The 29th annual Sanctuary Awards have been held in central London. The awards event recognised groups or individuals and their commitment to sustainability, energy saving, wildlife conservation, archaeology and environmental protection throughout the Defence estate.
The 5 categories for the 2019 Sanctuary Awards were; Heritage Project Award, Sustainability Project Award, Individual Achievement Award, Environmental Project Award and the Utilities Project Award.
The winners of each category were then considered for 2 further awards.
The coveted Silver Otter trophy is awarded to the conservation group, individual or MOD-led project that was deemed most impressive by the judges. This year’s winner of the Silver Otter and of the Environmental Project Award was the Bird Trapping Steering Group in Cyprus. The steering group was established to combat illegal bird trapping in the area. Military colleagues have been working with local police and bird conservation groups to develop anti-poaching strategies resulting in a decrease in bird trapping levels.
The Sustainable Business Award is presented to more commercial projects that have achieved success in ensuring sustainable solutions while also supporting the commitment to enable the armed forces to live, work and train. The winner of this award also won the Utilities Achievement Award for the Fuel Efficiencies and Emissions Reduction Project based at Air Mobility Force headquarters, RAF Brize Norton.
In the other categories, the Army Basing Programme’s refurbishment of the Sandhurst Block at Catterick Garrison won the Heritage Project Award. This was a complex scheme to create a fit-for-purpose office space for 21st century soldiers in a Grade II listed 1930s accommodation block.
The Sustainability Project Award was presented to Project Anvil at RAF Marham. This was an infrastructure investment project to improve facilities at the East Anglia airbase in preparation for the arrival of the F35 Lightning aircraft.
Dickie Bennett was the Individual Achievement Award Winner. Dickie is the founder of Breaking Ground Heritage, a group that supports veterans and provides logistics support to Operation Nightingale. The project aims to assist the recovery of wounded, injured and sick military personnel and veterans through involvement in archaeology projects.
Graham Dalton, Chief Executive of DIO, commented:
It was great to see so many innovative projects, throughout the UK and overseas, which demonstrate the positive impact we can have across the Defence estate. The standard of entries was high and I know that the Sanctuary Awards Board had a difficult decision in determining the winners. Well done to the winners and thank you to all the teams and individuals for their enthusiasm and commitment in helping the MOD as we work towards making the estate more sustainable.
The ceremony also marked the launch of the 48th edition of Sanctuary magazine, the MOD’s longstanding annual sustainability publication, which demonstrates how the MOD is protecting and maintaining the defence estate throughout the UK and overseas. Sanctuary magazine is available online.
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