Australia’s HVAC&R industry gathered together at a glittering ceremony in Sydney last night to applaud its leading people, projects and products at the 2019 AIRAH Awards.
On November 14 at Doltone House in Sydney, more than 300 people from Australia’s HVAC&R industry – a record attendance for the event – put on their black-tie best for the AIRAH Awards presentation gala.
AIRAH president Ian Harwood, F.AIRAH, opened the evening by reflecting on the underlying purpose of the awards.
“I don’t know of any engineers, contractors, designers, researchers or indeed anyone at all in the HVAC&R industry who sets out to win an award,” he said. “It’s just not in their mindset, which is more attuned to using BIM or CFD, or to calculating set-points and dew-points.
“And that’s the whole purpose of the AIRAH Awards – it’s our chance to recognise, to elevate and to celebrate a group of people who have always been more about the work than receiving awards for the work.”
Winners were announced in 12 categories.As befits an industry that touches all parts of our lives, these included advances across a wide range of sectors:residential development, healthcare,product innovation, and food and cold-chain management.
AIRAH also recognised current and future leaders in the field. The Institute’s highest honour, the James Harrison Medal, was awarded to the University of Wollongong’s Paul Cooper, F.AIRAH,for his focus on developing the most efficient and effective engineering solutions to improve the quality of living and working environments for all.
Reflecting the high quality of all the finalists, and the small margins between them, joint winners were announced in three categories.
Winners of the AIRAH Awards 2019 are:
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Best HVAC Retrofit or Upgrade: DMA Engineers and VAE Group – Mater Private Hospital
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Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion: Ben Adamson, F.AIRAH
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Excellence in HVAC&R Research: DevelopmentWA – Cool Earth, The Vive, Craigie; Solar Decathlon Team, University of Wollongong – Desert Rose Solar Decathlon House (joint winners)
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Excellence in Innovation: Alinta Energy Geothermal – Fairwater geothermal installation
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Excellence in Refrigeration: Scantec Refrigeration Technologies – Bidfood Mackay; Woolworths Food Group – Woolworths Prestons Supermarket (joint winners)
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Excellence in Sustainability: AECOM – Gillies Hall, Monash University
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Product of the Year: Shepherd Filters – Disposable kitchen grease filters
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Future Leader: Jack Wardale, M.AIRAH; James Spears, M.AIRAH (joint winners)
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Student of the Year – Higher Education or Research: Brendan Banfield, Stud.AIRAH, University of Wollongong
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Student of the Year – Trade: Mat Patrick, Stud.AIRAH, Cold Logic
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W.R. Ahern Award: Graham Carter, M.AIRAH – “Not so cool roofs”
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James Harrison Medal: Paul Cooper, F.AIRAH, University of Wollongong.
The AIRAH Awards 2019 sponsors are Daikin (event sponsor), A.G. Coombs (Future Leader), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Australia (Student of the Year – Higher Education or Research), LG Electronics (Student of the Year – Trade), Mitsubishi Electric (Excellence in Innovation), and Standards Australia (Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion).
For more information about the AIRAH Awards 2019, go to www.airah.org.au/awards