Designed to recognise and celebrate buildings in Scotland that
boast low carbon and sustainable design principals, the Carbon
Trust Scotland Low Carbon Building Awards feature two categories -
new build and refurbished.
The two winning entries were The Big Shed in
Aberfeldy, in the new build category, an eco-community centre
submitted by ea ecological architecture, and the Scottish
National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh in the refurbished
category, submitted by Page \ Park Architects.
In addition to the two winners from each category,
the Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library at the
University of Edinburgh was highly commended in the
new build category, submitted by Austin-Smith:Lord.
Low Carbon Building Award winners - Scottish National Portrait
Gallery
Low Carbon Building Award highly commended - University of
Edinburgh
Paul Wedgwood, General Manager, Carbon Trust Scotland, said: "Our two winning
buildings and highly commended finalist not only embody low carbon
design principles, but also deliver reduced energy demand and
emissions, sustainability and a high quality of occupant
experience.
"Once again, the judging panel was greatly impressed with the
effort and energy efficient processes that had been put in place
across all the 2013 entries. All the entries showed great
innovation and demonstrated their commitment to creating a low
carbon environment for the occupants.
"However, The Big Shed, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
and the Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library all displayed
fantastic results that should be held up as exemplary case studies
of best practice to show how a building can become more energy
efficient, benefitting both the environment and the organisations'
bottom line."
John Glenday, editor of Urban Realm, added: "Sustainability as a
word trips off the tongue with ready ease but in practice it can be
a far more nebulous term to quantify. The Low Carbon Building
Awards are the perfect prism through which to view these concepts
by drawing together the best exemplars Scotland has to offer.
"In life as in architecture true beauty isn't façade deep; it
reaches down into the guts of schemes such as The Big Shed and
Scottish Natural Portrait Gallery; both of which have embraced
sustainable principles early on in the design process to enormous
effect.
"A low key community hall in Perthshire and a nationally
significant institution in the heart of the capital couldn't be
further apart in terms of budget, function and setting but what
they share is a unifying embrace of low carbon principles as the
foundation of successful design."