The Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) hosted its first ever Virtual Awards on Thursday 10 September 2020. The event was held in aid of Mind, a charity which provides advice and support to empower millions of people across the UK dealing with mental health issues.

Finalists and guests got dressed up for the occasion and enjoyed the event virtually via the ‘Hopin’ platform, where they were able to meet and mingle with their industry friends and colleagues in the networking area before heading over to the ‘main stage’ for the Awards ceremony, which was followed by a live performance online by comedian Suzi Ruffell.

The first award of the night was for the Building Controls and BEMS Installer of the Year, which was won by Global Associates.

Jake Piner of InTandem Systems and Lawrence Nunn of Crown House Technologies then took the trophies for Young Engineer of the Year and Engineer of the Year respectively, followed by Kendra Energy Solutions claiming the first of their two prizes won on the night in the category for Best Service and Maintenance Provider.

Sontay’s Smart Sensor was voted as the Technical Innovation of the Year in the ‘Products’ category, while Ecopilot and E.ON Control Solutions claimed the ‘Projects’ award for Technical Innovation of the Year for their work at Parexel’s Nottingham facility.

For the third year running, One Sightsolutions were victorious in the Contribution to Training category, and thanks to their work at the University College London Student Centre, Kendra Energy Solutions won their second prize of the night in the Smart Buildings Award - a new category for 2020. Thanks to their BeMS Optimisation project with Morrisons, Optimised Buildings also won their second consecutive Energy Management Award.

The final award on the night was for Outstanding Contribution of the Year, which went to Sam Saunders of E.ON Control Solutions. Sam has used his knowledge and experience to help with the development of skills and training courses for people in the BEMS sector. More recently he has been a key figure in the Trailblazer Employer Group. He has also strived to ensure that his organisation invests in apprentices and continuous professional development.

Terry Sharp, president of the BCIA, said: “I would like to congratulate all the winners of this year’s BCIA Awards. As ever there was some very tough competition in all the categories and all the finalists can feel proud of their achievements.”

Commenting on the Virtual Awards, Terry added: “It obviously wasn’t quite the event we usually look forward to but I am extremely grateful to everybody who joined us online for the evening, dressed up and got into the celebratory spirit. It is this kind of camaraderie that makes this industry such a pleasure to be a part of, and I hope it is not too long before we can all meet up again properly.”