We are so excited to announce the winners of the Blue Patch Sustainability Awards 2024.
And the winners are ….
Newcomer Award winner
For a new project or business, with an emphasis on environmental and social impact.
U-Build is the winner for their modular construction units which form sustainable and relocatable workspaces. They have created wonderful workspaces at County Hall in London for the Sustainable Ventures project. The units do not impact on the building itself, so they are ideal for listed buildings. This means they can be removed and relocated. U-build moved modular offices from the 3rd to the 5th floor of the hall. More than 95% of the boxes could be reused. The project also taught a diverse range of students about sustainable construction methods.
Newcomer Award finalist
Juliette O Designs is our newcomer finalist for her textile and wallpaper design. Juliette makes beautiful sustainable linen textiles and uses repurposed materials.
Environment Award winner
For a project that specifically addresses an environmental issue through business operations, from reducing carbon and waste to conserving nature.
The Green Salon Collective wins the environment award for their pioneering work with hairdresser waste, reusing it in innovative ways. Prior to this almost all hairdressing waste went to landfill. They have recycled over 120 tonnes of hair, foil & colour tube waste and doubled the amount of hairdressing metal that is recycled. They also offer a towel composting service and educate hairdressers and salons on how to become holistically sustainable.
Environment Award finalist
Worthy of mention is Denby Pottery who have done great work in addressing the sustainability of their operations over the years. They have recently installed a solar array for clean energy. Generating renewables goes hand-in-hand with their plastic-free packaging, zero to landfill pottery and a new platform for ‘re-loved’ Denby.
Heritage Award winner
Heritage is all about provenance, skill and sustainability. Winners have a unique relationship to materials and exhibit skill and sensitivity in relation to environment and aesthetics.
Angela Cole is a basketmaker using traditional willow weaving methods. Her design work is rooted in heritage craft and nature. Angela saved a C19th Laundry Basket from extinction by learning and recreating the design. She was gifted the original laundry basket by a former British Museum conservator on the understanding that she would try to recreate it. The project was funded by a bursary from The York Foundation for Conservation and Craftsmanship. To achieve a finished product that she was satisfied with, and knew she could replicate, Angela made a total of five baskets.
Heritage Award finalist
Gillian (Paper2Pearls) takes books, which are typically difficult to recycle successfully and end up in landfill. She creates handmade jewellery and accessories from the pages of classic books.
Community Award winner
Our community award winners are opening the door on ways to understand and engage with sustainability – creating positive benefit for many people their local communities.
Groundwork Gallery is a contemporary art gallery specialising in the environment. The sympathetic renovation of the building that the gallery is housed in won the mayor’s award for conversion. Groundwork Gallery has built a community around the three exhibitions they host a year. They also run two ‘extraction-related’ residencies which are ‘strongly heritage-connected’. The core work is a research-learning-fieldwork programme for the artists involving geologists, ecologists, quarry-owners, exploring extraction sites and issues locally.
Community Award finalist
Spark & Bell were commendable finalists. They aptly demonstrate that a commercial company (they make sustainable lighting using recycled materials) can contribute to the local community by intentionally working with local suppliers and makers.
We are so proud of the work that these members of our community have done to make their businesses more sustainable and to involve the local community in their projects. We’d like to thank the judges, who had a difficult job deciding which of the amazing award applicants to shortlist and then win the sustainability awards 2024.
Why not enter our sustainability awards?
To enter the Blue Patch’s Sustainability Awards please apply to join Blue Patch, the UK’s Sustainable Business Community.
Our members are on the pathway to Net Zero. If you are passionate about the environment and are based in the UK or Ireland, we’d love to hear from you.
Need help? Margy Newens Joinus@bluepatch.org +44(0)2077387267
