Awards: Projex, Coalters, Preston Baker
A SUSTAINABLE building project for coffee chain Costa has won two major UK energy awards.
Leeds-based project management and construction consultancy Projex won the awards for its Telford zero-energy coffee shop.
A UK first, the eco-pod won the Judges Supreme Award at the UK Energy Awards, as well as the Sustainability Award by the British Council of Shopping Centres.
Costa and Projex Building Solutions collaborated on the site, after Projex approached Costa with the idea after launching a joint venture with Midlands-based Emission Zero.
Projex founder and director, Phil Tomalin, first met Costa’s Global Property and Commercial director, Clive Bentley, when working as newly qualified surveyors at the Leeds office of property consultants Erdman Lewis in the early 1990s.
Projex’s Phil Tomalin said: “It is very exciting to have been part of the partnership team that led to this innovation in retail building design and Costa should be praised for getting this off the ground.
“The key design features that make all the difference include an FSC sourced timber frame as an alternative to a traditional steel frame, reducing the embodied carbon footprint of the building, an insulated façade using soft wood, intelligent orientation to achieve optimum levels of sun and shade, an under-floor heating system and passive ventilation, as well as Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on the roof.”
The building took 13 weeks to build and measures 1,614 sq ft.
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YORK-BASED estate agents Coalters have been named as one of the best in the UK by The Times and Sunday Times newspapers.
Coalters scooped gold in the Best Single Office Estate Agents in the UK category of the Estate Agency of the Year 2015 awards, and the team was also named the Best Single Office Northern Estate Agents of the Year at the ceremony in London on Friday, December 4.
Judges said that Coalters is “a standout company across all measureable performance indicators”, and singled out their “stunning” offices in Ouse Bridge.
Managing director of Coalters, Reuben Barrett, who launched the business in his house in 2007, said: “Having industry experts compare you to your competitors is always a nerve-wracking affair but I have absolute confidence in my team and that the judges would be able to see the effort we put into the business.”
Judges said: “The passion and dedication of the forward thinking director, Reuben Barrett, informs the ethical and personable culture at Coalters, and the judges commented on his effectiveness at imparting this ethos to his team.”
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A TRIO of accolades have been won by Preston Baker Estate and Letting Agents at the Estate Agency of the Year Awards.
The firm, which covers North, South and West Yorkshire, was recognised for its outstanding financial and customer services, winning gold and silver respectively.
Moortown branch manager, Claire Lowcock was also named sixth best property valuer in the UK.
Managing director, Ian Preston said: “We really do care for our customers and go the extra mile, using our financial services to simplify the moving process via a dedicated individual in each of our branches.
“Our financial services team is fully integrated into the rest of the business and we, the directors, have worked with the mortgage advisors to develop a fully integrated proposition.
“Winning these awards highlights we are not only doing this, but we are doing it well.”
With seven offices in York, Selby, Doncaster, Leeds and Sheffield, family-run Preston Baker has already won Best Real Estate Agency Marketing Yorkshire & the Humber, in October, at the UK property awards.
