Wayne Hemingway, one of Britain's best known designers and champions of innovation, will speak to East Midlands' organisations about how innovation can boost business success at this year's Sustainable Construction iNet awards. 

Organised by the Sustainable Construction Innovation Network (iNet), the awards which showcase innovation in the construction industry, will be held at Whittlebury Hall, Whittlebury, Northampton on 19 April. The winners will be announced from those organisations that have received an Innovation Support Grant or R & D Collaboration Fund money for their leading innovative projects within the East Midlands. Awards will be presented for the following categories: best innovative product or process; project with the most commercial impact; best overall Innovation Support Grant project; and the best small to medium-sized enterprise / university collaboration.

Wayne Hemingway transformed the way we thought about design in the 1980s and 1990s and went on to adapt the skills he'd developed to the benefit of the house building industry. 

Wayne has won awards from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Building magazine for his work in designing sustainable housing. He is committed to designing sustainable, affordable homes and has been behind some of the most innovative housing projects of the past decade.

Nigel Greenhalgh of West Northamptonshire Development Corporation, will compere the evening.

Speaking about the importance of innovation, Wayne said: "Innovation often arises out of necessity to find a solution, this is especially true now as we need to create sustainable communities and not just houses. Sustainability isn't just about using environmentally friendly products, it's about understanding what people need from their communities.

"This comes not only from putting need at the centre of your design, it also means using local suppliers and building up good, long-term relationships with people who understand what you want to achieve."