Green Gown Awards Winners Announced!

The UK’s most sustainable universities & colleges recognised

The winners of the annual Green Gown Awards, established to find the UK’s most sustainable universities and colleges, were announced at a prestigious gala banquet held at the Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London on 16 June 2010, in the presence of VIP guests including the fabulous Comedian and Amateur Environmental Crusader, Mark Watson.

The winning entries were drawn from 191 applications, representing nearly 110 colleges and universities from across the UK. Each had to undergo a rigorous assessment process involving 44 expert judges from a range of relevant organisations including the Carbon Trust, The Association of College & University Business Officers (CUBO) and The Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

In their sixth year, the Awards recognise exceptional initiatives being taken by higher and further education institutions in order to become more sustainable. The scheme has a variety of categories in which universities and colleges can illustrate their achievements, in both academia and estates management.

The winning entries encompassed a wide range of innovative and diverse enterprises. The University of Strathclyde won the Social Responsibility category with a unique initiative – Engineering Excellence in Renewable Energy – that addresses social, economic and environmental factors to benefit students, the university and most importantly the international community. The University of Liverpool’s winning entry, PowerDown, in the Green ICT category demonstrated how their tried and tested tool was not only benefiting the university but was a huge value to the sector.

Commenting on the 2010 Green Gown Awards, Iain Patton, Chief Executive of the EAUC, who are the administrators of the Awards, said,

”This year’s winning and commended entries demonstrate not only that innovative institutions are taking successful action to minimise their environmental footprints and enhance their social contribution, but also that this is often accompanied by financial benefit. The scale of this benefit will increase as policy measures and regulations increase the costs of poor environmental performance, and as English universities, and eventually, perhaps, all of UK further and higher education, face the prospect of it reducing their funding. Sustainability is therefore compatible with the belt tightening that seems inevitable in future years.”

“The number and diversity of applications and Awards this year demonstrates that the demands of sustainable development are relevant to everyone and to every aspect of further and higher education.”

“We hope that the awards will provide inspiration and shared learning for the sector and will encourage all institutions to continue along the road to greater sustainability and improved environmental management.”

The Green Gown Awards were founded by HEEPI and are now administrated by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC). The 2010 awards are sponsored by: - The Carbon Trust, College and University Business Officers (CUBO), Future–Tech, The Higher Education Academy (HEA), Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), The former Learning and Skills Council (LSC), Salix Finance, The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Sodexo and The Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA).

-Ends-

Notes to the editor

• A full list of the winning higher and further education institutions for the Green Gown Awards 2010 can be found in Appendix I (see below). Additional information is available from the Winners Brochure at www.eauc.org.uk or info@eauc.org.uk.
• The Green Gown Awards are governed by a cross agency steering group made up of Association of Colleges (AoC), Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE), British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG), Guild HE, Higher Education Academy (HEA), Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement (HEEPI), Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), The former Learning and Skills Council (LSC), National Union of Students Services Ltd (NUSSL), Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and Universities UK (UUK).

APPENDIX I

Carbon Reduction Category
WINNER: Pembrokeshire College
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Loughborough University

Colleges and Smaller Institutions Category
WINNER: National Star College
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Bradford College
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Coleg Gwent

Continuous Improvement – Institutional Change
WINNER: University of the West of England (UWE)
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Kingston University

Continuous Improvement – Specific Area
WINNER: University of Gloucestershire
HIGHLY COMMENDED: University of Bradford
HIGHLY COMMENDED: University of Nottingham

Courses Category
WINNER: The London School of Economics and Political Science
HIGHLY COMMENDED: University of Plymouth/Somerset College

Green ICT Category
WINNER: University of Liverpool
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Warrington Collegiate

Research and Development Category
WINNER: Scottish Agricultural College
HIGHLY COMMENDED: De Montfort University
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion

Skills Category
WINNER: Bedford College
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Keele University
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Coventry University

Social Responsibility Category
WINNER: University of Strathclyde
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Hull College

Student Initiative and Campaigns Category
WINNER: Cardiff University – Your Uni Fruit and Veg Co-op
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Lancaster University Students’ Union [LUSU]
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Aberdeen University Student’s Association

Sustainable Construction and Refurbishment Category
WINNER: University of Derby
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Harper Adams University College
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Leeds Metropolitan University

Sustainable Procurement Category
WINNER: Durham University
HIGHLY COMMENDED: University of Leeds