Faber Maunsell was among the winners praised by Dame Ellen MacArther at the second annual Low Carbon Performance Awards 2009 on February 4.
Faber Maunsell picked up the 'New Build Project of the Year' award for its ZEBRA project work on the Lion House building in Alnwick, Northumberland.
Throughout Lion House's design, construction and occupation processes, the focus for Faber Maunsell was to minimise environmental impact throughout the two-storey office building's lifetime.
The awards night rewarded Faber Maunsell and individuals, projects and campaigns that worked towards a sustainable built environment.
Event organiser CIBSE (the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) said Faber Maunsell was 'the unanimous choice of the judges for a ground-breaking sustainable, energy efficient low carbon building'.
It added: 'All aspects of this project were scrutinised for their impact on energy and emissions, resulting in a building that has the lowest levels of energy use and benefits from the application of a wide range of passive energy efficiency measures.'
English sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe on February 7, 2005. As presenter of the awards, she congratulated the winners and spoke to the audience about the importance of individual effort as part of a greater team effort to cut carbon.
The awards ceremony celebrated the success of participants of the 100 Hours of Carbon Clean Up campaign, the work of CIBSE Low Carbon Consultants and Low Carbon Energy Assessors (LCEAs).
The company Simons Design won Best Carbon Saving Programme. The firm monitored their energy use closely and the 100 hours campaign drove them to install a variable speed drive and occupancy monitor to regulate ventilation in line with the number of people in the office occupancy. Its green efforts resulted in the firm's head office electricity bill for October being 13% less than in 2006. This amounted to a saving of 9000kWh and 3.9 tonnes of CO2 against their baseline year.
The Product Innovation of the Year category was won by PV Systems for its Heritage Solar Slate, which looks like roof slate but is effectively 'invisible' solar roof panelling.
Andrew Gardner won the Low Carbon Consultant of the Year category. He was responsible for the design of a CHP plant for Langford House, part of the University of Bristol. The design reduces carbon emissions by over 500,000 kilogrammes in a full year. He also designed a CHP system for a supermarket in in County Down, Northern Ireland, which made annual savings of more than 80,000 kg of carbon dioxide.
The LCEA: DEC of the Year award went to Transport for London for the way DECs are displayed in TfL buildings, with engaging information about the DEC for those viewing it.
The firm i-prophets energy services took home two awards for Innovation of the Year and LCEA: EPC of the Year.
Best Carbon Saving Programme - SME, was won by BDP Belfast which used the campaign to change employee behaviour using a '12-a-day' message (12 actions per day), which was delivered electronically to employees and overseen by Low Carbon champions within the office.
The award of Champion of Carbon Saving Champions went to Quinten Babcock, environmental manager of the sustainable buildings team at Transport for London Group Property & Facilities.
Client of the Year was won by Leisure Connections.
for its programme of voluntary Display Energy Certificates (DEC). Sigrid Stagl & Peter Kaufmann won the Refurbishment Project of the Year award for the Brighton House Project- a low carbon refurbishment of a period home.
The Low Carbon Operator/Manager of the Year
was won by Philip Belton at Medway Hospital for
his work to cut emissions on the site.
CIBSE president John Swaffield said: 'The awards demonstrate the achievements that can be made through the sustainable design and operation of both new and existing buildings in the UK'.