17 September 2008
Sustainable Engineer of the Year Award 2008

MF's Bill Watts and Adam Ritchie receive the practice's Sustainable Engineer of the Year Award 2008 from Building editor Denise Chevin at a ceremony in London on 18th November.

The awards are an industry leading event which aims to set the benchmark for environmental excellence in the built environment. Chairman of judges Guy Battle described the awards:

“We aim to cut through greenwash and show which companies are serious about sustainability”.

The other contenders for the award - Arup, BDP, Faber Maunsell and Ramboll Whitbybird - show both the strength that is developing in the field and also the achievement of Max Fordham LLP in winning the category. It’s another in a long list of achievements that include: British Council for School Environments Award 2008, The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development 2004 as well as numerous awards for individual building projects.

Adam Ritchie, who leads Sustianability Consultancy at Max Fordham LLP, accepted the award on behalf of the practice.

“This award matters to us because it is cross industry recognition of the passionate talented people who work at Max Fordham LLP. Very few other consultancies offer the length of involvement from concept, through to delivery, to after sales support at the same time as bringing a depth of technical and scientific understanding to clients for how buildings and their environments work. Our success in delivering elegant, functional and integrated design solutions, as well as the testing we have undertaken at our own offices, can easily go unnoticed so we are delighted to receive this accolade.”

The award recognises the engineering that everyone in Max Fordham LLP delivers and the ethos of sustainability that naturally weaves through everything the practice does.

David Lindsey, Senior Partner at Max Fordham LLP described it:

“Our engineering practice understood the importance of creating environmentally sustainable buildings ahead of legislation, ahead of popular understanding of the urgency of the environmental issue and ahead of fashion. Over nearly 40 years we have developed a deep understanding of the science that delivers sustainability and we know how to work with architects and decision makers to deliver the best possible sustainable buildings. Thankfully the market has caught up with us in valuing the sustainability of buildings alongside their visual impact.”

In 2008 the practice will publish a report on its own sustainability and corporate social responsibility to provide information on a diverse range of existing initiatives as well as some more recent monitoring that is being undertaken. The report will cover Business Travel, Purchasing impacts; Waste impacts; London Mayor’s Green Procurement Code; Staff welfare; Developing Countries group and Charity support.

Link: Building Magazine Sustainable Awards