Jun 15 2009
Jane Davidson AM, Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing for the Welsh Assembly, last week presented the BREEAM Awards Wales 2009, recognising the most sustainable new buildings in Wales over the last year.
The Awards recognise and reward those involved in the design and construction of the highest scoring buildings certified under BREEAM. A BREEAM ‘Excellent' rating is a pre-qualification, so the winners truly represent Wales' top examples of sustainable design. The awards are not subjective as each development has been independently assessed and certified.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister said: "This is the second year of the BREEAM Awards Wales and I am encouraged to see the private sector taking forward the zero carbon agenda. In November 2008 we announced the UK's first green building charter and more than 52 organisations from the public and private sector have committed themselves to support progress towards a built environment that contributes low or zero net carbon emissions as quickly as practically possible. This ‘coalition of the willing' will play a major role in the development of low/zero carbon buildings ahead of the UK Government's target of achieving zero carbon new homes by 2016 and achieve a major step change in Wales by 2011."
Paul Gibbon, Director of Sustainability at BRE Global said "This year's Awards have increased in importance in light of the Welsh Assembly's recent announcement that under planning policy all new non-domestic buildings will be expected to achieve at least BREEAM Very Good from 1st September 2009. These Awards show how BREEAM is leading the drive for sustainability in the built environment in Wales."
Details are available at http://www.bre.co.uk/newsdetails.jsp?id=563