Awards - SDC - The Sustainable Design Collective

Sustainable Design Awards

The Sustainable Design Awards aim to recognise outstanding achievements in the workplace sector.

Free to enter and independently judged by a team of industry players, the Awards include three different categories; Fit-out Projects, Products and Innovation.

The Awards ceremony takes places annually following the Sustainable Design Forum – day of knowledge sharing and collaboration that incorporates panel discussions, workshops, networking, product exhibitions and more in Clerkenwell, London.

Sustainable Design Mini Forum 2025

Join us in Clerkenewell on Wednesday 1st October for an evening of speed dating style round table discussions with SDC Associates.

2025 Sponsor

The Sustainable Design Awards 2025 is sponsored by DigiProd Pass – a trailblazing Digital Product Passport (DPP) solution unlocks a highly affordable and accessible suite of supply chain sustainability products for all types of organisations across different markets. Offering traceability from source, production, sale to end-of-life, DPPs provide evidence of standards, compliance, environmental and social responsibility.

Sustainable Design Forum & Awards 2026

Become a sponsor, or register to exhibit:

2025 Judges

Joanna Knight,

Co-Founder at SDC

Mark Eltringham,

Publisher – Workplace Insight, IN Magazine, Works Magazine

Julie Lecoq,

Workplace Consultant

Adam Strudwick,

Principal at Perkins and Will

Harsha Kotak,

Projects Director at K2 Space and Founder at Women In Office Design

Alys Bryan,

Editorial Director, Design Insider

Luke Pearson RDI,

Co-Founder and Director, Pearson Lloyd

Sophie Thomas,

Founding Partner, Thomas.Matthews / etsaW Ventures

2025 Winners

Innovation

As the name suggests, the “Innovation” category at the Sustainable Design Awards invites entries from organisations who have introduced truly innovative solutions to facilitate greater progress in sustainability. The 2025 winner for this category was Camira, for their ReSKU 2.0 fabric.

An intelligent blend of recycled wool, generated from Camira’s own manufacturing waste, and harvested flax, ReSKU 2.0 is an inherently flame retardant, circular fabric which demonstrates the limitless potential of waste as a valuable resource.

A pioneering fabric with a rich history, ReSKU 2.0 is built on ‘shoddy manufacturing’ principles from the 1800s and created using recycled woollen fibres which are sorted into colour groups before being mechanically pulled apart, shredded, and stripped back into fibre form.

Developed at Camira’s manufacturing sites in Yorkshire, ReSKU 2.0 brings a new lease of life to wool, enabling a natural fibre to be enjoyed anew. ReSKU 2.0 contains 79% recycled content from the company’s own manufacturing waste, which is blended with 21% renewable flax. The fabric’s colour palette has been developed with the original colouration of the recycled woollen fibres as its base, reducing chemical dye stuffs.

Judges comments:

“Demonstrates the importance of re-use at source in material production.”

“Waste streams in manufacturing have to be eliminated. We need to become 100% efficient on material use.”

Fit Out Project

We received a variety of fantastic entires for the “Projects” for this year’s Sustainable Design Awards – invited for new build and retrofit projects.

The scoring in this category was particularly close, with Gensler coming out on top for their “The Acre” project.

Gensler’s visionary transformation of The Acre for Northwood Investors has redefined what’s possible in resilient retrofit. This ambitious reinvention of a 1980s Richard Seifert-designed Brutalist office building in the heart of London’s Covent Garden sets a new benchmark for adaptive reuse. By retaining over 80% of the original structure, the 260,000 sq. ft project saved 4,250 tonnes of CO₂ compared to demolition—equivalent to the lifetime emissions of nearly 1,000 UK citizens. The Acre seamlessly fuses heritage with innovation, restoring the building’s connection to its surroundings and creating a vibrant, high-performance workplace that is both environmentally and socially impactful.

By preserving the majority of the existing structure, including the concrete frame and façade, The Acre slashed embodied carbon by up to 50% versus a new-build scheme. Achieving BREEAM Outstanding, high-performance glazing and a reimagined MEP strategy have resulted in an EPC A-rated, all-electric, net-zero carbon operation. Materials were carefully selected for their sustainability credentials, with an emphasis on low-carbon, recycled, and responsibly sourced products. This approach has set a new standard for carbon-conscious retrofit, demonstrating that commercial buildings can achieve best-in-class energy performance while dramatically reducing their environmental impact.

Judges comments:

“A brilliantly resolved project which deserves to be recognised for industry leading excellence.”

“A very ambitious project handled at a detail level from top down.”

Products

The “Products” category for the Sustainable Design Awards 2025 received more entries than any other, with a plethora of innovative submissions from renowned manufacturers including furniture, surfaces, lighting and more. In the end, we had joint winners for this category…

“Spolia” by Solus is a new terrazzo range made in Manchester and Leeds by the last surviving British manufacturer of terrazzo at commercial scale. In addition to a selection of 21 standard colours, a bespoke service allows designers to incorporate waste materials from project sites as aggregate into one-of-a-kind terrazzo creations, shaping a narrative of reuse and revitalisation and diverting waste away from landfill. The result is a product that is entirely unique to that building, with each speck within the tile telling a story of the history and materiality of the site. Spolia is a story about continuity, sustainability, and the transformative power of design.

Spolia exemplifies best practices in whole-life carbon, circularity, and waste reduction. It uses low-carbon cement and the factory is largely powered by renewable energy. Carbon emissions are further mitigated by utilising local waste and manufacturing in the UK, limiting transport-related emissions. Repurposing materials which embody carbon reduces the demand for new resources, thus conserving natural capital.

Humanscale’s “Freedom Chair” has set the standard for ergonomic excellence since its introduction in 1999. It’s visionary design broke free from the limitations of traditional seating, offering unparalleled support effortlessly adapting to each individual. This revolutionary approach prioritised the human experience, challenging conventions by removing complex adjustments, offering a self-adjusting recline mechanism that provides perfect support in every position.

Freedom is Planet Positive. Its materials are free of harmful chemicals, is made with post-consumer recycled content, and produced in TRUE Zero Waste facilities.

Environmental philosophy is embedded into everything Humanscale does, evidenced by their B-Corp certification which recognises Humanscale’s dedication to transparency, ethical practices, and regenerative manufacturing. The Freedom chair’s lightweight design minimises the environmental impact of its shipping, and its simple, modular design makes it easy to disassemble, recycle and maintain rather than replace the chair completely. The Freedom chair is GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality certified, GREENGUARD Gold certified and LEVEL® 3 certified.