CIBSE UAE hosted its Annual Awards ceremony on August 8 at Armani Hotel in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa – an evening that coincided with the 125th anniversary of its parent association. Given the special nature of the occasion, Kevin Mitchell, CIBSE President, and Ruth Carter, CIBSE Chief Executive, travelled to the UAE to participate in the event, attended by an eclectic mix of individuals and organisations invested in building services engineering in the UAE.

Farah Naz, CIBSE UAE Chair, welcomed Mitchell, Carter and the vast number of guests, including those shortlisted to win awards in five categories. Carter, who has a strong track record of creating successful collegiate communities within publishing and exhibitions, and highlighting the opportunity for supporting a strong sense of identity across a diverse international CIBSE membership, addressed the audience, as did Mitchell, who Naz described as a “Global Practice Leader, who launched five challenges to encourage action, communication and collaboration, inspiring those who are new to our industry, as well as raising our profile more widely and inspiring people to join us from a wide range of backgrounds to ensure our industry reflects the communities we serve”.

Mitchell, in his address, spoke of two goals CIBSE holds dear to its heart. The first goal, he said, is to pay forward the support received, to the next generation. The second goal is to share how building services engineers are key in the transition to net-zero and in fighting climate change. The elements of the second goal underpinned the objective of the Awards exercise – of recognising and honouring outstanding performances by individuals and businesses directly and indirectly associated with the building services industry, including the work being carried out to lower the emission of greenhouse gases to mitigate climate change.

Sarah Cocker, the MC, verbalised the importance of the event when she said the Awards are part of CIBSE’s motto of promoting careers in building services by rewarding exemplary performance. “At a time of great dynamism in building services, CIBSE’s impact in enabling collaborations and transnational knowledge flows, recognising and rewarding high achievers, and mobilising global stakeholders for sustainable transformation has been profound,” Cocker said. “In the Middle East, where new buildings are being constructed in great numbers and existing stock is yearning for technology-led optimisation, CIBSE UAE’s ambitious regional road map is a cause for celebration.”

To ensure, the most deserving walked away with top honours, CIBSE UAE enlisted the services of a panel of judges, including Amruta Kshemkalyani, Founder & Managing Director, Sustainability Tribe; Farhan Juratli, Associate Director at Nakheel, Judicial Expert with the UAE Ministry of Justice (MOJ); Huda Shaka, Advisor, Department of Municipalities and Transport, Abu Dhabi; Rana Kaakour, Associate Director – Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA) and Rushdy Ahamed, Project Manager – Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA). The jury had the backing of Ella Summer and CIBSE headquarters as the third-party auditing presence of the process of selecting the winners.

The giving away of the trophies had all the hallmarks of an Awards ceremony – moments of suspense, followed by exhilaration for those that climbed the stage to receive the ‘Highly Recommended’, ‘Runner-up’ and ‘Winner’ honours. Trosten won the ‘Highly Recommended’ trophy in the MEP Manufacturer of the Year category, whereas Grundfos walked away with the Winner’s trophy. And WSP won the ‘Highly Recommended’ trophy in the MEP Consultancy of the Year category, whereas Cundall walked away with the Winner’s trophy (see opposite page full list of winners).

The Deluxe Sponsors of the Awards ceremony were Polypipe, Central Ventilation Systems (CVS), Thermobreak, Leminar and System Kan Therm. The Gold Sponsors were De Montfort University and Hisense HVAC. CPI Industry, publishers of Climate Control Middle East, managed the event, on behalf of CIBSE UAE.

And the AWARD goes to…

The ‘Highly Recommended’ entries, runners-up and the winners of the CIBSE UAE Annual Awards for 2022 are…

MEP GRADUATE ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022

 

Shortlisted entries:

Aishwarya Chengappa, Ramboll Asmar Shahid, WME

Bestan Star, Buro Happold

Krishna Ajith, Manipal Academy of Higher Education – Dubai Campus Priyanka Murugappan, Heriot-Watt University & WSP

Suvarna Kumar, Buro Happold

Highly Recommended:

Krishna Ajith – Manipal Academy of Higher Education – Dubai Campus

Winner: Suvarna Kumar Buro Happold

MEP YOUNG ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022

Shortlisted entries:

Ansh Singh, WSP

Chrystall Thomas, Buro Happold Eby Paul, Black & White Engineering

George Henderson, Black & White Engineering Mohamed Atyab, Jacobs

Munis Hameed, Black & White Engineering Noufal BK, Nael General Contracting LLC Sumith Sunil, Aecom

Highly Recommended:

Sumith Sunil, Aecom

Winner: Munis Hameed, Black & White Engineering

UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEER OF THE YEAR 2021

 

 

Winner: Khushbu Mankani

(collecting the trophy a year later)

STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION OF THE YEAR 2022

 

Shortlisted entries:

Heriot Watt University, Dubai

Manipal Academy of Higher Education – Dubai Campus

Runner-up:

Manipal Academy of Higher Education – Dubai Campus

Winner: Heriot Watt University, Dubai

MEP MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR 2022

Shortlisted entries:

Central Ventilation Systems (CVS) Grundfos

Hisense Leminar Thermobreak Trosten

Highly Recommended:

Trosten

Winner: Grundfos

 

 

MEP CONSULTANCY OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022

 Shortlisted entries: 

Black & White Engineering Cundall

Mott MacDonald Ramboll

WME WSP

Highly Recommended:

WSP

Winner: Cundall

 

 

‘Thrilled to bits’
Here’s what some of the winners said…

Munis Hameed, Black & White Engineering:
Being the ‘Young Engineer of the Year’ is a recognition of the hard work and contribution to the building services industry. This award represents not only my abilities and achievements but also the opportunities and platform provided by Black and White Engineering over the last two years, which has helped in expressing myself as an engineer and applying my skills in design engineering as a young engineer.

Having experienced engineering in projects such as museums, urban living complexes, hotels and data centres, I have had the opportunity to apply my engineering and learn a sustainable design approach, which I will continue practicing in my career and develop energy efficient and sustainable buildings. This trophy is not just the recognition of engineering achievements but also the appreciation of the contribution to the building services industry. I have been an active contributor to CIBSE and ASHRAE over the course of my career, and this award represents the recognition of my contribution to the building services industry as a young engineer.

 

Lubna Shaikh, Trosten Industries Company:

It’s an incredible moment for us to receive the ‘Highly Recommended’ recognition in the ‘MEP Manufacturer of the year’ category. We are tremendously pleased to be selected and receive this honour. Such recognition from the CIBSE fraternity has motivated the entire team of Trosten, and it shall ensure the consistency in delivering highest level of contributions from every employee towards the organisation’s growth.

We take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the CIBSE UAE team. We have engineered an innovative HVAC equipment, called Heat Recovery Package unit (HRP). The HRP unit has been designed with an aim of providing thermal comfort indoors with increased energy efficiency. The HRP unit removes the same amount of total load with less energy, compared to a conventional fresh-air-handling unit with heat recovery connected to an air-cooled condensing unit. The HRP is featured with higher COP, compared to a conventional unit, and it gives lower energy bills for the end user and a smaller footprint, and it does not necessitate field piping and refrigerant charging. It increases the life of the compressor, as the system is delivered factory-charged. It has a low installation cost, and there is no extra cost for laying the copper pipe and the power cables for the condensing unit. It is a plug-and-play device that reduces the commissioning period.

The HRP is an outcome of our R&D over the years, and the trophy is a recognition towards our contribution to the air conditioning industry, especially on energy efficiency and Indoor Air Quality.

 

Suvarna Kumar, Buro Happold:
As a recent graduate, winning the ‘CIBSE Graduate Engineer of the Year’ award makes me feel rewarded for all my efforts during my university phase. Additionally, the recognition has helped me expand my network and boost my confidence within the industry. The award also shows me that I am on the right path toward my aspiration of contributing to the betterment of the built environment through my role at Buro Happold Middle East. As a Graduate Sustainability Engineer, the award pushes me to explore the field of sustainable engineering through energy modelling, energy-efficient design and rating systems and to dive deeper into areas like carbon, water, and health and wellbeing, along with incorporating innovations.

 

Scott McKeever, Cundall:
Winning the ‘CIBSE MEP Consultancy of the Year’ award means a tremendous amount to Cundall. Being recognised by a leading industry institution, and selected as winners by such a diverse, accomplished and talented panel of judges means that we are doing something right. We are extremely proud to win this award, as it represents our engineering achievements, judged on engineering merit, by people that understand engineering.

Winning this award represents an endorsement of all of the hard work that our MEP team have put in over the last few years. It shows that our company-wide global initiatives are paying dividends and our technical knowledge sharing and continuous technical improvement are shaping the future of our industry. At Cundall, we always strive to push the boundaries of the built environment and have committed to achieving net-zero-carbon design on all our projects by 2030. We’re on a journey towards zero carbon, and we invite everyone in the wider industry to join us in making zero-carbon design a reality.

Gaurav Kapoor, Grundfos:
CIBSE, as an organisation, is very critical for best building services engineering, and to get an award from them as the ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ makes us believe that we are succeeding in our efforts to innovate and deliver solutions for buildings that make them more sustainable and energy efficient.

For this award, we submitted details of the Grundfos Hydro MPC booster, which has many smart features, like Power Optimal Pump Sequencing (POPS), which does pump cascading with an algorithm, which calculates power consumption with one additional pump in operation and with one pump less in operation, thus determining the operation condition that is most energy efficient, offering extra protection from NRV failure, and the proportional pressure that can help the customer save up to 33% energy. Winning the trophy for this submission reflects our industry as becoming very much focused on sustainability and energy efficiency, and we all should work together to make this world a better place to live for our upcoming generations.