As one of Australia's longest running award programs recognising sustainable design, the Sustainability Awards showcase the best in environmental design and offer a glimpse into best practice.

For twelve years Architecture & Design and Infolink have been championing Australia’s most sustainable work through its annual Sustainability Awards. Bringing in a high calibre of design, this year’s awards continue the message of environmental commitment to sustainable design.

The gala ceremony took place on Thursday 11 October, with Environ Studio’s Tone Wheeler taking up the role of master of ceremonies. The shortlist was made up of some outstanding projects, two of which received multiple awards, proving that they are exemplary examples of environmentally-focused design practice. 

The ‘Passive Butterfly’ house won the prestigious Best of the Best category, as well as taking out the award for Single Dwelling Alteration or Addition. According to the jury, the twice-fold recognition for ‘Passive Butterfly’ proves that centuries-old heritage structures can become environmentally-conscious dwellings with the adaptive re-use of sustainable design thinking.

The other project to receive more than one award was Defence Housing Australia. A fine example of a project’s commitment to health and wellbeing, ‘The Prince’s Terrace Adelaide’ development exceeds Green Star Criteria for VOC emissions and upcycled 100 per cent of the brick materials from other demolition projects. For this reason, it won Green Building of the Year and Multiple Dwelling awards. 

An inaugural category, Emerging Architect of the Year, was added to the line up this year and taken out by Jean Graham of Winter Architecture. The jury was particularly inspired by Graham’s democratic approach to broadening the possibilities of architecture to clients who may not be able to readily access the latest advancements in architectural best practice in remote locations.

According to Branko Miletic, “Not only has the Sustainability Awards become Australia’s longest-running sustainable building awards program, but this years’ entries proved that sustainability and aesthetics have finally become part of one complete package – one that the built industry is now able to offer to the wider public. Therefore, both for the industry and our awards, a new benchmark has been set – one that I hope will see sustainability become the integral component of each, and every built environment across this nation from now on.”

The winners of the 2018 Sustainability Awards:

Smart Building, sponsored by EBSA: ‘8 Chifley Square’ by Lippman Partnership/Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners

Single Dwelling, New, sponsored by Hyne Timber: ‘Drumkerin’ by Mahalath Halperin Architects 

Achievement of Merit, sponsored by Innowood: Humberto Urriola, Founder of Atlantis Corporation

Single Dwelling, Addition/Alteration, sponsored by Stormtech: ‘Passive Butterfly’ by EME Design

Public & Urban Design, sponsored by Elton Group: ‘krakani lumi’ by Taylor and Hinds Architects

Multiple Dwelling, sponsored by Wood Solutions: ‘The Prince’s Terrace Adelaide’ by Defence Housing Australia

Landscape/Biophilia, sponsored by Premier Hydropavers: ‘Phoenix Rooftop’ by Bent Architecture

Interior Architecture, sponsored by Woven Image: ‘The Burcham’ by Stable Innovations

Innovation/Application, sponsored by Viridian: ‘e-Board’ by Winya Indigenous Furniture

Healthcare, sponsored by Gerard Lighting: Wallen Veterinary Hospital by Crosshatch

Green Building of the Year, sponsored by Kingspan: ‘The Prince’s Terrace Adelaide’ by Defence Housing Australia

Education & Research, sponsored by ARCPANEL: ‘Macquarie University Incubator’ by Architectus

Commercial, sponsored by Tarkett: ‘One Malop Street’ by Aurecon

Best of the Best, sponsored by Zip Water: ‘Passive Butterfly’ by EME Design

Emerging Architect of the Year, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard: Jean Graham, Winter Architecture

Judging was conducted by an esteemed panel of industry experts including: Tim Horton, Registrar of NSW Board of Architects; Suzanne Toumbourou, Executive Director of Sustainable Built Environment Council; Robin Mellon, Supply Chain Sustainability School and Dick Clarke, Director of Envirotecture.

See the full shortlist here.