For the third year running Ecobuild will team up with M&S to run a unique search for the commercial engineering solutions and innovations that could make a huge contribution to achieving retailer’s Plan A sustainability objectives.

Plan A is M&S’s a 100 point, 5 year plan towards sustainability, by sourcing responsibly, reducing waste and helping communities, they believe they can do their bit to help protect the planet.

The Big Innovation Pitch is an initiative designed to identify innovations across the sustainable design, construction and energy sectors.

Ecobuild and M&S recently announced their 5 finalists for The Big Innovation Pitch 2017, who are:

•Arup and Airedale with their innovative Hybrid Fan Coil Unit heating and cooling system requiring half the amount of infrastructure

•CBES with Mistral Air, a ‘dry system’ fridge unit, reducing CO2 gas emissions and ‘cold aisle’ syndrome

•IES with Simulation Building Control, a simulation software tool which could help reduce the performance gap across a building portfolio

•Feilo Sylvania with Organic Response, with their fully retrofittable ‘plug & play’ PIR lighting system which requires no wiring or commissioning, which have taken inspiration from shoals of fish

•Protomax Plastics with their P2 system, taking everyday waste plastic and recycling it into hoardings and shopping fittings which are 100% recyclable at their end of life – real circular economy in action.

The winner of the coveted award will be decided during Ecobuild 2017, 7-9 March at ExCel London.

The finialists will all get a chance to showcase their products, one to watch out for on the day is the Artus™ by Arup and Airedale.
With sustainability, innovation and efficiency at its core, Artus™ combines the flexibility of traditional fan coil units with the low-energy usage of chilled beams, at a cost, comparable with FCUs.

The hybrid promises to solve the biggest complaints in comfort cooling, including; energy efficiency, draughts and dead spots, space claim of secondary ductwork, unit footprint, cluttered ceiling void services, and restrictive access for maintenance and installation.

Artus™ offers a fully-packaged, plug-and-play, single-supplier system including self-access. An ideal solution for cost-sensitive new-builds, height constrained refurbishments and energy conscious end-users.

Imogen Cust, Engineering R&D Manager, M&S Property and Facilities said: “It was great to see UK inventors and UK-manufactured products solving problems which have the potential to address the energy challenge across the wider construction industry, as well as help us meet our ambitious targets. We are looking forward to the final day’s judging and to choosing our next new supplier of engineering innovation!”