Designplus Award at ISH 2025

From 17 to 21 March next, ISH 2025, the world’s leading trade fair for HVAC and water, will bring together over 2,000 exhibitors at the fairground in Frankfurt and offer visitors a fully comprehensive platform for innovative solutions and products.

One of the key new features is the Designplus Award to honour outstanding developments and pioneering ideas. From smart technology for efficient building control to pioneering products and resource-saving water utilisation, the Designplus Award will recognise exceptional innovations and sustainable designs in the sanitary, heating and air-conditioning technology sector. In cooperation with Stylepark, the magazine for architecture and design, Messe Frankfurt offers exhibiting companies the opportunity to take part in the competition with an exclusive special show, an award ceremony and a comprehensive communication programme. With a fresh concept and new categories, ISH 2025 will present a new look. Under the motto “Solutions for a sustainable future”, eight solution fields that are more closely aligned with visitor interests will be bundled together. But that is not the only change. As part of the Designplus Award, categories have been introduced for the first time in order to structure product submissions in a targeted manner. In cooperation with the newly-acquired partner Stylepark, six categories were created, including two special categories. These cover the entire range of products and services offered by exhibitors at ISH, and ensure that all sectors represented are equally encouraged to apply for the award.

Categories at a glance Water & Efficiency: This category recognises innovative solutions for using water more efficiently and reducing consumption;

Heating & Sustainability: Sustainable technologies in heating and air conditioning technology that focus on environmentfriendly soltions are the focus here;

Smart & Control: Intelligent systems for controlling devices through to entire technical building equipment systems are assessed;

Design & Innovation: Combinations of advanced design and innovative technology are honoured here.

Young Innovators: This category is exclusively for start-ups and young innovators, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. It recognises new business models from the youngest players in the industry;

Sustainable Exhibition Stand: Exhibitors whose exhibition stands impress with their sustainable design and use of environmentfriendly materials are honoured in this category.

Submissions will be assessed by an independent panel of experts from the fields of sanitation, heating and air conditioning. In addition to the overall concept and benefits of the products, sustainability and degree of innovation will play a central role.

Both the nominated and the award-winning products will be exhibited at a prominentlyplaced special area for the entire duration of ISH. The winners will also be honoured at a festive awards ceremony. In addition, the winning products will be presented in an online gallery with pictures and text descriptions.

Deserved CIBSE medals for Mona and Michael

Medals galore! Michael Curran (left) and Mona Duff who were awarded Bronze Medals at the prestigious Savoy Hotel in central London recently. The medals recognise their long and unstinting service, not just to CIBSE Ireland, but to the building services sector as a whole.

Bronze medals are awarded for distinguished service of typically at least 10 years and Michael and Mona, both of whom are past Chairs of CIBSE Ireland, have served the Institution for much longer than that.

They were joined at the presentation by Stephen Weir, Chair, CIBSE Ireland who, not to be outdone, donned his chain of office.

Willkommen José

Best wishes to José Alves, the former Panasonic Regional Director for Ireland, the UK and Netherlands, who has moved to a new European role within Panasonic in Germany. José was a familiar visitor to Ireland and was very well received by all he met on his many trips throughout the country.

Alf a good or bad idea?

Alf, the 20m x 5m giant puppet of a smooth newt inspired by the current conversations around climate change and habitat loss, meandered through Dublin recently, visiting multiple city centre locations during Science Week.

Smooth newts, the only member of the tailed amphibians found in Ireland, are part of a group of “indicator species” that denote the health, or otherwise, of habitats.

While I admire all such initiatives, I still wonder at the impact of the materials used in such creations, the extensive lighting involved in this case, and the considerable transport costs, not to mention the multiple images taken on mobile ‘phones.

Encouraging young engineers

Varming Consulting Engineers reaffirmed its commitment to TU Dublin, Grangegorman, by supporting its efforts to inspire students towards a career in building engineering. This is an ongoing collaboration that reflects Varming’s dedication to promoting engineering as a career option for the next generation.

Picture show Trina Turner, Peter Wyse and Pranati Das of Varming Consulting Engineers, who took part in the recent TU Dublin Open Day to advocate for the building engineering course.

Megan gets her van!

Well done Megan O’Malley of Tech Refrigeration and Air Conditioning who recently returned to Dublin having completed Phase 2 of the refrigeration apprentice course in TU Shannon. She joined Tech in 2022 with no experience in the industry but is now “delighted to say I am officially in a van!”

She is currently the only female apprentice refrigeration engineer in the company but hopes that her development and success will inspire others to come on board.

Apart from the academic side of the business learned while in Shannon, she paid tribute to her Tech engineering colleagues from whom she is learning so much about the practical side and challenges that arise on site.