Megan Charles, Project Development Manager at Magna Housing, has recently judged a category in the 2025 Construction Excellence South West (CESW) Awards. The winner will be announced at Aerospace Bristol on 17 July.

The awards celebrate best practice, innovation, collaboration and sustainability in construction.

Megan, who represents Somerset as part of CESW’s G4C (Generation for Change) team – which represents young professionals working in the building sector – was selected to judge the retrofit category. She joined Magna in 2021 and recently completed an MSc in Construction Project Management.

“It’s been a valuable experience, and I learned so much working alongside Paloma Hermoso on the judging panel,” says Megan. “She has many years of technical retrofit expertise to draw upon, so it was interesting to hear her insights and work with her to reach our decision.

“Retrofit is an emerging field in the construction industry and it’s important to recognise companies that are developing new practices. It’s about making buildings safer and more energy efficient, rather than demolishing them.

“I’ve really enjoyed the chance to see up-close what other companies are doing in the retrofit space – especially as we’re working so hard at Magna to introduce carbon-efficient technologies into our older homes,” continues Megan.

CESW is a member-led organisation that aims to drive change in construction. Paul Read, Director of Sustainability and Investment – and one of Megan’s mentors at Magna – was a CESW board member and is now a part of the Constructing Excellence Dorset Club.

“At Magna, we're stepping up investment to make our homes more carbon efficient – installing additional insulation, modern electric heating (solar panels and air source heat pumps), and more,” says Paul. “We're retrofitting technologies into our existing homes to make them more comfortable, more efficient and more cost efficient, and we're using modern construction techniques (including factory-built systems) to help us deliver the same for customers moving into our new homes.”

Both Megan and Paul Read will represent Magna at the CESW awards event in July.