Towards NetZero Ireland Awards honour industry champions
Achieving Net Zero buildings is a daunting objective but one in which architects, consulting engineers, mechanical and electrical contractors and building contractors are already showing admirable leadership. The Towards NetZero Awards are designed to recognise their achievements to date, and to encourage others in their efforts to do likewise.
Submissions are open to all construction disciplines and professions, while clients can also make a submission in conjunction with their building design team. A distinguished and experienced panel of judges will assess all entries submitted via the online process with shortlisted finalists being invited to a gala presentation ceremony.
To facilitate the expected increase in entries for 2023 – and the additional number of awards’ recipients – the presentation ceremony will now take place on Friday, 10 November 2023, in the prestigious venue of the Concert Hall in the RDS.
The inaugural NetZero Awards’ winners pictured in the RDS during the presentation ceremony last year.
This category recognises projects that provide high-quality workplace environments while pursuing Net-Zero strategies that ensure a reduction in energy use and carbon emissions, thereby impacting the effects of our everyday work practices.
This category recognises projects commissioned by public or semi-public bodies and agencies that demonstrate a civic function and are accessible to all. Such buildings should illustrate an overlapping interest in the provision of public-facing functions alongside ambitious sustainability objectives.
Category Sponsor
This category recognises the design team that pushes the principles of sustainable design throughout their work, whether in pursuing new research, exploring contemporary innovations, or leading in best practice.
Category Sponsor
This category recognises projects which bring under-utilised existing building stock back into contemporary use, achieving a more sustainable built environment through the re-use of extant properties and significantly improving their energy performance.
This category recognises an individual member of a design or contracting team who has demonstrated exceptional commitment and understanding in the application of Net-Zero strategies, either with regard to a particular project or across their work as a whole.
This category recognises multi-unit residential projects that aim to reimagine the sustainable credentials of the typical Irish suburban housing estate – a type of development often associated with promoting carbon-intensive lifestyles but which also holds a significant capacity for change and innovation.
This category recognises the role one-off homes can play in meeting NetZero targets and in ensuring that the country’s collective carbon footprint is reduced – ranging from site utilisation through to design concept, sustainability, materials used, the principles of circularity, etc.
This category recognises building contractors who demonstrate a commitment to developing new and more sustainable ways of conducting their operations. Evidence can be in the form of initiatives undertaken to reduce environmental impacts and the introduction of carbon-emission-reducing technologies and building practices.
Category Sponsor
This category recognises the engineering team that pushes the principles of sustainable engineering throughout its work, whether in pursuing new research, exploring contemporary innovations, or leading in best practice. Evidence can include changing to a more sustainable corporate culture and work practices.
Submissions to the Towards NetZero Ireland Awards can be made directly online. Simply click on the link below and complete the entry form. Details required are the name of the project, the name of the category being entered, and your contact details. All supporting information can then be attached in PDF format before you press the Submit button.
The deadline for submissions has been extended to Friday, 15 September 2023.
Paul Martin is Programme Manager for Technical Standards Development, SEAI and a former Chairman of CIBSE Ireland. A graduate of Northumbria University, Newcastle and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), Paul is a Chartered Member and Fellow of CIBSE and is also the Chair of the Building Services Committee for the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSA).
Michael Curran is CIBSE Ireland Chairman and Head of Building Services, Energy and Utilities at NUI Galway. As Energy Performance Officer at NUI Galway, Michael led the team to ambitiously exceed Government targets in primary energy reduction, also wining the SEAI Energy Team of the year 2019. He also works closely with the U9 Group of Energy Officers across the university sector.
Mona Duff has a degree in building services and energy technology and worked in Arup’s Berlin and Dublin offices before being appointed Senior Manager at International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). She has extensive experience across the full spectrum of building services engineering and today is very much involved in influencing design decisions for the wellbeing of building occupants.
Tomás O’Leary is Managing Director of MosArt, a design firm delivering sustainable buildings for 30 years. Tomás has spent the last two decades delivering exemplary Passive House projects across the world and is a leading educator on high-performance buildings for both designers and contractors. He was the proud recipient of the 2022 National Net Zero Champion Award.
