William Holley, a graduate building services engineer with Buro Happold has been named the CIBSE ASHRAE Graduate of the Year 2013.
He received his award from the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) President George Adams at the CIBSE Young Engineers' Awards, sponsored by Lochinvar, Daikin and Ruskin Air Management, held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London on 9 October, 2013.

The Employer of the Year Awards recognise companies for their commitment to train and employ young engineers. The winners were Avoca for the small company category, Hoare Lea for large and Max Fordham for medium and overall categories.

The Graduate of the Year was chosen from ten shortlisted candidates, each of whom made a four minute presentation on how they, as engineers, could contribute to society. Mr Holley, who secured a first class honours MEng in Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of Nottingham this summer and now works in Buro Happold's Bath office, will travel to the ASHRAE 2014 Winter Meeting in New York.

AECOM's Emily Woodhouse was runner up and Kathryn Dryden of Atkins came third. They receive bursaries from the Rumford Club of £500 and £250 respectively.

The Graduate Award judging panel included the presidents of CIBSE, ASHRAE and Patrick Kniveton of the IMechE, as well as 2012 prize winner Lee Tabis of NG Bailey and David Hughes, the Rumford Club chairman. As part of the event, ASHRAE president Bill Bahnfleth gave his 2013-4 ASHRAE presidential address, 'Shaping the Next'.

The Employer and Graduate prizes are part of the CIBSE Young Engineers' Awards, which are presented alongside the IMechE Construction and Building Services Division special achievement award. Former Graduate of the Year Nigel Banks, now group sustainability director of Keepmoat, won the award. Mr Banks also presented his experience delivering refurbished low energy homes, with a plea for more to be done to make homes more energy efficient and to tackle fuel poverty.

Preceding the Awards evening the CIBSE Young Engineers' Network (YEN) held a debate sponsored by CIBSE Patrons with the motion: 'This house believes that building services engineers are too obsessed with building services'. Chaired by former Graduate of the Year Angela Malynn, the debate reflected concerns that building services professionals could miss out on opportunities through lack of wider appreciation of the built environment and global context.