With green issues at the top of everyone’s agenda Building’s new and improved awards this year aim to cut through the greenwash and recognise organisations who really take sustainability seriously

This year, Building’s Sustainability Awards are going to be different.

Since they were launched in 2005, sustainability has moved up the industry’s agenda, it’s been taken on by the government and has become firmly established in the public consciousness. Which is why we decided it was time to make the entry criteria more rigorous.

With the help of Guy Battle of consultant engineer and landscape architect Battle McCarthy, we have come up with a new set of questions that aim to find out not only how green your buildings are, but also how green your firm is.

These awards are about celebrating the achievements of the most forward-thinking and innovative companies in our industry. Sustainability covers a wide range of issues, from reducing your organisation or project’s energy consumption to encouraging economic regeneration.

If you’re at the forefront in these areas then make sure you enter the Sustainability Awards by Friday 27 July.

Guy Battle on the new criteria

“Sustainability has gone mainstream and needs to be assessed properly. The criteria we’ve generated will start us on the process of setting league tables for the industry’s performance and putting more rigour into assessment. We’re asking every company entering the Sustainability Awards this year to submit their performance, based on the “global reporting initiative”, an international sustainability reporting method.

“We aim to cut through greenwash and show which companies are serious about sustainability. We’re also asking everyone to tell us their organisation’s carbon footprint, to eventually benchmark the entire industry.

“The first step is the hardest. This year, it’s about getting people to understand they need to measure their environmental performance. It’s not about saying what is good or bad yet – it is about getting a process in place so next year we can begin to make judgments. These will be used as a catalyst for improvements across all sectors.”

The categories

  • Sustainable Housebuilder of the Year (open to private and public firms)
  • Sustainable Contractor or Construction Manager of the Year (open to all building and contracting firms)
  • Sustainable Architect of the Year
  • Sustainable Engineer the Year
  • Sustainable Client or Developer of the Year
  • Sustainable Consultant of the Year
  • Best Business Practice
  • Innovative Technology (product or process)
  • Sustainable Building of the Year for a Single Project or Building (large project)
  • Sustainable Building of the Year for a Single Project or Building (small project)
  • Sustainable Development of the Year (for a large, mixed-use development)
  • Sustainability Leadership (individual, industry leader, strategic level)
  • Sustainability Champion (individual champion at a local level)
  • Building’s 99% Campaign Award for Refurbishment (cutting carbon in an existing building)
  • Best Sustainability Initiative in the Public Sector

Postscript

For more information and the entry forms visit www.building.co.uk/sustainabilityawards