A HOUSEBUILDER has won glory for going green. Hillreed Homes, based in College Road, Maidstone, was named this year's Kent Environment Business of the Year for creating an environmentally-friendly housing development at Iwade, near Sittingbourne.

Its Orchard Edge estate has reduced dependency on cars and features on-site waste management and recycling. The company also bought raw materials from local suppliers to reduce traffic pollution, and employed local labour.

It was double triumph for the company as it also scooped the Sustainable Design and Construction category of the Environment Awards for Kent Business. Judges said Hillreed Homes had "gone beyond the industry standard."

Jo Richards, marketing officer, and Kevin Guiver, groundworks manager, were elated after collecting two handsome trophies at Canterbury Cathedral International Study Centre.

"It's fantastic to win two awards," she said. "We entered last year and didn't win anything so it's definitely worth having another go."

She admitted that developers got a bad press but Hillreed's green policies showed that building firms could be sustainable, care for the environment and make a profit.

"There's definitely an opportunity for developers to embrace all of the ideas, especially the community side of things and do it well," she said.

Hillreed Homes built more than 120 houses in Kent and East Sussex this year. The company employs more than 100 people around the region.

Project X and the Beat Project, a Barming-based crusade to help disadvantaged young people through music, won a Working with the Community award for social enterprise and services.

For the first time, an individual was honoured in the awards principally sponsored by Aylesford Newsprint. Mark Wyatt, director of Kent Community Recycling at Hawkinge, near Folkestone, won award for individual achievement.

Affectionately known as The Canman, he set up a pioneering recycling business with his wife more than 13 years ago. He was unable to collect his award in person but sent a message. Waste was a valuable resource, he said, yet the average household spent £600 on packaging every year.

"Waste costs can be turned into resource income, thus boosting bottom line profit," he said.

Four Medway firms took trophies -- BAE Systems (Site Management), Avondale Environmental Services (Resource Efficiency), Kent Art Printers (Environmental Innovation), and The Vines Centre Trust (Working with the Community).

Other awards went to Balfour Beatty Rail Infrastructure Services, Ashford (Resource efficiency - pollution and waste prevention), and the Brook Farm Partnership, Reculver (Wildlife Conservation - new habitat creation).

The Hawking Centre at Boughton, near Canterbury, was commended in the Wildlife Conservation category.

Keith Tozzi, chief executive of Swan Group, parent company of Mid Kent Water, was guest speaker. He called on local businesses to protect the environment, develop new environmental technologies, manage resources efficiently, conserve wildlife and engage with the local community.

"Sustainable development does not have to be a threat to businesses, we should see it as an opportunity," he said.

Geoff Clark, the Meridian television presenter, hosted the presentation. He urged more people and businesses to care for the environment: "If we all do a little bit, it becomes a big bit," he said.

Other award sponsors were Kent County Council, Business Link Kent, Cogen, Mid Kent Water, Pfizer, Kent Messenger Group, The Environment Agency and the University of Kent at Canterbury.