Energy in Buildings
This category is an opportunity to showcase your unique low carbon approach to building design and construction.
About the Award
This award celebrates sustainable and low carbon buildings that have demonstrated best practice in design, construction or operation. Applications are welcome from new build or substantial retrofit projects, in residential or commercial settings. Projects must be complete and buildings occupied.
Who should apply?
Applications are welcome from new build or substantial retrofit projects, in residential or commercial settings.
Previous project finalists under this category include:
Lidl Ireland
Lidl Regional Distribution Centre in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, is a benchmark for future Lidl distribution centres across Europe. It is home to one of Ireland’s largest rooftop PV arrays. The system incorporates over 4,000 panels and provides 25% of the buildings annual electrical requirements. A heat recovery system also provides underfloor heating. Natural light has been maximised and a rainwater harvesting system accumulates 1million litres of water annually. Biodiversity measures on the site include the planting of wildflower meadows and native Irish woodland, as well as the installation of beehive, bird and bat boxes and an insect hotel.
University College Cork/Tyndall National Institute
The University College Cork/Tyndall National Institute upgraded a protected structure constructed in 1903 to a high energy performance building. An example of an early industrial building in Cork, a full Energy Efficient Design process started at concept design stage. The goal was to promote core values of wellness, sustainability and encouraging scientific interaction. Smart building technology was a key component of the design and smart sensors were used in the lighting along with demand control on heat, light, power and ventilation. The building achieved an A rating without the use of renewables.
Wexford County Council – College View Deep Retrofit
Wexford County Council undertook a significant upgrade of housing constructed in the 1970’s. These houses started with BER ratings of F and G. Following the renovations, all homes have been upgraded to A1, A2 and A3 BER ratings. Tenants report high satisfaction levels on the transformation of their homes both functionally and aesthetically. The College View project has been used as an exemplar case study in many industry conferences, public sector events and local authority housing presentations.
It's fantastic to have won the award for Energy in Buildings. It's a true recognition of all the efforts that we've put in to working to date in terms of green campus sustainability, ISO50001, an energy efficient design and the challenges that we set ourselves, our design teams and our contractors to deliver on those.
Application guidelines
- Please submit your application online by 5pm Friday 24th June.
- You are eligible to apply under more than one category. Simply follow the online guidelines and copy and paste your application to a new category and amend your answers as appropriate.
- Please ensure all mandatory fields are completed before you hit submit.
- Please complete the 'Data' section to the best of your ability.
- Once you submit, you can still edit your application up to the deadline date.
- Please keep attachments to 5MB or less.
- Shortlisted applications will be announced in August.