Green Gown Awards 2017 - The College of West Anglia - Winner

Greening West Anglia

The College of West Anglia achieved a 51% reduction in carbon emissions in 2015/16 since the 2009/10 baseline (from 4,298 tCO2e to 2,097 tCO2e).  Including an enormous 15% reduction of 636 tCO2e between 2014/15 and 2015/16.

Over £30 million (£14 million from external sources) has been invested in the College’s four main campuses. This includes new state-of-the-art buildings and refurbishments according to BREEAM standards (achieving ‘Very Good’), solar PV, biomass boilers, air-source heat pumps, an electric car, water saving technologies, rainwater harvesting, HVAC improvements, PIR controls and LED lighting. 

Student and staff travel initiatives comprise of covered cycle shelters, fleet vehicle replacement, cycle to work scheme, in-house car sharing, campus shuttle services and events (such as a pop-up travel café in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council and Dr. Bike events).

Benefits include greater resilience in utilities expenditure, reduced carbon emissions per student (34% by 2015/16) and engagement with stakeholders.      

Top 3 learnings:

1 Ensure that key stakeholders are involved at every stage of the project.

2 To avoid costly modifications in the future, make sure technical specifications are fit for purpose.

3 Real-time monitoring and targeting pays for itself, especially after low hanging fruit has been picked.  

CO2t savings over the life cycle of the project:

2,201 (Actual, over 6 years)

Videos

• Greening West Anglia (click to hide)