Clara Bagenal George of Elementa Consulting was last night announced as winner of the 2017 Rising Star Award during a reception at Ecobuild.

The judges described her enthusiasm and dedication to sustainability as inspirational, and look forward to even greater achievements from her over the coming years.

Two-time nominee Ben Hopkins of Bennetts Associates was also recognised as runner-up for using a broad array of communication techniques, ideas and incentives (at one point going so far as to make a donation to UKIP) to help bring about tangible action.

Congratulations to Clara & Ben and to the other shortlisted nominees (Dave Carlos – JLL, Edward Dale-Harris – Squire & Partners, Dr Phil Hampshire – BuroHappold and Evan Landy – UCL) who all made it through a rigorous selection process to make the final shortlist.

The 2018 Rising Star Award will open for nominations later this year and full details can be found on the UK-GBC Rising Star Award Page.

The UK Green Building Council and PRP have announced the fifth annual Rising Star award is open for nominations.

The award recognises an individual’s vision and success in highlighting the importance of sustainability and environmental performance in building, and driving lasting change in their organisation or the wider sector.

It’s great to see the award in it’s fifth year, and a brilliant way to remember Mel and all she achieved.

Further details are available on the UK-GBC website, and I encourage you to nominate anyone you feel meets the criteria.

The 2016 Winner of the Rising Star Award is Lisa Pasquale of consultancy Six Cylinder who impressed the judges so much with her risk management toolkit.

She was presented with the award at the UK-GBC Birthday Party on Wednesday night.

Once again it’s been my great pleasure to be involved in the judging for this years Rising Star Award.

Now in its fourth year the award feels like it has become really established, and the standard of the nominees just seems to get better and better. This year has seen the greatest diversity in nominees from different sectors and disciplines, which makes judging even more challenging.

The shortlist was announced today, and as you will see from their video submissions they are an impressive group of individuals.

Mark Siddall

There is a further announcement about the shortlist on the UK-GBC website, and the winner will be announced by Su Butcher of Just Practising at the UK-GBC Annual Birthday Party on 9 March, which you can attend by registering for a ticket.

Su has also written a blog post about the shortlisted nominees.

UK-GBC today announced the 2016 Rising Star Award is open for nominations.

The award was launched in 2012 in memory of Mel and her work communicating ideas on green buildings and sustainability using social media.

The gives nominees the opportunity to gain recognition for their achievements and I am very proud to be involved for the fourth year.

You can find out more about the award on the UK-GBC website, where you will also find a nominations form.

Su Butcher has written a great blog post on why you should nominate someone on her Just Practicing blog.

Whether you decide to nominate someone or not, I hope you will join us in congratulating the eventual winner next year.

I’m pleased to confirm the date for this years picnic.

Wine, nibbles and games will be order of the day and all – including children – are very welcome.

We’ll meet on Gloucester Green which is the NE-most corner of Regents Park (east of The Broadwalk and London Zoo, just north of the Gloucester Gate entrance) from 12pm onwards.

The Royal Parks website now features a slightly less helpful Google map than the previous version, but it should be self explanatory, but if you get stuck you can tweet me on the day.

Closest tube is Camden Town.

Should we need it the backup venue will once again be the beer garden at the Edinboro Castle. We’ve not had weather-related cause to use it in previous years, but usually end up there for a drink at the end of the afternoon.

I hope to see lots of you there, and to another enjoyable afternoon.

Huge congratulations to Olivia Preston who wins this years Rising Star Award, and to all the shortlisted nominees.

Once again it has been a great honour to be involved in the judging and to present the award.

The full announcement appears on the UKGBC website.

UKGBC today announced the shortlisted nominees for this years Rising Star Award.

Here are the videos that this years shortlist submitted to issue their challenges to the industry.

I’ve been sitting in on the judging as they worked through the longest list of nominations yet.

The fact the award is now in the third year manages to be both really impressive, but it also has a certain way of marking the passage of time.

It’s a really brilliant testament to Mel that the award is raising the profile of rising stars and helping them be heard.

Mel would have loved that, and long may it continue.

If you are at Ecobuild (or even if you aren’t) why not come along and see who wins?

You can register for tickets here.

UK-GBC have today opened nominations for the 2015 Rising Star Award.

Run in association with PRP, the award is now in its third year, and is a wonderful tribute to Mel.

Previous winners include Andrew Kinsey from Mace Group (2013) and Phil Birch from Sweett Group (2014).

The 2015 will be presented at the UK-GBC birthday party at Ecobuild next March.

For more information and to submit a nomination, please visit the Rising Star Award page on the UK-GBC website.

We will be remembering Mel with another picnic in Regents Park this summer.

Last year the rain [just about] held off, and we had an enjoyable afternoon of cheese wine and softball before retiring to the pub when it started to get chilly.

As in previous years, we will meet from midday onwards at Gloucester Green in the NE corner of Regents Park, and once again the back up in the event of poor weather will be the [partially] covered beer garden of the Edinboro Castle at the top of Mornington Terrace in Camden.

All are very welcome, and Mel’s parents and I look forward to catching up with you over a few drinks and games.