Meet the E&E Award-winner: Consultancy of the Year – Cundall

Sustainable design sits at the core of Cundall's service offering, and has been instrumental in achieving international growth for the company. 2015 saw a 26% increase in turnover and a 17% rise in staff numbers for Cundall as it delivered on some highly successful and innovative projects. Meet the Consultancy of the Year...


These included building a new transit system in Lusail to  support sustainable travel in Qatar, and being appointed by National Grid to create Europe’s largest Green Wall, a biophilia inspired feature that is home to 97,000 plants of various species.

Cundall places a lot of emphasis on the benefits living systems can bring to the workplace. Through its Green Lab R&D activities, the company has demonstrated how the use of natural plant life is not just aesthetic, but increases air quality and reduces carbon emissions – on a practical level, this can lead to significant reductions in ventilation energy, for example.

Repeat business is also booming for Cundall due to its focus on client satisfaction. This can be seen in its work on the Lee Valley White Water Centre, which hosted the Canoe Slalom competition during the London 2012 Olympics. The energy reductions that resulted from this project not only won a RIBA Regional Award, but led to Cundall being asked to design the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics Canoe Slalom using the same principles.

The company’s global presence remains significant. Its Australian offices have become one of the leading sustainability practices in the country, delivering projects such as The Gauge, the first office building in Australia to achieve a 6 Star As-Built rating. In Asia, its involvement with Ascendas iHub, the first IT and science park in Suzhou, has achieved a LEED gold rating.  On a wider level, Cundall is the first consultancy in the world to be endorsed as a One Planet Living Company.

Back in the UK, Cundall undertook environmental upgrades to its offices in Edinburgh and Birmingham last year, with similar enhancements shortly planned for its Newcastle base. Meanwhile the company’s new London showroom office is registered for the WELL Building Standard, a certification that prioritises occupant health and wellbeing.

Cundall constantly looks to share its learning and knowledge for the benefit of society. It participated in World Green Building Week, delivering seminars to more than 200 people across seven of its offices. The company also works with other organisations where it feels a united front can make a difference, such as joining forces with Bioregional and the UK-Green Building Council during the COP21 talks in Paris.

Judges’ comments:

Cundall were outstanding in going beyond best practice, push the agenda from both a client service and sustainability-innovation point of view. The use of virtual reality technology and the interest in biophilia were particularly impressive, both of which are pioneering areas of green innovation.

Consultancy of the Year: Meet the finalists

ReEnergise

ReEnergise started up as a consultancy five years ago, with an ambition to help accelerate the transition to sustainable energy use within the domestic and SME business market by bringing clarity and impartiality to what has become a crowded, confusing and potentially hazardous industry for clients. RenEnergise offers expert advice, in-depth project management and intelligent financing from its own organic funds; also providing a novel approach to community energy through its community energy exchange.

Cundall

Cundall is an international, multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy with sustainable design as a core service. The company’s sustainable business practices and low-energy projects saw it deliver several exciting projects in 2015 – a year in which the company saw a 26% increase in turnover and a 17% increase in staff numbers. These figures are due to a combination of an increase in Cundall’s customer base, a rise in the number of overseas projects it works on, and repeat business from satisfied customers.

Eight Associates

London-based Eight Associates is a sustainability consultancy that provides expertise and solutions to building professionals. In the past year, the team demonstrated its unparalleled experience providing consultation and advice by guiding the design team on the award-winning, ‘UK first’ BREEAM Outstanding listed building, as well as designing an innovative, tailor-made assessment system for an international premium retail brand, which is set to save thousands of tonnes of CO2 across Europe.

Longevity Partners

Founded as a subsidiary of investment firm Long Harbour in April 2015, Longevity Partners provides advice and investment for clients looking to lower costs and generate sustainable profits. Longevity has gained significant exposure as a result of positive customer satisfaction since its inception. This was predominantly demonstrated via instructions won in five countries, a 90 % retention rate and an invitation to BITC events to lead discussions on green buildings.

Global Action Plan

Global Action Plan is a consultancy-style charity which runs client-focused programmes in the retail, health and wider corporate sector. These programmes are designed to save clients’ money and help them achieve their CSR and environmental targets. In the first half of the 2015/16 financial year, Global Action Plan saved more than 22,000 tonnes of carbon and had its clients reporting a saving of more than 600 million litres of water.

Carbon2018

With more than 20 years’ experience advising UK businesses on energy and sustainability best practices, Carbon2018’s work as a consultancy has helped many leading brands including  PricewaterhouseCoopers, BMW and O2 reduce energy usage, lower energy bills and minimise carbon footprints. Customer satisfaction is at the core of everything Carbon 2018 does, with the organisation’s ‘best-in-class’ service resulting in a 90% customer retention rate.

Amber Energy

Cardiff-based Amber Energy seeks to enable clients to achieve optimal efficiency from a company they can trust. Honesty and transparency is at the heart of Amber’s culture and this translates in every interaction with its clients and documentation. The consultancy’s mission is to continually develop trusted and innovative solutions that reduce the cost of energy, reliance on energy from the grid and propel other company’s forward towards a low-carbon economy.

edie staff

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