Woodvale Construction place five key values at the heart of everything they do – trust, mutual respect, integrity, a co-operative attitude and a dedication to excellence. It is these values which inspired the company to support our virtual Blackboard Awards this month which Woodvale Constructions Managing Director Robert Ewing describes as an “honour”.

The Omagh-based firm was founded in 1980 by Desmond Scott and the late Phillip Ewing. Today the company has evolved to be working on projects across Ireland and the UK.

Their building expertise spans everything from school and civic buildings to hotels and historic restoration projects. Having worked on a number of projects across Belfast in recent years, such as the extension of the Coláiste Feirste building and the new Olympia Leisure Centre in south Belfast, the company’s connections with the city is continuing to develop as they work on multiple projects including the new Heritage Visitor Centre at the City Cemetery and the construction of Holy Evangelists’ Primary School in Twinbrook.

Managing Director Robert Ewing said: “Woodvale Construction was founded in 1980 and we specialise in the construction of education buildings. We are proud to have had a positive impact on local communities delivering state-of-the-art education facilities for future generations.

“As parents ourselves, we are honoured to be sponsoring the  'Woodvale Construction Award for a Teaching Trailblazer from the Holy Evangelists' Primary School’ recognising the vital work teachers provide our communities, particularly in these difficult times.”

Spirits

Speaking of the difficulties being faced by her staff during lockdown, the Principal of Holy Evangelists’ Primary School, Clare Robinson said  “we are finding this time around a lot tougher in terms of keeping the morale and the spirits up with our parents and our children. 

“I think that this time around everyone has gotten to the stage where they have had enough. In terms of our school, we are open this time and we have over 70 children in the school every day who are either vulnerable or the children of key workers which has given us the additional pressure of having to balance the online remote learning and then teaching the children who are in the school.

“There is additional pressures on our teachers this time around and they are nearly double jobbing. During the first lockdown they were all working from home and they were concentrating on the remote learning whereas now they are having to come into school, prepping for the children onsite then prepping for the children online.”

The new school building was initially due to open in October 2020 but has faced a number of setbacks and is now on schedule to open on Easter Monday. Looking ahead to then Clare explained: “The new build is a huge thing for this community. It has been coming for so long with the initial process beginning back in 2010 so to finally get the new school, it’s just fantastic. 

“When you see what we are getting in comparison to what we had it is absolutely outstanding. The building has worked out beyond my expectations. When you see it in plans then when you see it in reality, I could never have dreamt that we would get the building that we are getting. It is honestly something else. 

“In terms of the ICT and everything that is going into it, it really is state-of-the-art and there is no other school in Belfast quite like it. It is a great time for us but a very stressful time.”