Pictures from the awards can be found here

Here are the winners for the
2009 Environmental Awards

Winners

Best Environmental Household – 3 Acorns Retro-Eco House

Best Environmental Project – bere:architects

Best Recycling Project – Bikeworks CIC

Best Environmental University/College – City & Islington College

Best Environmental School – Pooles Park Primary School, Islington

Young Environmentalist – Billy & Leila Shannon

Environmentalist of the Year – Gywn Roberts

Best Environmental Business of the Year (Small) Arcola Theatre, Hackney

Best Environmental Business of the Year (Medium/Large) Kier – Islington

Highly Commended

Best Environmental Household – Ridwana Kheyar - Ilford

Best Environmental Project – St Luke’s Centre – Islington

Best Recycling Project – Homestore (Quaker Social Action)

Best Environmental University/College – City University London

Best Environmental School – Godwin Primary School - Dagenham

Young Environmentalist – Damilola Omole

Environmentalist of the Year – Dr Alan Morton

Best Environmental Business of the Year (Small) inSpiral Lounge – Camden
Chest of Drawers – Islington

Best Environmental Business of the Year (Medium/Large)
The Big Yellow Storage – Barking
Paper Round
Alara Wholefoods
Canary Wharf Group

It seemed arguably, the most impressive sail past ever, as The Rainbow Warrior, perhaps the most famous Greenpeace ship, sailed past the Radisson Edwardian, New Providence Wharf, just as the winners of these outstanding awards were being announced.

It’s decks have been graced by celebrities, religious leaders, royalty and rock bands. She has challenged environmental crimes, relocated the population of a South Pacific Island contaminated by radiation, provided disaster relief to victims of the 2004 Tsunami in South East Asia, and sailed against whaling, war, global warming, and other environmental crimes on every ocean of the world.   And as much as we would love to take credit for them being there at the very time our awards were kicked off, it was sadly only coincidence, but good coincidence at that.

Still it gave the 250 strong crowd something to talk about, as the winners of these awards in their 2nd year, were about to be announced.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who was unable to attend, but sent his good wishes to all the finalists said: 'Many congratulations to all the participants of the 2009 Archant London Environmental Awards. I want London to be the best big city on earth and this can only be achieved with the collective efforts of inspirational people like yourselves. We have to take bold steps to improve our environment and combat climate change, so I urge you all to continue with your exceptional endeavours so we can really make a difference. You are all winners today whether or not you leave with a green gong. And a special thanks to Archant London for rallying their readers to take action on this noble cause.”

Throughout the year, local and national businesses, homeowners, schools, colleges and universities based across the Capital, Essex and Kent, had been busy submitting their entries to the judging panel, which this year, was made up of Senior Executives and Directors of Archant London.

The judging panel were looking for people who had taken the environmental message that step further, and from whom, good environmental practices could be shared.

The event, hosted by BBC’s “No Waste like Home” presenter, Penney Poyzer, and key note speaker, Dave White from Thames Water, themselves inspired the audience with their talk on ways to combat climate change. From the winners of the Most Environmental Household, who for the last three years have been carbon negative, to the overall winners of the Best Business category, Kier – Islington, every winner had made an outstanding contribution to reducing co2 emissions.

The pupils of the winner of Best Environmental School, Pooles Park Primary School in Islington were thrilled at not only being invited along to the event, but also winning. Hamda Jama, Daniel Kisungeu and Bektas Uyran were all “Happy” and looking forward to taking the award back to their school where Hamda felt, “they would all be really proud”. Sophia Loannou, Environmental and Horticulture Tutor, said that the award had really lifted the spirits of the children and they were all clapping in assembly when the good news was announced.  The Best Environmental School category was in association with The Pod (www.jointhepod.org) the online hub of EDF Energy’s Programme for Greener Schools.

And winners of the Best University or College had even more to smile about, as Xero bikes gave a stunning Classic Electric Scooter away to the winner.  Oliver Mitchell from Xero bikes, pictured here with Steve Hanson, Facilities Manager for City & Islington College, and his colleagues Terry and Neil Doyle, were all pretty much speechless at their win. Having come second last year, they were determined to be winners in 2009.  Steve is looking forward to displaying the bike across the University as a reminder of their success.

Tate & Lyle, principle sponsors, were very proud to be involved in the event and felt it was obvious from the vast number of entries, that many organisations and individuals share their vision of improving the environment.  Simon Houghton-Dodd, Head of Quality & Sustainability for Tate & Lyle Sugars said 'from our perspective the Awards were a great success and I would like to add my congratulations to Archant London for organising the Awards and all the runners-up and winners, and in fact everyone who entered the awards.  There is no doubt that concern for the environment is increasingly becoming important to us all'.