This year’s Building Performance Awards demonstrate an inspiring range of solutions to the challenge of slowing climate change. Retrofitting existing homes to generate more power than they use; innovating to reduce embodied carbon in both products and buildings, and above all, collaborating, sharing and learning to accelerate the adoption of best practice.
The Building Performance Awards, run by the CIBSE, are the only awards to showcase the performance of buildings in use. The awards have gradually extended their remit to include product design and categories dedicated to the relatively new focus of embodied carbon.
The net zero agenda is clearly at the heart of this year’s awards programme, led by guest speaker Chris Skidmore, MP, who headed the Independent Net Zero Review and authored the resulting Mission Zero report.
One stand-out winner was The Low Carbon Built Environment Team of the Welsh School of architecture with its project to retrofit six homes to generate more energy than they use. Installed and measured over four years, this project provides ample evidence of the potential to convert older homes into safe, comfortable and modern energy positive dwellings.
Max Fordham LLP won the Project of the Year, non-domestic, category for its bold decision to adopt a Passivhaus design for student accommodation at Kings College Cambridge. The resulting building sits comfortably within surrounding architecture and has acted as a catalyst for the adoption of Passivhaus principles in the Cambridge area.
Products that actively contribute to a low-carbon future were singled out for attention: the iAirDoor from Wirth Research provides a solution for retail premises to replace the ubiquitous and inefficient “warm air curtain” with a system that creates an air pressure barrier to stop cold air from entering a warm building.
Turning to embodied carbon, NorDan UK took the product award for its predominantly timber-based window systems which minimize the carbon emitted during manufacture while still giving an exceptionally low U-Value and airtightness together with an extended lifespan.
Perhaps the most heartening categories of all, however, were the consultancy and engineering awards, demonstrating the commitment and passion across both large and small organisations: prepared to invest, experiment and demonstrate through their own business examples the solutions that can turn the tide on carbon emissions. Cundall, Carbon intelligence and XCO2 took the consultancy awards for large, medium and smaller consultancies respectively with Arup winning the consultancy category for embodied carbon.
Summing up the positive, future-thinking approach of engineers within the field, the judges observed of Stephen Hill, Winner of the Engineer of the Year category: “The enthusiasm was infectious and knowledge encyclopedic… winning this award will give Stephen a platform to deliver his message to more than three judges in a room in Balham on a wet Tuesday.” Stephen’s entry highlighted his focus on the operational performance of buildings and his commitment to leading change throughout his own organisation and its portfolio of clients.
The awards took place on 1 March 2023 at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster Bridge in the presence of a sell-out audience of 800 people. Dr Hywel Davies, Chief Technical Officer of CIBSE and chair of this year’s judging panel said: “The list of winners is a hugely inspiring demonstration of the practical and immediate impact than can be achieved through disciplined engineering principles and a determination to extend the art of the possible.”
The full list of winners is:
Best Digital Innovation
Winner: Cloud-Based Smart Energy Management Platform (CBSEMP) Swire Properties
Sponsor: CIBSE Patrons
Building Performance Consultancy (over 300 employees)
Winner: Cundall
Sponsor: ABB
Building Performance Consultancy (51 -300 employees)
Winner: Carbon Intelligence – part of Accenture
Sponsor: Airflow
Building Performance Consultancy (up to 50 employees)
Winner: XCO2
Sponsor: Mitsubishi Electric
CIBSE Embodied Carbon Award – Consultants
Winner: Maria Benazzo, Arup
Sponsor: CMR
CIBSE Embodied Carbon Award – Manufacturers and Suppliers
Winner: NorDan UK
Sponsor: Buro Happold
Collaboration
Winner: Working together to deliver whole house energy system retrofits at scale: Low Carbon Built Environment Team, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University
Sponsor: Lochinvar
Engineer of the Year
Winner: Stephen Hill, Associate Director in the Buildings Sustainability Team, Arup
Sponsor: Ideal Heating Commercial
Facilities Management
Winner: Savills Portfolio - Smart Managed Solutions
Sponsor: Gratte Brothers Group
Learning and Development
Winner: Airborne Infection Reduction through Building Operation and Design (AIRBODS) Loughborough University
Highly Commended: “Build Better Now” COP26 Virtual Pavilion, Aecom
Sponsor: SfS – Smoke and Fire Safety
Product or Innovation of the Year – Air Quality
Winner: HVR Zero – Hybrid Ventilation with Heat Recovery – Monodraught
Product or Innovation of the Year – Thermal Comfort
Winner: iAirDoor – Wirth Research
Product or Innovation of the Year – Wellbeing
Winner: MODULHAUSTM - VOLUMTRICTM
Sponsor: Tamlite Lighting
Project of the Year (non-domestic)
Winner: Cranmer Road, Kings College Cambridge, Max Fordham
Sponsor: Crane Fluid Systems
Project of the Year (domestic)
Winner: Towards Net Zero – Evidence from six whole house energy retrofits – Low Carbon Built Environment Team, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University
Highly Commended: Shepherds Barn - LEAP
Sponsor: Crane Fluid Systems
Building Performance Champion
Winner: Towards Net Zero – Working Together to deliver whole house energy system retrofits at scale: Low Carbon Built Environment Team, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University
Sponsor: Tamlite Lighting
Building Performance Champion
Highly Commended: Airborne Infection Reduction through Building Operation and Design (AIRBODS) Loughborough University