Lafarge Africa unveils sustainable construction awards

As the world counts down to 2030, the United Nations’ projection for sustainable cities, Lafarge Africa has called for entries from professionals and students for the 6th International LafargeHolcim awards for sustainable construction.

The LafargeHolcim Awards recognise and reward innovative projects by professionals and ideas from students that address sustainability in construction.

The competition emphasizes the important role that architecture, engineering, urban planning, and related disciplines have in achieving a more sustainable future.

Communications, Public Affairs, and Sustainable Development Director, for Lafarge Africa, Mrs. Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, in a statement, urged more Nigerians to submit entries for the award.

She disclosed that engineers, architects, builders, planners, construction firms, project owners, students and non-governmental organisations working in the building industry are all eligible to apply.

“Our aspiration is for Nigeria to be well represented across the Middle East and Africa region. We are hopeful that more Nigerians would be encouraged by the success stories of others who have been recognized in past editions of the award, the likes of Nigerian-born Kunle Adeyemi.”

“In 2014, Adeyemi won an Acknowledgement prize in the LafargeHolcim Awards for Chicoco Radio Media Center; the amphibious building in Delta City of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. Such ambitious and creative entries are what we seek for again to put Nigeria on the world map of sustainable construction. We sincerely hope that our professionals and students will seize this opportunity.” Ambrose-Medebem said.

While commending Lafarge for the initiative, the immediate past President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Tonye Braide described the initiative as laudable, in view of the abundance of opportunities to all prospects. He added that with the growing population and rate of urbanization in Nigeria, it is heart-warming to see an organization like Lafarge championing sustainable construction.

Explaining the process of evaluation, the Sustainable Development and Corporate Brand Manager, Lafarge Africa, Ms. Titilope Oguntuga said that the criteria, the five “target issues” for sustainable construction, is transparent: “innovation and transferability”, “ethical standards and social inclusion”, “resource and environmental performance”, “economic viability and compatibility” as well as “contextual and aesthetic impact”, constitute the evaluation criteria.

“Entries for the LafargeHolcim Awards will close on February 25, 2020. The regional jury evaluation will take place between June and July 2020 while regional winners will be announced in November 2020. The global winners will eventually emerge in mid-2021. Interested participants can look up application details on the Lafarge website, or send an email to sustainability.ng.tech@lafargeholcim.com. We assure all participants of objectivity in the evaluation of the entries,” Oguntuga informed.