On 1 July, UIC Barcelona and ROCKWOOL signed an agreement to set up the ROCKWOOL Sustainability Awards. The main aim of the awards is to ensure a high level of application of sustainability criteria in Final Degree Projects (TFGs) by students at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. The signing of the agreement was attended by the Rector of UIC Barcelona, Xavier Gil, the Director of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Josep Lluis i Ginovart, Professor Teresa Batlle and the Head of Institutional Relations at ROCKWOOL, Albert Grau. 

The agreement provides for the creation of a jury, consisting of a member of ROCKWOOL, a lecturer from the Sustainability Area of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, a sustainability lecturer for the TFG and a prestigious architect who will serve as a special member of the jury.

As the basis for evaluating the contest, the jury will take into consideration the documentation provided by the students for their Final Degree Project (TFG), as well as graphic and oral presentations from the day of the official defence. General concepts of sustainability and criteria such as environmental impact reduction, energy efficiency, the application of circular economy and de-carbonisation criteria will be evaluated, among others. 
 
The ROCKWOOL Sustainability Awards include a first and second prize, which will involve an economic endowment that aims to facilitate the winners' investment in their professional future by taking an intensive course on a specific subject of interest to them and providing them with continuing education in the same field. 

“The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture is the first school of architecture in Spain to have included a core subject on sustainability in its curriculum. This has allowed a permeability covering all subjects of the degree programme that guarantees a high level of education for our students in the field of sustainability applied to the field of architecture and urban planning,” explained the director of the School, Josep Lluis i Ginovart.

“These awards exemplify ROCKWOOL’s environmental policy and social responsibility and reinforce the link between business and the university. Direct contact between architecture students and our products and business philosophy is, without doubt, a strong move for the future since we generate close relationships with new architects in this way,” explains Albert Grau. 

The first edition of the ROCKWOOL Sustainability Awards will be held on 14 and 15 July, as part of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Final Degree Project Defence Event.