A SEWAGE works in Bradford has swept aside other grand designs, including a velodrome and a bridge, to clinch a top award.

Yorkshire Water's £34 million system, which converts sewage into energy at the Esholt water treatment works, won the Design through Innovation category at the RICS Pro Yorkshire Awards in York last night.

RICS judges said the Anaerobic Digestion and Thermal Hydrolysis plant, which opened in October last year, was a state-of-the-art building complete with unique processes which have successfully reduced the environmental impact of sewage disposal, while supporting Yorkshire farmers.

The thermal hydrolysis process produces sewage sludge which is free from salmonella and almost 100 per cent free of pathogens which enables it to be used as fertiliser for crops, while also reducing carbon emissions by 50 per cent.

The investment in Esholt was part of a £56m development programme by Bradford-based Yorkshire Water which has enabled its renewable energy generation to grow by nearly 80 per cent.

A total of 12 people work on the plant at the site, which was visited by judges from the RICS team.

The RICS awards celebrate inspirational initiatives in the land, property and construction sectors.

Simon Balding, project manager at the Esholt plant, said: "It feels great to win, especially against projects like the York Velodrome.

"It is the first of this type of plant in the UK. It is also good to get the recognition through this award.

"It's not very often that a sewage works gets nominated for an award even. It's a massive plus for us.

"Bradford's biggest sewage works is self-sufficient in terms of the power that it uses.

"It's more about what it does than how it looks, how innovative it is and how we deliver it, more so than what it looks like."

Yorkshire Water said the substantial improvement at the site would help to generate an expected 75 gigawatt hours of energy this year, enough to make more than three billion cups of tea, by converting sewage.

This is expected to help it reduce its carbon footprint by nearly 15,000 tonnes this year and also reduce the cost of powering its sites around the region.

The company's work will also generate enough bio gas to fill more than 3,000 hot air balloons in 2015.

Methane gas is captured from the sludge as part of the process and it can then be used to create a biofuel which can be burned to generate power.

The BioThelys Sludge Treatment Plant at Esholt is playing a major part in the supply of biofuel and renewable energy being achieved by Yorkshire Water.

Esholt beat off competition from Bowcliffe Hall, Wetherby; Alison Business Centre, Manor Works in Sheffield; Hull's Scale Lane Bridge and York Velodrome to clinch the award last night.