A Birmingham based company has won a prestigious international award for its work on the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station.

Demolition specialists Coleman & Company, based in Great Barr, beat off competition from the UK, USA, Germany and Latin America to land the Contract of the Year award at the World Demolition Summit in Amsterdam.

The prize was awarded for the work Coleman undertook in what will become the new station concourse at New Street station.

With a live railway centimetres beneath their feet, and the Pallasades shopping centre above, Coleman & Company were appointed by Network Rail's delivery partner Mace to safely remove over 7,000 tonnes of concrete from an old car park. The huge space created will form part of the new station concourse.

Commenting on the award, Network Rail project director Chris Montgomery said: "The job at New Street was an extremely complex engineering challenge and one that Coleman's rose to with some innovative Birmingham engineering. We're now focusing on turning the huge space created into the new station concourse which will open to passengers at the end of 2012."

Mark Coleman, managing director of Coleman & Company commented: "I'm delighted to receive this award. It's nice when our team receives recognition for their hard work at such a high profile event. The incredibly complex nature of the project highlights how our business has changed and thrived during challenging economic conditions as we move towards our 50^th year of trading in 2012."

Lindsay Gale, editor of Demolition and Recycling International added: "The jurors were looking for the extra ordinary and that is what Coleman & Company provided by making Birmingham New Street Station, a very complicated job, look straight forward."

The redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station is backed by Birmingham City Council, Network Rail, Advantage West Midlands, Centro and the Department for Transport.

Network Rail is delivering the project alongside its delivery partner Mace.

The redevelopment of Birmingham New Street will double passenger capacity, improve access to platforms and improve pedestrian links across the city. The project will deliver:

- A concourse three and a half times bigger than at present and enclosed by a giant, light filled atrium

- More accessible, brighter and clearer platforms with new escalators and lifts

- A stunning new station façade

- Better links to and through the station for pedestrians with new public space

- Economic benefits: the new John Lewis department store will create 650 new jobs and the project will provide the stimulus for the physical regeneration of the areas surrounding the station

Coleman & Company also won two other awards at the World Demolition Summit for the demolition of a tower block in Glasgow and the removal of a motorway bridge over a railway line in Berkshire. For more information, visit http://www.coleman-co.com/news/full.php?id=110