Built Environment Decarbonisation Project of the Year

Recognising retrofit, refurbishment or new-build projects that have delivered measurable reductions in building-related energy use and emissions.

The finalists

Frasers Property & MAPP Building Consultancy

Winnersh 1020 Decarbonisation Project

Frasers Property UK, with MAPP Building Consultancy as employer's agent, retrofitted Building 1020, a 100,000 square foot office at Winnersh Triangle Business Park, to run entirely on electricity. Gas-fired plant was replaced with air-source heat pumps, supported by existing rooftop solar and a renewable power purchase agreement. Work was sequenced around occupiers, with crane lifts at weekends and heating and hot water disconnected in turn, while refurbishing the existing air handling unit avoided a two-week closure. The EPC rating improved from D to A. An annual saving of 116 tonnes of CO2, a 45% reduction, is anticipated and will be verified by monitoring.

Lloyds Banking Group

Project Pickford: 125 Colmore Row

Lloyds Banking Group's deep retrofit of the 125 Colmore Row office in Birmingham set out to show that commercial buildings can be decarbonised without demolition. Fossil-fuel heating was replaced with air-source heat pumps, while chillers were retained where lifecycle analysis showed lower whole-life carbon than replacement. Heat recovery ventilation, sub-metering, LED lighting and smart water controls were added. Energy demand is down 41% and the EPC rating has improved from D to B, with an as-built upfront embodied carbon figure of 164 kgCO2e/m2, around 37% below the pilot UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard threshold for offices. Selective retention avoided roughly 440 tonnes of embodied carbon.

Midlands Net Zero Hub

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Wave 2.1

Midlands Net Zero Hub led a 21-project consortium of local authorities and housing providers under Wave 2.1 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, upgrading poorly performing social homes towards EPC band C using PAS 2035-compliant retrofit. Delivery covered over 6,000 fabric measures such as insulation, glazing and draught-proofing, more than 1,000 low-carbon heating systems and over 1,200 solar arrays. The Hub reports 3,226 homes improved, 98% of them reaching band C or above, with average EPC scores rising from 59 to 76. The programme is expected to save over 2,500 tonnes of carbon annually. Grant spend was £42.3m alongside £50.5m in co-funding.

Mott MacDonald

Greater London Authority: Zero Carbon Accelerator

The Zero Carbon Accelerator is a public sector retrofit programme led by Mott MacDonald with the Greater London Authority and Energy Saving Trust, established in 2024 to tackle decarbonisation of ageing and highly varied buildings across London's 32 boroughs. Rather than promoting particular technologies, it standardises estate assessment, decarbonisation planning, procurement and investment readiness, aggregating schemes across portfolios to improve cost efficiency and supplier engagement. Work spans heat decarbonisation, energy efficiency and renewable generation, drawn from a GLA framework worth up to £150m. More than 40 projects have been delivered, with savings of around 33,000 tonnes of CO2 forecast by 2030.

Oxford Brookes University & Erda Energy

Geo-Exchange Initiative

Oxford Brookes University has replaced gas boilers and combined heat and power plant at its Headington campus with a deep-borehole geo-exchange network, delivered with Erda Energy, which stores heat seasonally and also supplies cooling in place of conventional chillers. Installation was phased to avoid interrupting teaching and research. Gas use has fallen 53%, from 7.5GWh to 3.5GWh a year, cutting Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 63% against a 2010 baseline. The university reports more than 1,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided and £2.7m in utility savings through optimisation and smart controls, under a 10-year energy performance contract.

Winston Taylor

London Office Refurbishment

Winston Taylor refurbished its London office at 5 New Street Square rather than relocating, on the basis that retaining the existing structure avoids the embodied carbon of demolition and rebuild. The firm reports a 72% reduction in embodied carbon against a typical UK new build, 56% against a London new build, and an approximately 50% improvement in energy efficiency. Fossil-fuel heating was replaced with heat pumps and the building now runs on 100% renewable electricity. Circular principles shaped the fit-out: 98% of construction waste was diverted from landfill and more than 2,000 items of furniture and fittings were reused or donated to schools and charities.

ZED PODS

Crofts House

ZED PODS and Mid Devon District Council built five social-rent homes at Crofts House on a contaminated former garage court reached by access roads under five metres wide. The scheme combined a fabric-first envelope, stone-wool insulation, triple glazing, air-source heat pumps, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and rooftop solar, with more than 80% of value pre-manufactured off site and installation completed in two days. A whole-life carbon assessment recorded embodied carbon of 425 kgCO2e/m2, 47% below RIBA 2025 targets, and regulated energy demand of 31 kWh/m2 a year. Solar generates over 13,500kWh annually, avoiding around 11 tonnes of CO2.