Gold Award Winner: Ian Pritchett, Greencore Homes
Ian Pritchett is a visionary entrepreneur with a relentless commitment to sustainable construction. A physics graduate from Durham University, Pritchett has more than 35 years of experience in specialist construction and a 20-year track record championing low-carbon buildings. He shares his expertise and inspires others through workshops and publications and has helped bring about a cultural shift in favour of sustainability in construction.
Other finalists
Sheryl Owen Mott MacDonald
Roxann Dawson Tilbury Douglas
Andrew Crimston Geosentinel (UK)
Daniel Coyle Ryebridge Construction
Paul Broadbent LocatE
His first business used traditional materials and methods to preserve heritage while incorporating sustainability principles long before they became mainstream.
Recognising the environmental impact of cement, he co-founded a company pioneering traditional lime mortars in new builds. Producing lime mortar generates less carbon than cement in manufacturing, and also reabsorbs carbon as it cures.
Pritchett then co-founded housebuilding firm Greencore Homes, which aims to deliver over 10,000 climate-positive homes by 2035, where he is currently innovation director.
Insulated with hemp
Greencore developed a special timber-frame panel system insulated with hemp, lime and natural wood fibre, which is so energy-efficient it results in homes that are net zero in operation and net zero plus in embodied carbon.
Industrial hemp takes just 14 weeks to grow to 4 metres in height, and locks in carbon at a much faster rate than trees and most other plants. This means each external wall panel can capture over 30kg of carbon per sq metre.
As well as building sustainable homes to Passivhaus standards, Greencore supports green initiatives such as a car sharing scheme for its employees and free onsite EV charging, and operates a low-emission forklift.
Last year the company installed 726 solar PV panels and battery storage at its Oxfordshire factory. Pritchett said at the time: “We put solar PV on all of our houses, which are designed to be net zero energy in use, so it makes perfect sense that we should try and get as close to that for our office and factory as well.”
“Greencore’s timber-frame panel system, insulated with hemp, lime and natural wood fibre, results in homes that are net zero in operation and net zero plus in embodied carbon.”
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