The Link – September, 2009
Sustainable construction beyond the green
Global Holcim Awards competition: winning projects reflect broad range of approaches to sustainability
The USD 2 million Holcim Awards encourage best practice and inspire architects, engineers and developers to adopt sustainable parameters for their building projects.
The Holcim Awards has completed its second three-year cycle with Global prize hand-over ceremonies in Fez (Morocco), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Beijing (China) and San Francisco (USA) which featured addresses by Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Julia Marton-Lefèvre (Switzerland); Chair of the OECD Round Table on Sustainable Development, Rt Hon Simon Upton (New Zealand); Director and Head of Planning and Integrated Urbanism of Arup, Peter Head (UK); and Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, Saskia Sassen (USA).
The diversity of the winning projects shows that world-class sustainable construction solutions not only consider environmental impact – but also deliver economic and social performance as well as architectural quality and provide breakthroughs that can be effectively transferred to other projects.
Image (above): Winners of the Global Holcim Awards Gold 2009 – here answering questions after receiving their prize at the hand-over event in Fez, Morocco.
Winning projects - Global Holcim Awards 2009:
Gold - River remediation and urban development scheme, Fez, Morocco
Silver - Low-impact greenfield university campus, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Bronze - Sustainable planning for a rural community, Beijing, China
“Innovation” prize - Self-contained day labor station, San Francisco, USA
More information:
Full text of media release, additional information and high-resolution images of all events.
Video statements - Members of the Global Holcim Awards jury discuss the jury process and need to pursue sustainability.
Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction Hagenholzstrasse 85 CH-8050 Zurich/Switzerland Phone 41 58 858 82 92 Fax 41 58 858 82 99 info@holcimawards.org www.holcimawards.org





