Award-winning South Wales architects the Lewis Partnership have scooped another prestigious award – this time for a project in Banwen. 
The Dove Workshop plays a prominent role in supporting the community in the Dulais Valley. 
Architects from the Lewis Partnership have been involved with a number of improvements to the workshops, including a new cafeteria area. 
“Our role in developing the Dove Workshop has been hugely rewarding for the benefits the project brings to the local community,” said David Ward, associate director of the Lewis Partnership. 
“Now, we have picked up a prestigious Neath Port Talbot Borough Council Building Control award for our work at Dove. 
“The award is the icing on the cake for project which does a huge amount to develop community spirit in the Dulais Valley.” 
The award was presented when the cream of the construction industry in Neath Port Talbot gathered at The Towers Hotel for a special ceremony. 
This year was the ninth year for Neath Port Talbot to host the awards. The leader of the council, Councillor Ali Thomas was in attendance to present certificates and commemorative plaques to the successful builders and contractors. 
The winners of each category will now represent Neath Port Talbot at the South Wales Regional Awards. 
Councillor Thomas said: “It is a great achievement for everyone who attended to be nominated for these awards and it all goes to demonstrate their commitment to produce quality buildings for the citizens of Neath Port Talbot.” 
Paul Davis, Building Control Manager for the council, said: “The awards serve to promote the Building Control service provided by the authority and encourage high standards of construction.” 
Lewis Partnership associate director Mr Ward said: “It was a great honour to pick up the award for the Dove project and we were delighted to see the high standards of our work recognised.” 
The Dove Workshop was first established during the Miners’ Strike of 1984 - 85 by a group of women from the Miners’ Support Group in the Dulais Valley. 
The role of the Dove Workshop today is to identify and support adults in the community seeking education, training and advice on business start-up. 
The Workshop established a Social Enterprise in 1989 to further develop child care provision, offer office services and more recently a community café and catering service. 
The brief for the project was to provide a larger area of cafe accommodation and associated kitchen areas in response to the success of the old ‘Sarn Helen Café’ which had outgrown its part of the building. 
The project is of great benefit to the community in providing an improved facility and further employment. 
The community centre has gained contracts for hospitality with Land Rover and BMW in relation to the off-road centre, which is adjacent to the site, and also with the Ford World Rally Team during Rally GB. 
The extension to the cafe area was crucial for the continued success and further growth and sustainability of the centre. 
The accommodation provides for approximately 180sq.m. of cafe seating accommodation and 76sq.m. of kitchen preparation, storage and cooking areas with ancillary areas. 
The project was completed in March 2011 and was subsequently nominated by the Building Control Team of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council for their Built in Quality Awards.