Ryan Hanley for Kilkenny Regional Water Supply Scheme Upgrade

The winning project in this category overcame complex challenges in providing infrastructure vital to a large community in a way that respected environmental constraints in the areas of ecology, hydrology, archaeology, and water quality, within a designated Special Areas of Conservation. In developing a new intake facility with transfer pipelines and water treatment from the environmentally sensitive River Nore, Kilkenny Regional Water Supply Scheme Upgrade designed by Ryan Hanley successfully met the community’s long-term water needs while prioritising environmental sensitivity. By replacing three unsustainable sources with a single, sustainable abstraction, the project removed a growth constraint in the Kilkenny City region while contributing to the protection of the fisheries habitat in the Nore and enhancing biodiversity.

Ryan Hanley for Coolatee Integrated Constructed Wetland.  Using a nature nature-based solution this project successfully removed an untreated discharge to the Foyle estuary, without the need for an energy supply or any treated water connection while also contributing to increased biodiversity in the area. In providing tertiary level of treatment using 4 wetland ponds the project overcame the challenges of confined area, limited hydraulic headroom, and high groundwater to produce a sustainable solution.

A nature based, Integrated Constructed Wetlands (ICW) providing low energy, environmentally friendly, wastewater treatment with significant biodiversity benefits, promoting the UN Sustainability Development Goals. The scheme treats all flows from a small village (population equivalent of 180 persons) in Yorkshire; the first of its type in the UK to treat all flows and the first biodiversity Net Gain positive wastewater treatment plant. Comprising five individual, shallow, treatment ponds over half a hectare, housing more than 20,000 plants of 25 different species promoting nutrient uptake and a diverse habitat. The passive treatment process eliminates the need for energy heavy, chemical treatment processe

This 170-bed hospital project was focussed on patient, environmental and ecological well-being. Amongst the environmentally sustainable designs used was the avoidance of on-site stormwater attenuation by direct discharge to an adjoining wetlands area suffering intermittent drying out. Hydraulic modelling showed that the wetland could accommodate the direct outfall for the 1:100 rainfall event. The discharge of this stormwater has since seen the wetlands rehabilitating with an increased wildlife presence. The project also reused 145,000 m3 of cut on proximate lands to provide for the reestablishment of natural flora and fauna.