Innovation of the year

Winner

Hurley Palmer Flatt/Trox

A joint submission from Hurley Palmer Flatt and Trox was singled out for praise by the judges in this category. The two firms collaborated on the design and deployment of a cooling system to meet the increasing demands of data centres for power, resilience and cooling capacity.

The solution combines Hurley Palmer Flatt’s experience in data centre design with the Trox CO2Olrac system. This heat absorption device is fitted to the rear of equipment cabinets. The solution is environmentally neutral and can handle heat loads of 20-30 kW per cabinet; it is capable of saving up to 30% on electrical costs and is scalable so can suit most cabinets. The 30 kW capacity exceeds water-cooled solutions by around 50%, saving cabinet and floor area.

Already in use at Imperial College, London, the judges were particularly impressed by the “innovative use of old technologies, used for the first time in a mission critical environment” and the potential for massive replication.

Runners-up

Centrica

Highly commended

The Centrica Utopia condition based monitoring system gives a centralised view of properties using a bespoke network package based on Scada technology. The concept is to operate all buildings centrally with a common approach to maximise uptime and provide a real time system capable of self-monitoring and diagnosing.

Amec

Providing m&e services for the main Heathrow Terminal 5 building required some inventive design work from Amec. A holistic approach was taken to produce eight multi-purpose cores that integrate the plantrooms, structure and risers in a manufacturing solution that is based on a networked supply chain using a web-enabled management tool.

Currie & Brown

Currie & Brown uses its Live Options modelling program in the early stages of design to agree building parameters and costs. It is an integrated suite of geometric and knowledge-based engineering and energy programs that is used to improve the cost modelling, value engineering and energy planning.

GSH Group

GSH Group has developed a miniature building management system (bms) for the remote monitoring of plant and machinery. The bms is linked wirelessly with a back-end database and is ready built for generating critical alarms via Blackberries, SMS or e-mail. Current clients having the bms installed include AstraZeneca, T-Mobile and AT&T.

Halcrow Yolles

Consulting engineer Halcrow Yolles launched its Act Now programme in 2004 with an aim of changing the firm culturally by focussing on improved individual and team performance. Over the past three years staff numbers have increased from 290 to 545 and turnover has risen from £18.9 million to £37.2 million.

White Young Green

The build timescale available for the mixed use development of Scotch Hall in Drogheda, Ireland meant a rethink of traditional procurement methods. White Young Green provided a method of cost control and management that enabled a full open book approach between the design team and contractors ensuring cost certainty.