Held virtually this year, the awards are organised by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and aim to showcase sustainability efforts across defence, both in the UK and overseas.
The prestigious Silver Otter trophy is awarded annually to the best Conservation Group led project or individual conservation effort on the MOD estate. It was won by the Chicksands' Historic Walled Garden Project led by Chicksands Conservation Group. The team demonstrated their commitment to the environment by resurrecting a grade II listed overgrown garden in Chicksands into bloom. The project also won the Social Value, Community and Heritage category.
The Sustainable Business Award is presented to the best commercial project which delivers sustainable solutions to enable the Armed Forces to live, work or train. It was won by Portsmouth Naval Base's The Princess Royal and Victory Jetties Project. This partnership project between the Royal Navy, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, VolkerStevin, Jacobs and Naval Base stakeholders, reconstructed two jetties at HMNB Portsmouth to create sustainable moorings able to accommodate the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The project also won the Sustainable Construction category.
Defence Minister Jeremy Quin MP said:
Defence is the third largest landowner in the UK, I am proud of the innovative work being delivered to create greener ways of working and embedding a culture of sustainability.
Whilst the Integrated Review outlines future threats that our armed forces must adapt to, climate change is a global threat underpinning our commitment to a more sustainable organisation.
I send my congratulations to all of the winners and nominees of this year's Sanctuary Awards.
This year also saw a double win for the RAF: Sergeant Ryan Duffy targeted the consumption of single-use plastics at RAF Brize Norton, and the Curlew Head Start Project supported the protection of curlew eggs across seven military airfields.
The Energy, Low Carbon and Resource Efficiency award was secured by HMNB Portsmouth's Combined Heat and Power Project. The team helped enhance energy resilience with their project which installed a Combined Heat and Power plant to enable the base to deliver the energy requirements of the new aircraft carriers. Defence Equipment and Support's Corrugated Board for use in Military Level Packaging project won the Sustainable Procurement award following the team's work with industry to provide more recyclable packaging materials.
Richard Brooks, DIO Principal Environmental Support and Compliance, said:
DIO is proud to host the Sanctuary Awards to celebrate the positive work taking place throughout Defence on climate change and sustainability initiatives.
DIO takes this work incredibly seriously and we are pleased to continue to contribute to the wider Defence and government sustainability targets. Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you for your contribution to making Defence greener.
A review into how defence meets the challenge of becoming more sustainable has been undertaken recently by Lt Gen Richard Nugee and a departmental response will be published in due course.
Browse the full list of Sanctuary Award winners 2020 and details about their individual projects.
