FenestraPro, a provider of software that enables energy efficient facade design, is proud to announce that it has won the Best in Green Buildings for the Global Cleantech Cluster Association (GCCA) 2014 Later Stage Award.

The GCCA’s Global Top 10 Winners represent the best of the association’s 52 member clusters and over 10,000 member companies. The GCCA Global Top 10 Winners were selected by 22 cleantech venture capital and private equity investors and serial entrepreneurs, who collectively manage over $3.5 billion in global clean technology investment.

The 2014 Global Top 10 award reflects FenestraPro’s cleantech success and market position as an energy efficient building design software company in the $163.1 billion global cleantech industry. It also indicates FenestraPro’s unique façade design software is making a positive contribution impact not only to the design of energy efficient building but also to the overall green economy.

“Cleantech is thriving throughout the world and proving to now be a major driver of economic growth,” said Christian Haeuselmann, Co-Founder and Chairman of the GCCA and Cluster Manager for swisscleantech who hosted this year’s awards. “The 2014 winners are proving that companies innovating in the new green economy are both investable and thriving. It is an honour to highlight them as true examples of success in our growing industry.”

FenestraPro was nominated for the GCCA Later Stage Award by The Green Way, Dublins Cleantech Cluster, in the Spring 2014 for the significant impact it was having on driving energy efficiency in the design of buildings. The Global Top 10 were selected out of the 10,000 companies represented by the GCCA’s nearly 52 member clusters. In total, over 100 companies were nominated by clusters as leading in their regions.

FenestraPro provides Cloud based Building Information Modelling (BIM) software for the design of environmentally efficient buildings more cost effectively. FenestraPro is a design tool as opposed to an analysis tool and uses a series of algorithms to provide the design team with key design parameters relating to the façade based on the predicted performance of the building itself. FenestraPro optimises the thermal, solar and daylighting requirements of the façade and provides the user with a detailed understanding of how their design decisions affect the buildings energy performance.

‘We are absolutely delighted to win this award’ said David Palmer, CEO of FenestraPro. ‘We are passionate about building performance and energy efficiency in the building design process, and to be recognised internationally by the Global Cleantech Cluster Association is an honour. It is a testament to the hard work undertaken by all the FenestraPro team. This award supports our aim to bring building designers and owners the tools that are needed to ensure a substantial reduction of energy use in buildings as we work together as an industry towards net zero energy buildings”.

Speaking following the Announcement of the winners, Aideen O’Hora, Executive Director of The Green Way, praised the achievement of FenestraPro. “Ireland is building a compelling international cleantech story. FenestraPro’s fantastic success highlights the strength of Ireland’s cleantech sector. This is the 4th successive year in which Irish cleantech companies have won later stage awards. A full list of all the GCCA Later Stage Award 2012 Global Top 10 Finalists can be found at: http://www.globalcleantech.org/2014-winners/

FenestraPro is a spin out from the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and is based in DIT’s Hothouse, one of the leading Irish incubators for high potential companies. It was founded in 2012 by David Palmer and Simon Whelan. Congratulating the company on this latest honour, Professor Brian Norton, President of DIT, said “FenestraPro has developed a very exciting technology that will make a significant contribution to energy efficiency in the built environment.  Being recognised in the Global top 10 is a great achievement and I would really like to congratulate David Palmer, who is a former academic colleague in DIT. I am delighted that FenestraPro is also a graduate company of our DIT Hothouse New Frontiers programme, an Enterprise Ireland funded programme for knowledge-intensive, high growth companies.  DIT has very significant strengths in all aspects of building design and construction, and this world-class innovation is a great inspiration to our students.”