Patton Fit-Out has picked up a top prize for its work on a library in Shepherds Bush, London.

The Ballymena company, part of the Patton Group, took the Gold Award in one of three major categories within the annual Interior Fit-Out Awards organised by the UK-wide Association of Interior Specialists (AIS).

The award provides further recognition of Patton Fit-Out's ability to compete at the highest level with the UK's top fit-out organisations.

The £1 million Shepherds Bush fit-out project took just ten weeks to complete and included M&E services, internal fixtures and wall, floor and ceiling finishes as well as the installation of non-structural partitions, passenger lifts and a striking balustrade depicting a map of the general area around Shepherds Bush.

The 900 sq m library, which was opened in August last year, is located outside one of the main entrances to the 43-acre White City Shopping Centre and boasts wifi, music computer software and playstations. It is stocked with more than 10,000 brand new fiction and non-fiction books as well as more than 1,000 new DVDs, 600 CDs and 25 computers for public use. One particularly clever feature is the use of Radio Frequency book tags which allows the reserving of books for clients’ arrival so they can collect and issue their books without the need to interact with staff.

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Patton Fit-Out was appointed as the main contractor for the internal aspect of the project with the exterior envelop built as part of the centre.

The Patton Fit-Out team worked alongside architectural design practice FaulknerBrowns to develop the initial design concept and then with Quadrant Design to take the concepts to the next level.

Brendan Boyd, Director of Patton Fit-Out, said: "The aspirations of the joint clients, Westfield and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, were to challenge the preconceptions of a library and for it to be integral to the larger retail development. The design in essence, had to appeal to shoppers as well as existing library users. The finished interior is really spectacular and creates a facility that is both impressive and unique. We believe the success of this scheme demonstrates clearly our ability to take on even the most complex challenge and underlines our wide range of competencies across retail, leisure, office and commercial.

"Although we have won a number of major awards in the past few years, this is the first time we have been recognised by the AIS. Given their standing as one of the UK's most respected trade associations, representing companies' right across the full spectrum of interior contracting, this is an accolade that ranks with the best."

(CD/KMcA)