The International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) has awarded KAUST its 2010 Construction Category award. The award was presented today at the 2010 International Sustainable Campus Symposium "Better Campus, Better City: Learning for a Sustainable Future" held at the Luxembourg Pavilion at Shanghai Expo in China.

The Award was presented by Dr. Matthew Gardner, ISCN Awards Program Manager and Director of Sustainserv, an international sustainability consultancy.

"The International Sustainable Campus Network is dedicated to fostering the planning, development and operations of campuses around the world that are committed to the principles of sustainability," stated Dr. Gardner. "With our award program, we seek to recognize the thought leaders, examples of best practices from around the world that we all can learn from. What KAUST has accomplished is truly marvelous, and a great example for not only sustainable construction, but for community engagement as well."

Receiving the award on behalf of KAUST, Mr Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, Interim Director, Health, Safety and Environment, said: "We are very happy that our beautiful university has been recognized in this way, and we would also like to give our congratulations to the winners in the other categories.
"We take our responsibility to the environment seriously at KAUST, and are aware of the message our university sends out to the local community, and to the many nationalities of student who live and work on campus. It is a great moment for KAUST to be recognized as a physical landmark of innovation."

Architects HOK designed the campus. Their Design Principal Bill Odell (FAIA) said: "The HOK team was honored to work with this remarkable institution to design a sustainable campus development to drive innovation and support world-class research.
"By integrating sustainable measures into the site planning, community, building design and campus operations, the university is pioneering new ways to build in the region and promoting responsible stewardship of the environment."

The ISCN award recognizes KAUST’s development work in its neighboring fishing village of Thuwal, its plans for a research park, its work on energy-saving resources, such as solar power, and its impact on local society. The KAUST development includes the largest LEED Platinum certified building in the world.

The ISCN is a network of more than 20 universities across the world that is dedicated to building a gallery of outstanding Campus Projects that showcase excellence and leadership from all continents. In the two years of the ISCN Awards, over 100 universities have applied for recognition. The ISCN Award program also has categories that recognize a project's overall impact on the campus community, leadership, and student projects in addition to the construction category.

Other award recipients in 2010 include:
Impact Category: University of Bradford in the UK for their "Ecoversity" Program.
Leadership Category: Leuphana University of Luneberg
Student Category: University of Amsterdam for their CO2 neutral computing facility project

Background about the ISCN:
The ISCN - under the auspices of Novatlantis, an entity of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology – helps senior administration staff and faculty members in the network who have responsibility for sustainability on campus to exchange information and ideas. More information on the ISCN and its four standing working Groups can be found at www.isc-network.org.

Background about the ISCN Excellence Awards:
This was the second year that the ISCN Excellence Awards were presented. Last year’s winner in the Construction category was the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne. The international jury responsible for selecting the winners consisted of Professor Jack Spengler, (Harvard University), Mr. Peter Hopkinson (co-Director of Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement, Bradford, UK), Ms. Leith Sharp (Harvard School of Public Health), and Patricia Mesquita (oikos International). The ISCN Working Group responsible for designing and managing the awards process is led by Professor Claude Siegenthaler (Hosei University), and Leith Sharp (Harvard School of Public Health), supported by the Sustainserv ISCN program management team.

About King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
This post-graduate research university near Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, with more than 60 nationalities of student, faculty and staff, was inaugurated by its namesake, King Abdullah, in September 2009. Its 36 square kilometer campus has cutting-edge laboratory and research facilities as well as being a small town that is home to almost 3,000 people. Its remit is to focus on three main areas of research which impact on the Kingdom, the region, and the world – sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and water.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Matthew Gardner ISCN Project team Boston, MA, USA matthew.gardner@sustainserv.com Tel: 617-330-5001