programme and cost. Zed Pods’ double win, in particular, placed social value and small-scale brownfield transformation at the centre of the evening’s narrative, while BHC’s Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability award and Hyperion Robotics’ low-carbon foundations product recognition underlined that embodied and operational carbon considerations are now embedded in how the specialist tier is judged.
