Austin-Smith:Lord has been shortlisted for an international BREEAM Award for its ground-breaking sustainable design of South Lanarkshire College’s Low Carbon Teaching Building.

The project joins Ysgol Ffwrnes Primary School in Wales, also by Austin-Smith:Lord, in being nominated in the Education & Health category of the BREEAM Awards which recognise the achievement of those involved in the specification, design, construction and management of the ‘best of the best’ BREEAM certified buildings.

The projects achieved two of the highest scores internationally in 2017.

South Lanarkshire College’s Low Carbon Teaching Building was the first project in the UK to achieve a BREEAM Outstanding rating for the design stage under the 2014 standards. The building achieved a score of 90.4% at both design and post-construction.

In addition to Solar PVs, an energy-efficient external envelope, and a ground source heat pump, innovative features include solar chimneys; recycled paper insulation; re-used cycle racks from the Commonwealth Games and an integrated bicycle repair station.

Ysgol Ffwrnes Primary School in Llanelli, which was designed and built for Carmarthenshire County Council, was the first primary school in Wales to achieve a BREEAM Outstanding rating, at design stage.

Judges short-listed the project, which achieved a BREEAM score of 85.9%, for pushing beyond the BREEAM rating of Excellent required by the Welsh Government to become an exemplar for future school buildings.

Austin-Smith:Lord Partner, Iain Wylie, said: “We’re delighted to be short-listed for these two trailblazing projects. Both exemplify our passion for sustainability and expertise in applying exciting new technologies to relevant projects across the varied sectors we work within.”

The 2017 BREEAM Awards will be announced on March 7.