ADEPT awards winners 2025 - celebrating innovation and creating resilient communities in a time of change
The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) has announced winners of the annual President's Awards, recognising the outstanding achievements of members and partners across the country.
Held at One Whitehall Place in London, the events marked the end of current President Ann Carruthers’ tenure of the association. She is succeeded by Angela Jones, Director of Thriving Places for Westmorland & Furness Council, who delivered a powerful speech on her Presidential theme; making the case for people and place.
The awards ceremony rounded off a packed conference day where economic, environmental and workforce resilience against a rapidly changing local government landscape were in the spotlight.
The awards themselves acknowledge the important work of ADEPT members and partners, highlighting and showcasing projects that demonstrate achievements in improving the delivery and outcomes of community services.
The awards were divided into four categories:
- Delivering Sustainable Growth
- Innovation in Place Shaping
- Shaping Places for People and
- President's Special Recognition Award.
Winner of the Delivering Sustainable Growth Award, sponsored by Arcadis, was Westmorland and Furness Council for making significant steps during the first year of its Journey to Net Zero scheme.
Judges were impressed by the council being the first to achieve ‘Passive House’, a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building that reduces its carbon footprint, as well as clear supporting evidence of their excellent progress and plans in place to continue delivery throughout the strategy period.
Finalists and highly commended in the same category were Essex County Council for the Sunspot Project and Norfolk County Council for its entry focusing on partnerships that are leading the way in delivering sustainable growth across the county.
Essex County Council has transformed Jaywick Sands by addressing deprivation, enhancing community wellbeing and fostering economic growth and the judges felt that the project will make a real impact on the local community.
The partnerships developed by Norfolk County Council are at the heart of driving up bus patronage, reducing costs and emissions and delivering clean and sustainable growth.
The winner of the Innovation in Place Shaping award, sponsored by Ringway, was the City of London for its Thermal Comfort Modelling and Guidelines entry. It involves a ground-breaking, algorithm-based planning tool that enables the impact on the microclimate to be considered in the planning process. With a focus on community spaces, gardens and placemaking across the city, the judges described it as a ‘fantastic…a standout submission’.
Cheshire East Council was a finalist and highly commended in the same category for its Road to AI Schedule Smart Technology.
The innovation is a first for highways and judges were impressed by this ‘great example of tech driving higher productivity.’
The Shaping Places for People award, sponsored by Jacobs, was won by Surrey County Council for Creating a Truly Circular Community. A social value partnership project that delivers for the community, the council, the environment, adults, children, health and the economy.
It’s a scheme that demonstrates long-term financial sustainability, providing benefits to multiple groups in the community and a clear commitment to further service development. It also has environmental benefits by putting useful items back into circulation rather than into recycling or disposal. The judges felt that as a model it was repeatable and scalable across other locations.
Finalists and highly commended in this category were the City of London for its A View for All initiative and Westmorland and Furness Council for their Welcome to Work project.
A View for All provides free to visit, elevated public areas in the city, welcoming all communities, ages and backgrounds and Welcome to Work is an innovative needs-led project tackling significant issues in the region’s tourism sector.
Finally, the evening culminated in the President's Special Recognition Award, which celebrates an individual or team making a real difference by the way they work and the outcomes they deliver.
This year, the President’s Special Recognition Award was won by Derbyshire County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan team who were awarded the accolade for revitalising the rural bus network, ensuring its place at the heart of a sustainable travel strategy in the county.
The judges were particularly impressed by how a struggling team turned their output around, despite facing many challenges. They commented that ‘taking a team at rock bottom and seeing them step up to take a major challenge of significant delivery to address and remedy long-term decline has been a massive and successful effort.’
This years’ submissions saw a wide-ranging selection of solutions, projects and ideas showing the ingenuity and creativity local authorities and their partners apply to place-based leadership.
Outgoing ADEPT President, Ann Carruthers said: “The ADEPT Spring Conference and Awards are an opportunity to celebrate and champion exceptional local government projects and people. The ones delivering services for communities and tasked with the actual work of delivering safe, sustainable and resilient communities.
“It can be hard to see the silver lining when the challenges seem to grow each day, but for me the finest and most inspiring resource we have is our ability to hold our nerve and find those seemingly impossible or improbable solutions to meet the needs of our communities, ADEPT does that.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has taken time to be part of the Spring Conference and to every local authority who submitted an entry to the President’s Awards, it has been a privilege hearing so many diverse and inspirational voices and stories.”
Award winners – list of finalists:
Category 1 - Delivering Sustainable Growth (sponsored by Arcadis)
- Winner: Westmorland & Furness Council - 2024: The First Year in our Journey to Net Zero
- Highly commended: Essex County Council - The Sunspot, Jaywick Workspace
- Highly commended: Norfolk County Council – Partnerships Lead the Way
Category 2 – Innovation in Place Shaping (sponsored by Ringway
- Winner: City of London: Thermal Comfort Modelling
- Highly commended: Cheshire East Council - The Road to AI
Category 3 – Shaping Places for People (sponsored by Jacobs)
- Winner: Surrey County Council - Creating a Truly Circular Economy
- Highly commended: City of London - A View for All
- Highly commended: Westmorland & Furness Council – Welcome to Work
Category 4 - President’s Special Recognition Award
- Winner: Derbyshire County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan
A photo gallery of images from the ADEPT Spring Conference 2025 and the President's Awards Dinner is available here.
