The spotlight shone bright in London on Tuesday 25 June 2025 as the winners of the Exemplar Sustainable Buildings Awards were revealed.
Developed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sustainable Development Foundation, the awards are delivered in partnership with Sustainable Buildings Alliance members Passivhaus Trust (PHT) and Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP). This one-off, evidence-based benchmark honours the technical rigour, policy influence, and collaborative momentum that has been demonstrated over the past 20 years, while spotlighting today’s high-performance projects to influence future delivery.
The awards have been sponsored by gold sponsor Ecological Building Systems, and silver sponsors Lamilux UK Ltd, MEAD Consulting, natureplus and Futurebuild, marking 20 years of trailblazing sustainable building practices in the UK. Kindly hosted by Introba.
“The Exemplar Sustainable Buildings Awards are demanding and data-driven. We’ll continue to push for greater transparency and verification in performance data, supporting the shift toward measured outcomes over predicted models.”
Jon Bootland, CEO, Passivhaus Trust & Director, Sustainable Development Foundation
After a rigorous submissions and judging process and a thrilling awards ceremony, drumroll please – we are delighted to announce the 2025 winners of the Exemplar Sustainable Building Awards!
Large project winner
Goldsmith Street I Mikhail Riches
Stirling Prize award-winning social housing development Goldsmith Street demonstrates that local authorities can deliver net zero-ready homes to a tight budget without sacrificing quality. Commissioned by Norwich City Council, this 93-home Passivhaus project has helped redefine affordable housing, creating light-filled, community-focused homes where annual energy bills can be as low as £150.
Small project winner
The Seed Cohousing I Kirsty Maguire Architects
Replacing a derelict building, The Seed is a co-living home for two households in a woodland garden near Dundee. Reducing embodied and in-use energy and carbon was a primary driver of the design and construction of the building. The home is almost entirely timber and meets both Passivhaus Classic standard and RIBA 2030 embodied carbon requirements. It offers a shining example of how Passivhaus can work in locations with difficult site constraints and restricted solar gain.
Retrofit project winner
Ward Grove I Progress in Practice
A whole-home transformation that demonstrates how deep retrofit can deliver exceptional energy performance, long-term comfort, and inclusive design – all within the constraints of an existing 1980s bungalow. The project has been certified to the AECB CarbonLite Retrofit Standard and achieves performance levels well beyond typical expectations for its type, with annual running costs of only £360. The project also prioritises low embodied carbon through timber-based construction, and thoughtful material choices.
Products winner
EcoCocon Straw Panel I EcoCocon
EcoCocon’s innovative straw wall system stores more carbon than it emits per square metre. Prefabricated from renewable timber and straw, the panels offer outstanding thermal performance, vapour permeability, and carbon sequestration — all wrapped in a system that’s fast to build, circular by design, and backed by Cradle to Cradle and Passivhaus Component certifications.
Initiatives winner
PACER I Preoptima
PACER (Planning Application Carbon Evaluation and Reduction) is a digital platform that empowers Local Planning Authorities with the tools to enforce whole life carbon (WLC) policies in the planning process and reduce both embodied and operational emissions. PACER automates the review of Whole Life Carbon Assessments (WLCAs) submitted in planning applications, providing case officers with clear, data-driven insights into compliance, and prompting actionable recommendations that challenge the carbon impact of developments.
Finalists
The Exemplar Sustainable Buildings Awards is a one-off initiative, but we want it to have a lasting influence. We wanted to create a milestone showing how far the leading players in the industry have come, and which the whole sector could learn from. Here we feature the crowned winners, but the ‘real winner’ across the shortlist was a showcase of buildings that have outstanding performance & sustainability credentials, acting as essential beacons & convincing inspiration of ‘what can be done’. Once again, a huge thank you & congratulations to ALL the shortlisted project teams. Thanks to all who also helped us celebrate. Discover more about the full shortlist.
“The Exemplar Sustainable Buildings Awards have helped break down the often perceived silos between operational and embodied carbon. The winners and shortlisted projects, products and initiatives have shown that sustainable building products are being successfully specified in buildings targeting low operational energy, helping with the transformation to a healthy low carbon built environment.”
Simon Corbey, Alliance for Sustainable Building Products
Collaboration
One of the strongest themes to emerge from the awards ceremony and evening celebrations was collaboration. The SDF party was a powerful reminder of how a small but mighty group of people, united by purpose, can achieve remarkable things – something this community has been doing consistently for the past 20 years.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has contributed along the way, with special appreciation for several dedicated board members and, of course, Director of the SDF and CEO of the Passivhaus Trust, Jon Bootland, whose leadership has been pivotal across multiple organisations and initiatives.
Here’s to the next decade – full of new ideas, bold partnerships, and continued progress.
.jpg "Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF) 20th Anniversary Party")