On November 3, in conjunction with the Batimat Fair in Paris, EPSE held its award ceremony to announce the winners of its seventh Awards Competition recognizing the most sustainable, most innovative and best designed projects made out of polycarbonate sheets. The competition and the award ceremony promoted the unique properties of polycarbonate and the wide array of applications in which it can be used. Among the participants was special guest Carme Pinós, the Spanish architect behind one of the winning projects, the Caixa Forum.

Among the 15 projects submitted to this years’ competition were projects from France, Israel, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Spain and UK. A jury panel composed of engineers, architects and journalists pre-selected three projects in each category and, for the first time ever, the public could vote on their favourite projects. Over 100 persons took part in voting via the brand new EPSE (European Polycarbonate Sheets Extruders) website.

Hanoch Goldman, EPSE president, opened the ceremony by highlighting the importance of the competition in spreading knowledge on polycarbonate sheets and their use in stadiums, public buildings, innovative polycarbonate systems and artistic installations. The president of the jury, Frédéric Midy - CEO of Aliaxis, EMEA division, and chairman of the EuPC Building & Construction Division - introduced the jury panel and the judging process to the attendees. During the ceremony, Thomas Hegger (jury panel member), manager at FVLR and president at Eurolux, made a very informative speech on roof lights in PC sheets and their ability to save a considerable amount of energy.

The winner of the sustainability category was Genoves Park’s Lookout & Protection Building. The new building protects the World Heritage Species inhabiting Genoves Park from the adjacent marine environment, while maintaining a feeling of lightness and transparency. The polycarbonate sheets were used in the project to allow careful light exposure and a very resistant structure. In second place for the same category was the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, which, thanks to the use of PC sheets, considerably saves resources while being aesthetically pleasing.

The winner of the innovation category was Pearl Inside, an innovative patent consisting of filling multiwall polycarbonate sheets or panels with micro-glass beads. The polycarbonate sheets provide high thermal insulation performance, cold bending and impact resistance. Combined with the micro-glass beads, the 100% recyclable, chemically stable and UV resistant polycarbonate project is sound proof from noise pollution and rain impact. The Public Swimming Pool came in second place for this category as the polycarbonate sheets increase thermal insulation and create comfortable conditions for sport activities during the very hot Middle Eastern summer.