4 April 2025
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Liskennett Assisted Activity Centre in Charleville, Co. Cork and BladeBridge in Mallow, Co. Cork have been shortlisted in the prestigious RDS Awards taking place on Wednesday 9th April as part of the ‘Finding Common Ground’ festival. The awards look to celebrate the people behind farms and businesses that are developing effective and impactful sustainability or circular economy initiatives.
The awards include both the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Awards, which highlight the work of individuals, farm families and organisations who are enhancing the economic, environmental and social development of Irish agriculture and rural communities, and the Circular Economy Awards, which celebrate organisations, entrepreneurs and innovators providing products and services that use renewable materials and are designed for reuse and recycling to keep them circulating in the economy.
The shortlist includes:
Liskennett Assisted Activity Centre – shortlisted for the RDS Sustainability Awards in the Rural Social Impact Award category. As part of St. Joseph’s Foundation, which provides services for children and adults with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities, Liskennett offers equine assisted activities to those who attend their service, members of the public and school pupils with a diagnosis of autism or an intellectual disability. Their aim is to provide people with disabilities the opportunity to live the life of their choice to their fullest potential.
BladeBridge – shortlisted for the RDS Circular Economy Awards in the Emerging Award category, which recognises new small businesses who are making a positive impact on their community with circular economic principles. BladeBridge repurposes retired wind turbine blades into beautiful and durable products such as street furniture, shelters and pedestrian bridges. Through this process, they utilise Irish ‘waste’ to replace new materials when building infrastructure, while also decoupling the generation of renewable energy from the production of waste.
The ‘Finding Common Ground’ festival, which takes place over two days in the RDS in Ballsbridge, is being delivered as one of the RDS Foundation social impact programmes. It will bring together scientists, researchers, policymakers, industry professionals, practitioners, advocates and RDS Members to explore how Ireland can harness the benefits of our natural resources and the circular economy with a view to creating increased awareness, education and identification of solutions.
A series of talks and panel discussions will focus on the latest advancements and challenges in areas such as land use, forestry and the bioeconomy. The broad programme will also explore topics such as decarbonising construction, how to use the arts to engage with environmental societal change and primary science education.
The winners will be announced on Wednesday April 9th at awards ceremonies taking place at the RDS, Dublin.