Green Gown Awards 2010 – Winners Announced

Staff and students at the National Star College are celebrating after winning a Green Gown Award for its College-wide approach to sustainability. The Green Gown Awards were established six years ago to find the UK’s most sustainable universities and colleges.

At the awards ceremony in London the National Star College were announced winners of the Colleges and Smaller Institutions category for the submission “Climate Change is not just about Polar Bears – Our Whole College Approach to Sustainability”

The judge’s comments highlighted that this was “a vibrant, collaborative initiative that involved exceptionally strong levels of staff and student engagement”. The National Star College’s commitment to sustainability encompasses all parts of College life and initiatives range from sustainability champions in all departments to carbon reduction and energy saving programmes which encourage students and staff to focus on sustainability at College, home and in the wider community.

Hugh Piggott, Director of Corporate Services at the College said, “This is a fantastic achievement for the National Star College and I would like to personally thank all the students and staff who have shown tremendous commitment towards making us a greener college. Well done to everyone involved.”

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.

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).