More than 30 years ago, the architecture and design industry was only just realising the threats facing our environment and precious natural resources. Growing awareness led to the new demand for sustainable, future-proof building systems that balanced performance, style, and environmental considerations. Ritek Building Solutions (Ritek) was established to address this very need, filling the gap in the market and playing a critical role in starting the industry conversation about sustainability in Australia.

From the very first moment of operations, Ritek was guided by a strong research and development focus and genuine commitment to environmental sustainability. The company’s drive for innovation extended to all aspects of sustainability, from sourcing environmentally friendly building materials and practices to ensuring the delivery of high quality products that added value by significantly reducing lifecycle building costs.

Ritek retained this focus on performance and sustainability over the years, earning a reputation as a leader in high quality roofing products and systems and playing a major part of the ongoing industry dialogue about sustainability. This was supported by external audits, including a Green Star pre-assessment conducted by Ecospecifier, one of Australia’s foremost eco-products databases. The pre-assessment confirmed that both the Ritek Custom Panel and Ecotek Panel can achieve Green Star Credits when integrated into a new buiding. To this day, Ritek Panels remain listed on Ecospecifier.

In 2017, Ritek was acquired by ARCPANEL, who have remained faithful to the company’s original sustainability goals. ARCPANEL has championed and expanded the products and processes developed by Ritek and strengthened the company’s overall sustainability credentials.

A privately owned, proudly Australian cleantech company, ARCPANEL are manufacturers of a broad range of sustainable structural and architectural insulated roof systems. ARCPANEL specialise in custom-made panels that meet the demands of today’s complex built forms and include straight, curved, multi-curve, and bull-nose configurations. All ARCPANEL panels are comprised of Australian materials, and are manufactured using processes designed to make efficient use of both skilled and unskilled labour from the local community. 

In addition to embracing the depth and diversity of the Australian workforce, ARCPANEL manufacturing processes minimise plant energy usage and waste generation. Semi-automated processes enable large-scale manufacturing capability, allowing ARCPANEL to meet the needs of multiple projects of any given size simultaneously and at any given time.

As part of their ongoing commitment to quality and performance, ARCPANEL understands the importance of a product arriving on-site in perfect condition. To achieve this, ARCPANEL product packaging is carefully considered, and is of a robust, high quality that is fabricated from material that is recycled, recyclable, or a combination of both.

As proud sponsors of the 2018 Sustainability Awards, ARCPANEL reaffirms their commitment to delivering outstanding value, product quality, and environmental performance to the Australian market. Their focus on continuous improvement and quality control is backed by independent certification, and ensures that the company provides architectural insulated panel systems today for the energy efficiency and sustainability demands of tomorrow.

About the Sustainability Awards

The Sustainability Awards is Australia’s longest running and most prestigious awards program dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating excellence in sustainable design and architecture. Nominations received are shortlisted and then winners for each category are announced at a five-star Gala evening hosted this year at the Star, Sydney on 11 October 2018. The daytime event Sustainability Live is a CPD-endorsed education event where industry experts present a range of topics to educate, inform and ignite learning. Buy tickets