A South Australian firm has been recognised for the second time in just over a year for its environmental prowess and has taken home a major council award
Wallmans Lawyers has been recognised as demonstrating excellence in office energy efficiency at the CitySwitch Awards (SA) 2014, hosted by the national CitySwitch office and Adelaide City Council.
Wallmans received the title of State Signatory of the Year (over 2,000sqm), and will now represent South Australia at the national CitySwitch awards on 27 November.
This follows on from the firm’s State and National CitySwitch awards for New Signatory of the Year in 2013.
The firm also received the Silver Award in the recent Australasian Lawyer Employer of Choice survey.
The 2014 CitySwitch judging panel commented that it was impressed with the significant range of energy saving initiatives that Wallmans implemented this year, and the strong industry leadership role the firm adopted.
The firm was also successful in achieving a 5 star NABERS rating, up from 4.5 in 2013.
The CitySwitch awards showcase signatories that have demonstrated outstanding environmental leadership, with recognition provided to those who have improved, maintained or achieved their NABERS energy tenancy or whole building rating and have reported significant energy savings.
Signatories are judged at a state level across a number of categories, with winners from each state going into the running for National Signatory of the Year, New Signatory of the Year and Partnership of the Year awards.
Trevor Edmond, Wallmans managing partner, says following the firm’s State and National award success in 2013, it was “absolutely critical” that it did not then sit back and consider the job was done.
“We realised that the awards created a sense of responsibility, not only relating to improving our own environmental performance, but as a leader and advocate of the CitySwitch program sustainability objectives,” he says.
“Our approach in 2014 has therefore been multi-faceted. We identified further environmental efficiencies, particularly in respect of lighting and information technology systems and have effected these changes, which will result in an annual CO2 saving of 10 tonnes. In addition, our initial staff awareness program has matured and now moved Wallmans to embrace a culture of sustainability, which now forms a core value of our business. Our practitioners have continued to put themselves forward to encourage other firms to consider implementing environmental and energy saving initiatives.”
Established as a national initiative in 2009 by the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors, the CitySwitch Green Office Program aims to encourage office tenants to improve their energy efficiency, reduce carbon pollution and cut back energy costs.
