CIBSE has announced the winners of both the CIBSE ASHRAE Graduate of the Year award and CIBSE Employer of the Year awards at this year’s Young Engineers Awards.

Raphael Amajuoyi was proclaimed as 2017 Graduate of the Year after vying with seven other graduate contenders by presenting for five minutes on the theme: Is engineering an art and should building services professionals be more creative in the way they approach projects?

Raphael is a graduate of Loughborough University working as a consultant within the energy and sustainability development team at Hurley Palmer Flatt. His prize includes a trip to the ASHRAE winter conference in Chicago.

The two runners up were Ana Recio of Arup and the University of the West of England and Kiyomi Honjigawa of Buro Happold and Heriot-Watt University, who received cash prizes from the Rumford Club of £600 and £300 respectively. The other finalists all received cash prizes of £100 from the Manly Charitable Trust.

CIBSE President Peter Wong, commented on the reasons behind this high-profile initiative: “Celebrating the work of engineers is one of the most important things our institution does. By rewarding the talent and the companies that nurture that talent the Awards are helping to set up a bright future where we are ahead of the curve.”

Tim Dwyer, chair of the Graduate of the Year judging panel said: “This year’s competition has been the most closely contested in its 22 years; clearly the industry continues to thrive in good hands with such able young engineers driving it forwards”.

The evening also saw InTandem Systems awarded the overall CIBSE Employer of the Year accolade. InTandem won the small company category in the Employer of the Year, while Elementa won the medium category and Norman Disney Young the large company category.

The judges were impressed with InTandem’s structured approach to training and development and its apprenticeship programme which showed how seriously the business took its role in developing young engineers.

David Fitzpatrick, chair of the CIBSE Employer of the Year judging panel said: “Many employers are clearly alert to the dangers of missing out on top quality engineers and the judges were delighted to see such a broad range of well-structured careers programmes that put young engineers at the heart of building services businesses.”

The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) headquarters in London.

The evening also featured the IMechE annual lecture, given this year by IMechE Construction and Building Services Division award winner Jo Harris from Eli Lilly. This was followed by the ASHRAE Presidential Lecture from Professor Bjarne W Olesen, who spoke on the influence of occupant behaviour on energy use in buildings.