October 2023
Co. Wicklow nature reserve Wildacres wins All-Ireland Sustainability Awards 2023.
Wildacres, a not-for-profit nature reserve and biodiversity education centre in County Wicklow has been awarded Gold as ‘Sustainable Business of the Year 2023’ at the first ever all Ireland sustainability awards, with construction company Farren Construction Ltd announced in Silver position. Wildacres also won Gold in the Biodiversity Initiative of the Year category.
Over 400 guests attended the gala award ceremony held in the Europa Hotel Belfast where awards were presented across 14 categories including tourism, diversity and inclusion, net zero, green marketing, export, energy, consultancy of the year, with an overall winner of the year presented to Wildacres. The Awards created by Triterra, and supported by Everun, celebrate excellence across Ireland in best practise within sustainability. Fifteen handmade awards were created by local artist Ruthie Stewart, including the overall ‘Sustainable Business of the Year’ were presented on the evening.
The Wildacres nature reserve and Biodiversity Education Experience which is located in East County Wicklow was awarded the overall prize, with judges commenting; "Wildacres is dedicated to biodiversity restoration, protection and education as well as wanting to address the issue of Ireland's catastrophic biodiversity loss. The team are dedicating the rest of their lives to this project and will leave Wildacres to a trust to continue on this important work long after they are gone. In terms of Biodiversity, over 80 species of birds have been recorded, 8 of our 9 native bats recorded, almost all our native mammals - pine marten, badger, otter recorded. Numerous invertebrate species including dragonflies and damselflies, bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies, beetles (who love the many deadwood log piles.) This place is clearly sustainability heaven.”
The awards which received 225 entries from across the island of Ireland celebrated excellence in sustainability. Commenting on the evening, which was hosted by Barra Best, Danielle McCormick , founder of the All-Ireland Sustainable Events company said; “We are delighted at the response to our first ever All-Ireland Sustainability Awards. It has been a wonderful night with a room full of individuals, businesses and organisations who are all focused on sustainability excellence. All of tonight’s winners are just so deserving of their accolades, and I can honestly say that of our 225 entries, everyone shortlisted this year was considered by judges worthy to be a winner, so I hope that all finalists feel very proud of their achievements. I want to thank everyone involved including our lead sponsor Everun, media partner U105 and all of our sponsors. I hope these awards have inspired all the participants to continue to be ambassadors for sustainability and look forward to joining us in our next event.”
Ross Moffett, Sales & Business Development Director at Everun lead partner for the All-Ireland Sustainability Awards, added, “Everun really believe in the ethos of these awards, and have really enjoyed working with Danielle, her team, the judges and sponsors in what has been an outstanding event. All 14 winners demonstrated excellence across sustainability in how they work and deliver projects to the benefit of their communities and the landscapes around us all. We again congratulate Wildacres on winning the overall award this evening and commend them for unexceptional approach to sustainability within their nature reserve. It is really encouraging to see how many individuals and businesses across Ireland, large and small are making differences to becoming more sustainable and accelerating positive change across the sustainability agenda.”
Peter McVerry, Station Manager at U105, who are media partners of the awards concluded; “The quality and diversity of the awards was really evident across all categories and gave the judges a lot to discuss when we met at U105 offices. The result for Wildacres is exceptional, and its wonderful to see them and the finalists profiled this evening. We are excited to be working with Danielle, gaining knowledge and insights to better support our sustainability objectives within the company, so this partnership is a perfect fit for us.”
The 14 Gold award winners (in bold) and silver award (in italics) announced on the night, were;
Sustainable Tourism & Hospitality Initiative of the Year:
- Erne Water Taxi
- Castle Leslie Estate
Social Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion Initiative of the Year:
- Aldi
- Energia Group
- The Kindness Postbox
Green Marketing / Stakeholder engagement initiative of the year:
- Createschool – The Rubbish Film Festival
- Global Action Plan
Net-Zero initiative of the year:
- ESB – The Sustainability Transformation Enablement Programme
- Plaswire Ltd
Green Exporter of the Year:
- Plaswire Ltd
- Bioledger
Energy Initiative / Project of the Year:
- SSE Airtricity Energy Services & Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
- Mid & East Antrim Borough Council
Food Waste Reduction Initiative of the Year:
- FoodCloud
- Waste & Resources Action Programme
Waste, Resource Management & Circular Economy Initiative of the Year:
- Farrans (Construction) Ltd
- Bread 41
Consultant / Consultancy of the Year:
- Robert Duncan Mabbett & Associates Ltd,
- KPMG
Housing / Buildings Initiative of the Year:
- The Electric Storage Company
- SSE Airtricity Energy Services & Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
Young Changemaker of the Year:
- Una Barrett, Felix O’Hare
- Meabh Reynolds, GoPlugable
Biodiversity Initiative of the Year:
- Wildacres
- Breedon
Agri-Food Initiative of the Year:
- Foyle Food Group – Aberdeen Angus Genetics
- Bread41
- Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt
Judges Merit Award: Small Business of the Year:
- GoPlugable
- The Community Fridge, Ballycastle
To finish the awards ceremony, chosen from all the above Gold category award winners, the Overall winners (in bold) and silver award (in italics), in the All-Ireland Sustainable Business of the Year, were:
- Wildacres
- Farrans (Construction) Ltd
The Awards were created by local artist, Ruthie Stewart, who designed a bespoke trophy for each category. Organised by All-Ireland Sustainability, and run in partnership with Everun, and media partner U105, sponsors include Visit Belfast, Tourism NI, Danske Bank, International Synergies NI, NIE Networks, Veri Connect, Carbonfit, Frylite and Ulster Bank.
