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Winners crowned at Leeds Sustainability Institute annual awards
Over 100 industry, academic and third sector professionals gathered at the Met Hotel in Leeds for the annual celebration of the talented companies, groups and individuals who are changing the nature of the built environment industry through extensive research, development and innovation. The Research, Innovation, Sustainability and Enterprise (RISE) awards, organised by Centre for Knowledge Exchange on behalf of the Leeds Sustainability Institute (LSI) at Leeds Beckett, were established in 2015 as a means of bringing together disparate groups, celebrating new thinking, initiatives and technologies and providing a unique platform to foster productive collaborations going forward.
Presented by Gaynor Barnes from ITV Calendar and sponsored by Knauf Insulation, 18 awards were handed out in total across 16 different categories including field and laboratory research, sustainable developments, social value, enterprise, and education and training. In a change from the standard application form, entrants for these awards were encouraged to use their creativity and create a visual poster outlining their initiative. Winners on the night came from a vast array of environments, specialisms and backgrounds each displaying the passion and dedication to do things better, pushing the construction industry forward and driving up standards.
Mohammad Dastbaz, Pro-Vice Chancellor at Leeds Beckett, said “The RISE awards, in their second year, are about showcasing and celebrating the most innovative, sustainable and ground breaking products, projects and partnerships between industry, academics and the third sector in construction in our region. With more than 60 entries to judge from, the winning projects demonstrated the breadth and the depth of the partnerships developed between our University, as well as other regional universities with industry and how our joint research work is pushing the boundaries.”
Winners included SES Engineering Services and Atkins Global for the Sustainable Development – Non Domestic and New Technologies categories respectively and Yeme Architects who took the Heritage trophy for their Manningham Baths development. They were particularly praised for attention to the social benefits of the product and for bringing one of Bradford’s best-loved buildings back to life.
Ryedale Flood Research Group were the night’s only double winner, taking home the Vision and Sustainability trophy and the special Chair’s Award, presented by Professor Chris Gorse from the Leeds Sustainability Institute. 2015 winners Arc Building also continued their success in these awards, walking away with the product and element interface prize; as did last year’s sustainable development winner, CITU who triumphed in design and innovation for their recently launched Climate Innovation District project in Leeds. The CIOB-sponsored the New Technology prize was won by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
The LSI also handed out two awards in honour of respected Leeds Beckett colleague, Dr Andrew Platten, who passed away in July. Andrew was an original founder of Leeds Beckett’s thinkBIM network and a strong advocate of Building Information Modelling (BIM) as a collaborative tool for the future and therefore it was fitting that the trophies for BIM training and BIM adoption were awarded in his name. Andrew’s son, Adam Platten, was welcomed to the ceremony alongside his family, to present the two awards which went to coBuilder International for BIM adoption and the NBS for BIM training. Software company, Trimble Tekla, completed the trio of BIM awards, winning the education and training award for their Tekla Campus project.
The awards were a grand finale to Leeds Sustainability Institute’s International Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design (SEEDS) conference held on the Wednesday and Thursday of that week at the Rose Bowl in Leeds. This international conference explored how buildings and spaces are designed to reduce negative impacts on the environment, with keynote speakers, workshops and presentations focusing on how to address the balance between the built and the natural environment.
The awards ceremony also raised £575 for Yorkshire Cancer Centre thanks to the generous donations from the attendees.