Kyocera announces winner of inaugural Thames Valley award

Ian Gough (Greeneducation) and Steve Tully (PRUPIM) received the award from Tracey Rawling Church (Kyocera)

Kyocera is delighted to announce the winner of the first ever Thames Valley GreenLight Award.

Greeneducation and PRUPIM were awarded for the construction of an outdoor visitors centre at the Ecotricity wind turbine in GreenPark, Reading. The purpose of the visitors centre is to educate schoolchildren across the region. The centre is free of charge and aims to encapsulate an introduction to the turbine but also the greater threat of global climate change, including what people can do to prevent this.

The partnership between real estate investment managers (PRUPIM) and a small environmentally focused educational group (Greeneducation) has proved a huge hit with over 6500 visitors in the first year of its opening.

The Thames Valley GreenLight Award was introduced this year to recognise an organisation or individual in the local region that has been instrumental in identifying and meeting an environmental challenge associated with their business or promoting public awareness, understanding and active concern for the enhancement and protection of the environment around them. It is co-sponsored by Reading 107FM as part of the annual “Cutting Carbon with Kyocera” campaign.

The awards were presented to Steve Tully of PRUPIM and Ian Gough of Green Education by Tracey Rawling Church, Marketing Director at Kyocera during the Green Card Conference at Reading Town Hall on the 25th November 2008.

Bob Radley, Director of Property Development for PRUPIM said: “We are delighted to win this award in recognition of our investment in the GreenPark wind turbine Visitors Centre. The turbine has not only become one of Reading’s architectural icons since its installation three years ago, but more importantly the Visitors Centre has become a valuable and popular resource for education throughout the Thames Valley, demonstrating sustainability in action at a local level”

“The Visitors Centre has attracted an impressive number of visitors since its opening, ranging from schoolchildren and community groups to journalists from China who enjoyed a tour of the Centre last year. We look forward to welcoming even more guests from across the globe in the future.”

Kyocera’s Marketing Director Tracey Rawling Church, comments: “We’re very proud to present Greeneducation and PRUPIM with the first Thames Valley GreenLight Award. It recognises the PRUPIM’s ongoing commitment to the green agenda in the Thames Valley region and we look forward to awarding additional companies who make a positive environmental impact in the future.”