Environmental initiative of the year

Winner

De Montfort University

The efforts of the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development at De Montfort University singled them out as winners of this category for using natural ventilation to reduce the need for mechanical air handling systems.

Passive downdraught cooling enables naturally ventilated buildings to be cooled in summertime without the need for costly and energy consuming mechanical air handling plant. The technique uses the negative buoyancy of cooled air to passively drive an airflow using the flowpaths provided for the natural ventilation system. It has been developed from the EU passive downdraught evaporative cooling project in which field trials and extensive analysis have taken place.

The process was used for the first time at the School for Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London, here a central lightwell is used to support the system. It is predicted to use 50% the energy of a typical naturally ventilated office.

Runners-up

Durham County Council

Highly commended

Durham County Council was singled out by the judges for its forward-thinking efforts to improve energy performance. It is the first municipality in Europe to display energy performance certificates in all its buildings, enabling instant comparisons of efficiency. A series of energy awareness seminars were held for staff and elected members to enable them to offer simple advice to building users when visiting sites. The Council has also carried out a number of renewable energy demonstration projects.

Balfour Kilpatrick

Balfour Kilpatrick made the shortlist for its attempts at raising an environmentally aware culture through its staff and supply chain. This is being implemented by informing, advising and training members of staff, contractors and suppliers in environmental awareness. A specific target for 2005 was to increase the awareness of energy use. To tackle this, a module was developed for staff and an energy reduction toolbox talk conducted on sites. Further measures taken have included subcontractor inductions and site booklets.

Building Design Partnership

The winner of this category in 2004 for its design of the Gaelscoil An Eiscir Riada Zero CO2 school project in County Offaly, Building Design Partnership has made the finalists line-up once more, this time for its generic repeat design school building. This project takes the best elements from the County Offaly school project and integrates them into an optimised, cost-effective design that can be easily reproduced in different locations. It will give energy savings of up to 50% over traditional school designs with no significant cost increases.

Faber Maunsell

Faber Maunsell has played a major role in two key areas of the revisions to Part L of the Building Regulations, working with the ODPM on the development and dissemination of information. Its role involved advising what changes would be necessary to achieve ongoing reductions in carbon emissions and to implement the technical provisions of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The training and dissemination element meant delivering key strands and messages to target audiences identified by the OPDPM throughout 2005.