Celebrating winners of the 2023 susdrain SuDS Champions Awards
The CIRIA susdrain SuDS Champions Awards 2023 reached a thrilling conclusion on 13th July with a ceremony hosted in Edinburgh. Launched in 2018, these awards highlight individuals or teams who have demonstrably gone ‘the extra mile’ to deliver and encourage the uptake of SuDS.We are delighted to announce that this year’s Outstanding Team winner is Flood Risk and Drainage Team, Stomor for their passionate delivery of high-quality work, with a view to providing systemic changes to how communities use energy and impact the planet.
Nicola Morris, Director, Stomor commented: “The Stomor Flood Team are extremely passionate about sustainability and biodiversity, and it is an honour to have the opportunity to showcase our achievements through the SuDS Champions Awards”.
The susdrain Champions Awards would also like to recognise Andrew Mindham, Gateway Officer, city of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, our 2023 Rising Star and Jo Bradley, Director of Operations, Stormwater Shepards our 2023 Experienced Professional. Both Andrew and Jo have demonstrated huge enthusiasm towards SuDS with their ability to inspire, inform and influence others to get on board.
Joe Bradley, Director of Operations, Stormwater expressed “I am overwhelmed and delighted to have received this award and excited to see bigger, better, bushier SuDS across the UK for everybody to enjoy”.
This year’s awards also recognise Sue Illman, Managing Director, Illman Young Landscape Design Limited & Steve Wilson, Technical Director, Environmental Protection Group (EPG) for their Oustanding Contribution to SuDS. Sharing combined learning and experience from their respective disciplines resulted in joint authorship of CIRIA publication Guidance on the Construction of SuDS (C768) and the co-authorship of CIRIA’s SuDS manual (C753), the industry’s go-to guide for sustainable drainage.
Adrien Baudrimont, Project Manager, CIRIA stated: “We have fantastic SuDS champions this year, thrilled to see that there are so many SuDS advocates, from early careers to established professionals, and SuDS teams that go the extra mile to promote sustainable drainage within the construction industry. Congrats to our champions - keep up the good work!”
Dirk Vennix, Chief Executive Officer, CIRIA said: “CIRIA is delighted to have demonstrated the sector’s excellence on show at our Awards last night. We were really pleased to be able to shine a light on the winners given they represent a great cross-section of our industry making a difference to many urban green places across the UK. With the imminent implementation of new regulations for SuDS they highlight the pressing need for even SuDS champions to get more involved, trained and experienced in delivering sustainable water management for local communities.”
Congratulations to the award winners, commendations to those that were shortlisted, and a big thank you to everyone for the nominations received, and to the susdrain partners and supporters.