Building Performance Consultancy (51-300 employees)
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This Award recognises the consultancy that has demonstrated an outstanding contribution to delivering buildings that have high levels of measured building performance and user satisfaction throughout their operating life. This category includes UK based or international building services consultancies with 51-300 staff employed across all job roles.
Winner: Max Fordham
The judges described the winning entry from Max Fordham as an ‘impressive passionate submission, with honest real-life data on completed projects’ that showed ‘substantial engagement with peers and industry.’
The panel said the firm ‘showed a true commitment to building performance’ and that it had ‘a real focus on soft landings methodology and introducing post-occupancy monitoring on every project’, demonstrating a practical commitment to learning from their projects.
Max Fordham’s approach uses lessons learnt from post-occupancy evaluation (POE) and occupant feedback from previous projects to try to continually improve designs and their resulting performance.
The practice has set up a process to collect energy data on every project, with the engineer on the project engaging with the client at key stages post-completion for two years. The aim is to empower engineers to be advocates for the people that will ultimately use and manage the buildings the firm creates.
For buildings that are not Soft Landings projects, where aftercare is delivered as standard, the practice offers POE services that include performance monitoring and building performance optimisation.
Max Fordham has an internal ‘MF: Net Zero’ task group that has implemented a net zero carbon design service, which aligns with the UKGBC Net Zero Carbon Framework, and has been integrated as part of its core engineering service. All five of its offices are net zero carbon for operational energy.
In late 2020, Max Fordham launched the NetZeroCarbonGuide.co.uk, a free and open resource to help navigate the process of achieving net zero carbon, sharing the latest research and knowledge about net zero carbon, as well as giving a platform to others in the industry to share their knowledge and tools.
The judges were impressed with Max Fordham’s efforts concerning equality, diversity and inclusion, which the company has demonstrated through its investment in interview training, unconscious bias sessions, female peer-to-peer mentoring and inclusion networks for BAME and LGBT+ staff.
The commitment to inclusivity in the workplace, along with its willingness to refine and improve its methodologies, makes it an ideal candidate for this award.