The Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW) has won Sustainable Lab of the Year at the Lab Innovation Awards 2024 in recognition of its sustainability achievements.
CREWW is a partnership between South West Water and University of Exeter and a first of its kind in the water sector. It is designed to tackle global environmental challenges.
The centre includes state-of-the-art laboratories, such as a pioneering microplastics lab. The building itself is also a living laboratory where energy and water efficiency are continuously monitored, analysed and optimised to continue to be Net Zero in operation.
The award also recognised the positive culture of sustainability displayed by all staff, whose hard work saw them awarded Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) Gold within two months of the building opening in March last year.
Located on the University of Exeter’s Steatham campus, South West Water is investing £21 million into CREWW, recognising that the need for collaboration on important environmental issues has never been greater.
Susan Davy, South West Water’s Chief Executive Officer, said:
“CREWW is a world-leading facility designed to tackle some of the biggest environmental challenges we face globally. The team have made great strides since the centre was officially opened in March and this latest award is another example of how we working together to lead the way in innovation and sustainability.”
Richard Brazier, CREWW Co-Director and Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Exeter, said:
“CREWW is bringing together the best minds from across multiple disciplines at the University of Exeter with industry experts at South West Water, to develop a shared understanding of water sector issues, so that we can co-create engineering, nature, economic and behaviour-based solutions that will make a lasting positive impact to communities and ecosystems around the world. We are delighted to win this prestigious award that celebrates the outstanding innovation and sustainability of the CREWW building on our Streatham Campus. It is wonderful recognition of our positive culture of sustainability in our CREWW laboratories.”
