A wide range of companies, public sector organisations and individuals have scooped top honours at the 2011 CIWM Awards for Environmental Excellence. The winners were announced at the Marriott London Grosvenor Square hotel on Sunday 13 November, at an awards ceremony hosted by Alistair McGowan, who praised the waste sector for the work it does in reducing society's environmental impact and raising awareness.

"Developing a more sustainable approach to waste and resources has never made more sense - both in environmental and economic terms," says CIWM chief executive Steve Lee. "CIWM is delighted to recognise the achievements of our award winners, who have demonstrated how innovation, commitment and partnership working, and active community engagement can deliver real improvements and behaviour change."

Sustainable Construction & Demolition Project
John Sisk & Son Ltd, the construction division of the Sisk Group of companies, won the award for its design and build of the New Mater Adult Hospital in Dublin, where a strategic approach was taken from the outset to designing out waste and delivering high levels of recycling. The comprehensive site waste management plan included sharing the responsibility for waste with all the subcontractors to encourage good practice throughout, high levels of segregation which have to date ensured that 93% of waste has been diverted from landfill, and a strong focus on design features that prevent waste.

Overall, the project is on course to create less than half the volume of waste estimated at the outset and the skip hire costs to the main contractor have been reduced by over €200,000.

"As a design and build contract, Sisk were able to maximise the potential for construction efficiencies and waste prevention at the design stage", says Donall Dowd, waste champion for the Mater project. "This combined with waste minimisation strategies implemented on site with our subcontractors has provided financial benefits to all parties, while reducing the developments' impact on the environment