2016 winners of the International Innovation & Research Awards announced

At a time when the Government has unveiled greater investment in science, research and innovation as part of its 10-point plan for an Industrial Strategy, the Chartered Institute of Building announces the winners of its 2016 International Innovation & Research Awards.

The awards recognise the best innovators and researchers in the built environment that are making a significant contribution to both industry practice and the academic knowledge base through their work. The awards look to raise performance levels, encourage best practice and improve the quality of the built environment. 

This year, the competition received over 160 entries from 18 different countries. Six Premier Award winners were selected to recognise outstanding achievement in their field - with cash prizes of up to £2,000 available.    

An open source BIM platform was among one of the ideas to be selected for the Premier Award. The innovation, developed by Dr Jozef Dobos and Tim Scully at 3D Repo gives project teams the opportunity to share, envisage and understand their collective data sets, leading to better informed and faster, easier decision making throughout the development and delivery of  construction projects.

Joining the open source BIM platform as a Premier Award winner is an innovation strategy developed by Fulton Hogan  in New Zealand to help increase performance, provide benefit for customers and, in one brilliant example, improve road safety through the development of ‘cats eyes’ which illuminate when roads are subject to freezing conditions . Submissions in the research categories covered a broad spectrum of ideas ranging from an exploration of the performance of origami floor joists, to the use of lime in an external render. 

Announcing the results, the Judging Panel said: “The entries to the CIOB I&R Awards continue to impress and surpass expectations. It’s immensely encouraging to see both a high volume and  quality of applications across each category. 

“Each of the finalists was able to demonstrate clearly to the panel the value of their research or innovation to professional practice. We extend our congratulations to all those recognised by the awards – on what is a truly fantastic achievement.”

Innovation Achiever’s Award

Premier Award (£2000, trophy and certificate)

Ms Chloe Smith and Mr Robert Jones (Fulton Hogan Ltd.) 

‘Leading the Way – Fulton Hogan’s New Innovation Strategy’ 

Highly Commended Award (£500, trophy and certificate)

Prof Rahinah Ibrahim and Dr Navid Nasrollah Mazandari (University of Putra Malaysia/ University of Automotive Malaysia) 

‘i-STP: Modular Sewage Treatment System for Remote Coastal Settlements’    

Merit Award (trophy and certificate)

Dr Narguess Khatami (Hilson Moran Partnership)

‘NV LogIQ Wall Controller’ 

Digital Innovation Award

Premier Award (£2000, trophy and certificate)

Dr Jozef Dobos and Mr Tim Scully (3D Repo Ltd.)

‘3D Repo – Open Source BIM Platform’ 

Highly Commended Award (£500, trophy and certificate)

Dr Songye Zhu, Mr Shiguang Wang and Mr Gary Hui (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University/ Chevalier Ltd.)

‘A Real-Time Monitoring, Assessment and Alarming System for Construction-Induced Vibration Impact on Hospital Buildings’ 

Merit Award (trophy and certificate)

Mr Simon Kaufman and Richard Baker (AssetScape Ltd.)

‘AssetScape World Management System’

Innovation in Education & Training Award

Premier Award (£2000, trophy and certificate)

Mr Tony Burke and Mr Rob Garvey (University of Westminster)

‘The First Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Digital Construction’ 

Highly Commended Award (£500, trophy and certificate)

Mrs Christina Duckett and Dr Geoff Cook (University of Reading) 

‘The Breaking down Barriers Project at Reading: Educating for twentieth-century lives. Promoting an inclusive society through innovation in built environment professional education, by embedding the design, construction and management of inclusive environment into curricula across the university using a collaborative approach.’ 

Research Paper Award

Premier Award (£2000, trophy and certificate)

Guillermo Tardio and Slobodan Mickovski (Glasgow Caledonian University)

‘Implementation of eco-engineering design into existing slope stability design practices.’ (Published in Ecological Engineering, Vol. 92; pp.138-147, 2016)

Highly Commended Award (£500, trophy and certificate)

Natalya Sergeeva (University College London, UK)

‘What makes an ‘Innovation Champion’? (Published in European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 19; Issue 1, pp. 72-89, 2016) 

Merit Award (trophy and certificate)

Mark Mulville and Spyridon Stravoravdis (University of Greenwich, UK)

‘The Impact of Regulations on Overheating risk in Dwellings.’ (Published in Building Research and Information, Vol. 44; Issue 5-6, pp. 520-534, 2016) 

Undergraduate Dissertation Award

Premier Award (£1000, trophy and certificate) 

Mark Lee and Stephen Hetherington (Sheffield Hallam University, UK)

‘A Comparative Study of the Physical Properties of Natural Hydraulic Lime and Ordinary Portland Cement Binders for the Application of External Renders.’ 

Highly Commended Award (£500, trophy and certificate)

Grace Di Benedetto and Chris Beckett (University of Western Australia)

‘An Exploratory Investigation of Earth Printing’ 

Merit Award (trophy and certificate)

Anthony Butera and Vivian Tam (Western Sydney University)

‘Experimental Study on Recycled Concrete Behaviour’ 

Masters Dissertation Award

Premier Award (£1000, trophy and certificate)

Gemma Small and Neil Currie (University of Salford, UK)

‘Engineered Cardboard Origami Floor Joists: Part 2’ 

Highly Commended Award (£500, trophy and certificate)

Gemma Webb and Samantha Organ (University of the West England, UK)

‘Investigation into the Practice of Home Improvement by Owner-Occupier Families with pre-school children.’ 

Merit Award (trophy and certificate)

Abdul Aziz Abas and Masran Saruwomo (University Teknologi Mara, Malaysia)

‘Variation in Price of Preliminaries in Construction Projects during Tender Stage’ 

Entries for the International Innovation and Research Awards 2017 will be open in June. Further information can be found at http://iandrawards.ciob.org.