We are thrilled to be announced as a winner in the Green Apple Built Environment Awards 2016, an international campaign to find the greenest companies, councils and communities. We competed with well over 100 other nominees from different countries, and will be presented with a trophy and certificate at a "glittering ceremony" at super-sustainable venue The Crystal, in London on 8th August.

While we have been formally notified of our success in the architects' category, the awarding body The Green Organisation says we won't be told which of the Bronze, Silver or Gold awards we have won until the ceremony! No matter which specific award we have won, the whole team is immensely proud of our achievement and we are thrilled to receive such acclaim from a prestigious international competition.

The application involved writing a lengthy case-study on a finished project with proven environmental benefits. We decided to write about 15 Lloyd Close in Hove, a zero-carbon contemporary home and office that Koru Architects operates from, while also being our director's home. The home-office needs only half the average energy demand, and produces more renewable energy than it uses - exporting the surplus back to the grid. After entering the competition in February 2016, we decided to adapt our application text into a user-friendly PDF case-study report to be freely available online to anyone interested in our work. Click here to view the case-study.

Winning entry: Lloyd Close zero-carbon home/office

The Green Apple Awards began in 1994 and have become established as the UK's major recognition of environmental endeavour among businesses, communities, local government and whole countries. The awards are organised and backed by The Green Organisation, an independent non-profit, non-political and non-campaigning organisation that promotes environmental best practice around the world. The Green Apple Awards are supported by the Environment Agency, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management and several other independent bodies.

We are very excited to attend the ceremony in August and receive our award. We are also keen to meet the other winners and take the opportunity to network with environmentally-conscious entrepreneurs, sustainability professionals, community activists, civic officials and others from around the country and beyond. Here's to ever-growing interest in green design!

Have you heard about the Green Apple Awards? Tweet us your views to @KoruArchitects!