Honoring Exceptional Success at the 2025 CIBSE Building Performance Awards

London’s Park Plaza Westminster Bridge was buzzing with excitement on Thursday, 27 February 2025 as it played host to the highly anticipated CIBSE Building Performance Awards. The event recognized the outstanding achievements of individuals, organizations, products, and projects in the built environment, setting new standards for sustainability, innovation, and performance. The ceremony was emceed by renowned comedian Marcus Brigstocke.

This year’s BPAs boasted an impressive 30 categories, showcasing the vital contributions from various disciplines that shape the future of the built environment. Key categories included Best Digital Innovation, Project of the Year, Product or Innovation of the Year, and Building Performance Champion.

The Engineer of the Year award was presented to Volkan Doda, Head of Design Technologies at Atelier Ten. Doda’s exceptional creativity and dedication have made him a leader in building performance. His expertise in theory and application sets the bar for cutting-edge solutions, and his commitment to nurturing talent has earned him high praise from his peers.

The title of Building Performance Champion and Project of the Year – Retrofit Workplaces was awarded to The Entopia Building, a collaborative effort between Max Fordham, Architype, and BDP. This remarkable project in Cambridge transformed a 1930s structure into a cutting-edge sustainability hub, showcasing groundbreaking applications of circular economy principles. With Passivhaus EnerPHit certification and multiple other sustainability accolades, The Entopia Building sets a new standard for environmentally conscious design, achieving an impressive 84% reduction in whole-life carbon compared to standard retrofits.

The event highlighted the industry’s remarkable talent and innovation. Among the highly commended entries were the Passive Cooling Double-skin Roof by Universidad de Sevilla in the Product or Innovation of the Year – Thermal Comfort category and the Aldar Energy Retrofit Project by grfn in Project of the Year – Portfolio Workplaces, showcasing a wealth of inspiring achievements. The BPAs once again demonstrated CIBSE’s commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in the built environment. By showcasing outstanding achievements and raising the bar for industry standards, the Awards inspire the entire sector to strive for sustainable, efficient, and people-centered solutions.

The full list of winners includes:

Building Performance Champion: The Entopia Building – Max Fordham, Architype & BDP

Best Digital Innovation – Organizational Strategy: Cyclops – Foster + Partners

Best Digital Innovation – Project Delivery: Sydney Airport International Terminal T1 Chilled Water Plant Optimisation – A.G. Coombs Group, Exergenics

Building Performance Consultancy (over 300 employees): AtkinsRéalis, sponsored by ABB

Building Performance Consultancy (up to 50 employees): Cyclone Energy Group, sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric

Building Performance Consultancy (51 – 300 employees): XCO2, sponsored by Airflow

CIBSE Embodied Carbon Award – Products and Systems: for Manufacturers and Suppliers: Apollo Fire Detectors, sponsored by CIBSE Certification

CIBSE Embodied Carbon Award – Services and Projects for Consultants: Q Sustain, sponsored by CMR

Client of the Year: London Borough of Islington

Collaboration: L&G’s Symphony Model – Legal & General, Demand Logic, Bellrock and Partners, sponsored by CIBSE Lifecycle Carbon Assessment Training

Engineer of the Year: Volkan Doda, Head of Design Technologies – Atelier Ten, sponsored by Ideal Heating Commercial

Facilities Management: 20 Fenchurch Street – Savills, sponsored by Gratte Brothers Group

Leadership: Swire Properties

Learning and Development: The ZERO teaching and internship program on zero-carbon energy buildings – ZERO Institute, University of Oxford, sponsored by BCIA

Product or Innovation of the Year – Air Quality: The Pluvo Column – Pluvo, sponsored by CIBSE Patrons

Product or Innovation of the Year – Thermal Comfort: Optimum Air Conditioning System – EcoTechX

Product or Innovation of the Year – Wellbeing: Nature Connect – Signify

Project of the Year – Residential: Agar Grove 1b – Max Fordham, sponsored by Crane Fluid Systems

Project of the Year – Retrofit Workplaces: The Entopia Building – Max Fordham, Architype & BDP, sponsored by Crane Fluid Systems

Project of the Year – New Build Workplaces: Globe Point, Temple – Hoare Lea, sponsored by Crane Fluid Systems

Project of the Year – Portfolio Workplaces: Cathedral Hill Industrial Estate,13 units – SRE, sponsored by Crane Fluid Systems

The following entries were highly commended:

Best Digital Innovation – Project Delivery: Paper Trails to Digital Triumphs – Savills

Building Performance Consultancy (over 300 employees): Buro Happold, sponsored by ABB

Building Performance Consultancy (51 – 300 employees): Max Fordham, sponsored by Airflow

CIBSE Embodied Carbon Award – Services and Projects: for Consultants: AECOM, sponsored by CMR