INDUSTRYNEWS
FAÇADE COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED
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AGAINST A BACKDROP OF A record number of entries from façades practices and partnerships located around the world, the winners of the 2016 Façade competition, organised by the Society of Façade Engineering, have been announced.
With the honours presented by Chris Macey, Chair of the Society of Façade Engineering Judging Panel, the winner of the Façade of the Year in the Refurbishment category went to Arup for 10 New Burlington Street, London. Winner of the Outstanding Façade Innovation went to TU Delft & ABT Consulting Engineers for the Crystal Houses, Amsterdam.
Special commendations went to BuroHappold Engineering in the Façade of the Year New Build category for their work on Columbia University, Vagelos Education Centre, New York; to Octatube for the Glass Entrance Building of the Van Gogh Museum( Façade of the Year, New Build), Amsterdam; and to Volker Gienke & Company for Great Amber, Liepaja, Latvia( Façade of the Year, New Build).
Façade of the Year 2016 – Refurbishment was awarded to Arup for 10 New Burlington Street, London
The standards overall were extraordinary said the judges but the two outright Winners were‘ quite exceptional’. Of Arup’ s entry for 10 New Burlington Street, for the judges Chris Macey commented:“ London is the refurbishment capital of the world currently and Arup appear to reign supreme here with this project itself a trophy to the skills and commitment of the team behind it. The tight curved highly glazed unitised façade of 10 New Burlington Street has been completed to the highest quality standards.”
Commenting on Crystal Houses, submitted by TU Delft and ABT Consulting Engineers, Chris commented:“ This is a beautifully crafted example of a small but precisely executed commercial building. The judges were impressed by the attention to detail and thorough research and engineering that went into the project.”
Graham Hackley, coordinator of the competition on behalf of the SFE, added:“ This entry was the unanimous decision of all of the judges and proof that winners of this competition do not have to be large scale. We are delighted also that much of the credit for this project goes to two post graduate researchers Faidra Oikonomopoulou and Telesilla Bristogianni, two young and inspired designers who beat the big guys.”
PLANNING AHEAD FOR“ EACH HOME COUNTS”
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FOLLOWING THE RECENT publication of the“ Each Home Counts”, a review conducted by Dr. Peter Bonfield, the GGF is already planning its involvement for its implementation in 2017.
Each Home Counts is an independent Review into consumer advice, protection standards and enforcement for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
The Review was commissioned by the Department for Energy and Climate Change, now the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department for Communities and Local Government in July 2015.
Brian Smith, GGF Director of Home Improvement commented,“ We are pleased to see this published at last, following a ninemonth delay by Government. The review covers many areas of our industry from consumer protection to technical quality through to skills and training.
“ We have already received an industry specific summary of the 68-page report from our political advisers, GK Strategy, and we
will be meeting with them in the first week in January. It’ s imperative that the GGF is involved in the discussions from the very start of the implementation process.”
The Review was conducted by engaging with a wide range of stakeholders from the supply chain, consumer protection organisations, central government, devolved governments and companies in the sector. The aim was to try and achieve a consensus of the existing problems and their causes.
The research was broken down into six‘ core workstreams’, which were: Consumer
Protection, Advice and Guidance, Quality and Standards, Skills and Training, Compliance and Enforcement and Holistic property consideration. There were an additional three‘ workstreams’ that cut across these six and they were Insulation and Fabric, Smart Meters and Home Energy Technologies.
A final workstream that aimed to develop recommendations and an implementation plan was entitled‘ Applying the Review to Social Housing Sector’. Each workstream had a different lead and all were overseen by Dr. Peter Bonfield.
In the first week of 2017, the GGF will hold a strategy meeting with its political advisers, key staff and Members from the Home Improvement and Glazing Executives. From this meeting, the GGF aims to form an action plan to ensure its Members and the broader glass and glazing industry are fully included in the Each Home Counts initiative.
www. ggf. org. uk
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