The results of the prestigious construction environmental awards, the Gaia Awards 2009, were announced today in advance of The Big 5 Exhibition, which is set to take place from 23-26 November. Launched last year, the Gaia Awards have quickly become one of the industry’s most respected accolades, with this year’s gold winner hailing all the way from Australia.
The Gold Award went to Australian Innovative Systems who beat off stiff competition with Ecoline technology. A new and revolutionary on-site, in-line chlorine generation plant, Ecoline is capable of producing chlorine in fresh water from the small amount of natural salts and minerals already present, providing sterilised, healthy natural water, free of complications and risks of manually adding chemicals.
Elena Gosse, Executive Director at AIS, said: “Winning the Gaia Award has been the most rewarding accolade in our company’s achievements an great recognition for the tremendous work we have done as a team. It provides an excellent platform for AIS to be profiled as one of the world’s highly innovative companies and will further the credibility of our brand in the Gulf region. The team at AIS feels that winning the GAIA Award has bestowed a responsibility on them to continue their hard work, delivering further innovation and quality that they are renowned for.”
Silver awards were presented to UAE-based Mapei (Innovative Building Solutions L.L.C) and Ductsox Corporation from America.
There was a threefold increase in applications this year, with an incredibly high standard. In total six silver, 10 bronze and 15 green awards were made, covering 32 products and services which visitors to The Big 5 will be able to check out for themselves.
Presenting the awards to the winners, dmg world media’s vice-president of construction, Simon Mellor said, “The entries this year were all outstanding and competition was fierce. With an increasing awareness of the importance of environmental responsibility in the construction sector, the technologies being submitted were highly advanced and it has been fantastic to see the initiatives being applied by so many companies around the world. The Big 5 will provide a showcase to help raise the profile of the winning green solutions, and we know from previous Gaia Winners that the awards can make a real difference to their business.
“The Big 5 has taken the first steps to going carbon neutral this year, we are the first exhibition in the region to do so, and we are also trying to educate our exhibitors, visitors and the public about the ways in which way they can reduce their own carbon footprint.”
In addition to the announcement of the Gaia Award winners, The Big 5 has confirmed that, as part of its steps towards carbon neutrality, it will be offsetting its carbon emissions by contributing to a Waste Heat Recovery Based Captive Power project in Chhattisgarh, India.
The project, in association with MSP Steel & Power Limited and the region’s premier emissions reduction specialist EcoVentures, will aim to capture the waste heat of the gases emanating from the 900 degrees Celsius kiln used to produce direct reduced iron. This recovered waste heat is then used to generate electrical energy, aiming to produce 16 MW of power to meet the in-house requirements of MSP which would otherwise of been met by the coal based grid power.
EcoVentures will also be present on The Big 5’s Green Stand (located in Hall 9), which will host experts from planning, construction and facility maintenance who will focus on the benefits of green methods and materials with a variety of seminars being held throughout the four days of The Big5. The Green Stand will also illustrate the benefits of building green, by highlighting how some ground-breaking greener and eco-friendlier products from large and small companies have generate positive environmental benefits as well as the winners of this year’s Gaia Awards being displayed on the stand.
The Big 5 will run from 23-26 November at Dubai World Trade Centre, and will bring together developers, architects and suppliers from across the world to exhibit and network at the region’s biggest international construction exhibition.