BAM Ireland, Leading Civil Engineering, Building and Property Development Company

BAM were recently awarded the ENERGY GLOBE Award for Ireland for their collaborative research with GMIT.

BAM Ireland and GMIT developed a construction-phase resource efficiency toolkit through the benchmarking, development, implementation and testing of waste, water, carbon and energy reduction plans on selected construction projects.

These case studies included a primary and community college project; an educational special needs units project; a clinical research facility; a hospital car park project; and a human biology university building project. The project examined the feasibility of implementing resource efficiency strategies on site to reduce the environmental burden of the construction activities while also increasing the competitiveness of the process. The implemented resource efficiency initiatives on the five case studies resulted in total cost savings of € 108,625, a reduction in energy use of 250,547 kWh, a waste reduction of 167.51 tons and an associated reduction of 274.57 tons in carbon emissions.

Innovation

This project's innovation lies in two main areas: 1. The benchmarking, development, implementation and testing of waste, water, carbon and energy reduction plans on actual construction projects to develop a transferable resource efficiency toolkit for SMEs in the construction industry. 2. Development of an innovation and knowledge management model/framework for a construction company that contributes to higher education curriculum development at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Pictured: Jan Gottsche, BAM (second from right), receives a Certificate for Energy Globe Awards from Walter Koren, Advantage Austria; H.E. Ambassador Helmut Freudeuschuss; and Wilhelm Nest, Austrian Embassy.

With more than 178 participating countries and over 2000 project submissions annually the Energy Globe Award is today's most prestigious environmental prize worldwide. It distinguishes projects regionally, nationally and globally that conserve resources such as energy or utilize renewable or emission-free sources. Award ceremonies are held all over the world. Prominent personalities as well as Energy Globe Ambassadors in 90 countries support the mission of Energy Globe. The activities of Energy Globe attract worldwide media attention – international TV stations report each year with approximately 1,000 hours of broadcasting time. The aim of the Energy Globe is to raise global attention on sustainability everywhere, applicable environmental solutions and to motivate people to also become active in this area.