What it means to win a CIBSE Building Performance Award



Written by Munish Datta, Head of Facilities Management and Plan A at Marks & Spencer and  Judge of the Building Performance Awards 2015.
When I reflect back on the night Marks & Spencer Cheshire Oaks was announced as a winner at the 2014 awards, I am overcome by a great sense of pride, elation and gratitude. Proud that the project topped such a high calibre shortlist, overjoyed that our efforts were recognised and grateful for this very meaningful honour.

For us, this accolade is significant as it recognised the building’s actual operational performance, and in doing so the very reason why we built it in the way we did. Two years since Cheshire Oaks opened to the public, it continues to exceed our expectations in terms of environmental performance, users continue to express high levels of satisfaction and it has become an iconic benchmark against which we measure our global property estate. It has inspired us to try and replicate its success in our existing and new properties, from Heswall to Hyderabad.

The legacy of Cheshire Oaks lives on in our teams as we look to extend Plan A further to new levels, in new areas, across the M&S global property estate. We are retrofitting its most successful features into our existing buildings and deploying post occupancy evaluations in new buildings. We are striving to achieve a better balance of effort in the design, construction and operation of our buildings. This is a challenge not just for us, it’s one of the biggest for the building industry and one that the CIBSE building performance awards are helping raise awareness about.

The success of Cheshire Oaks is a great compliment to its design, construction and maintenance teams and their investment in leaving a legacy that goes beyond their responsibility, bringing comfort and efficiency to users for the buildings entire life. This ‘operational use legacy’ is exactly the kind of thinking that, as a judge, I will be looking for from entries in the 2015 awards. For me, winning buildings will live up to leaving a legacy of operational excellence and not failed design and construction promises. 


Want to comment? Contact @MunishDatta on twitter to continue the conversation. 

For more information about the Building Performance Awards 2015 visit www.cibse.org/bpa


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Face-to-face or remote training?

Image
With the return to the office and the ‘new normal’ of hybrid working, we have seen the reintroduction of face-to-face training. However remote courses, which enable people to be trained virtually have remained popular, with people expecting both types of training to be available. For corporate training there is no extra travelling required by employees, for either face-to-face or remote training. You can choose your own date and time, and the content can be delivered in either format. So, what are the differences between the two learning options? Preference. The main criterium for choosing face-to-face or remote training is based on people’s concentration level, preferred style of interaction, the learning environment and their digital knowledge, or simply, some people just prefer one learning format to another. Focus. People’s attention span varies. Some people concentrate better when they have someone speaking physically in front of them, whilst others find it easier to follow if t
Read more

Embodied Carbon Award: A step towards net zero carbon

Image
Now in its 15th year, the CIBSE Building Performance Awards is the only awards scheme to celebrate the measured performance of projects and products in use while celebrating the engineering consultancies and manufacturers that are contributing to a low carbon future. Michael Lonsdale Group won the Embodied Carbon Award for its pioneering work with suppliers to create a database of low embodied carbon products that enable it to recommend low carbon building services systems to its clients.  We heard from Michael Lonsdale Group about what this award means to them: Caption: Senior Environmental & Sustainability Manager, Joanna Constandis (right) and Engineering Services Director, Paul Cornwell (left) collecting the Embodied Carbon Award at BPA2022. Industries and businesses throughout the globe have begun to show ownership of their environmental agendas. The significance of the topic has been realised, identifying the need for progress towards Net Zero Carbon. So, when Dame Jo da Silv
Read more

CIBSE Role Models - Emeka Efe Osaji

Image
The CIBSE Role Model series is intended to shine a spotlight on members of our building services community from under-represented groups and backgrounds to inspire and promote diversity amongst future engineers.  As part of our Role Model series this month, we speak to Emeka Efe Osaji a Teaching Fellow in Architectural Technology at the University of Salford, and Treasurer of the CIBSE Energy Performance Group. My name is Emeka Efe Osaji. Personally, I am a son, brother, husband, dad, uncle, nephew, cousin, in-law, and friend. Professionally, I am a Teaching Fellow in Architectural Technology at the University of Salford. I am lucky to be a 2nd-generation Academic, Researcher and Consultant. The steps taken by my parents and others have helped provide me with the right support network and prerequisite direction and clarity. I have kindly received recognition for my humble contributions, including in areas, such as: (1) Energy Certification Compliance Knowledge Transfer; (2) Teaching Ex
Read more