The ACREX Hall of Fame is one of the eagerly awaited highlights of the annual ACREX show. It is a prestigious industry benchmark that seeks to recognise iconic commercial building projects in India that have set global benchmarks in energy efficiency and sustainability, to further encourage the Indian infrastructure industry to utilize these best practices towards engineering tomorrow’s India. Launched during ACREX India 2016, the contest is growing in popularity exponentially. In its inaugural year, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at Mumbai was admitted to the ACREX Hall of Fame. The next year, 2017, saw the Infosys EC-53 Building at its Bengaluru Campus walking away with the honours. The third edition of this joint initiative by ISHRAE and Danfoss India will culminate on February 23, 2018 at Bengaluru during ACREX. The team has begun its energy efficiency drive for the year across the nation by organising road shows for building industry stakeholders. The first such road show this year was held at JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar on August 11.

Ajaj Kazi, ISHRAE Mumbai Chapter President, welcomed the delegates. Mihir Sanghvi, Chapter Treasurer, was the host of the evening. The event witnessed discussions in the field of energy efficiency and presentations by nominees who showcased their successful incorporation of energy efficient technologies in their commercial building projects commissioned post January 2014. Every year, nominations are invited from across India and initial scrutiny and shortlisting is done by the ISHRAE Technical Committee and the final selection of the inductee to Hall of Fame is done by a Jury consisting of eminent personalities in the field of HVAC, Government, Architecture and the Building Industry. The nominations are judged on the basis of their Energy Per formance Index, IEQ (Indoor Environment Quality) initiatives, Building Management Systems and Energy Saving initiatives including the use of Renewable Energy, as the primary criterion.

“Energy efficient interventions in commercial buildings have the potential to save not less than 30% in energy consumption and thereby enable us to meet the rising demand for power. With the rising negative impact of climate change, it is essential that individuals and industries shift towards adopting energy efficient practices, taking into account the life cycle cost of the capex. Since infrastructure is the primary tool for development, it is important to ensure that the upcoming infrastructure projects in India adopt Energy Efficiency at its core,” says D. Nirmal Ram, Chairman, ACREX 2018 and past National President – ISHRAE. Palaniswamy Lakshman of Danfoss was the next speaker. He presented the vision of ACREX Hall of Fame. R. S. Kulkarni – Vice Chair, Technical Committee – gave an overview of the process to adjudge the nominations for ACREX Hall of Fame. Architect Hiten Joshi delivered the keynote addres. This was followed by presentations of four nominations received from the West region. All the nominees for this year’s Hall of Fame were recognised. ACREX Partners and representatives of Associate Societies were also recognised. Sangita Jhangiani, President-elect, ISHRAE Mumbai Chapter, proposed the vote of thanks.