Accelerating the path to Sustainability

An initiative of the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, the Holcim Awards program is an international competition intended to celebrate innovative, future-oriented and tangible sustainable construction projects from around the globe. It provides prize money of US $2 million per three-year competition cycle. The competition attempts to showcase sustainable responses to technological, environmental, socio-economic and cultural issues affecting contemporary building and construction on a regional and global basis.

A truly global competition

Unique in both its scope and scale, the Holcim Awards comprise five regional competitions (Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa Middle East, and Asia Pacific) to be held in 2007/2008, and the global awards to be held in 2009. The competition is held in collaboration with five of the world’s leading technical universities, including MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for the North American region. The universities have partnered with the Holcim Foundation to develop both the adjudication process and to lead the regional juries.

The five regional jury teams consist of independent, regionally renowned representatives from science, business and society.

Innovative, web-based entry process

Following the official opening on June 1, 2007, entries into the competition can be submitted until February 29, 2008. The entry process is conducted entirely online via the Holcim Awards website (www.holcimawards.org), and is supported by a global help desk.

The competition is open to anyone involved with projects in the area of sustainable construction, including architects, planners, engineers or project owners. All building projects are eligible to enter the competition if construction had not started by June 1, 2007.

In addition, a new category called “Next Generation” will be open to capture vision and ideas at a conceptual level. This category is open to projects where the principal author is 35 years or younger.

The first phase of the competition will select regional winners in 2008 that will automatically qualify for the global competition in 2009.

With over 3,000 submissions from 120 countries in the first cycle of the Holcim Awards competition in 2005/2006, the 2nd cycle promises to inspire yet another exciting round of competition among innovative projects that go beyond convention to address the challenges of sustainability.

In Canada and on the eastern seaboard of the United States, the Holcim Awards competition is actively supported by St. Lawrence Cement Inc., a company of the Holcim Group. For more information on St. Lawrence Cement, visit our website: www.stlawrencecement.com. For more information on the awards, please visit: www.holcimawards.org and www.holcimfoundation.org

Tareq Ali is manager of strategic marketing with St. Lawrence Cement, and country project manager for the Holcim Awards in Canada. E-mail tali@stlawrencecement.com

The Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction is an independent, non-profit organization supported by Holcim Ltd., one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement, aggregates (crushed stone, sand and gravel), ready-mix concrete and construction services. The Holcim Group holds majority and minority interests in more than 70 countries on all continents. The activities of the Holcim Foundation are independent of the commercial interests of Holcim Ltd.