We have developed a Sustainable Building Standard for University of Sheffield Estate (UoS). The project supports their commitment to sustainable development – UoS is a civic institution which is proud of its urban character, using it to drive growth and vibrancy for the city, the region, and the globe.

The Standard sets out sustainability requirements for the delivery of all capital investment projects, including new academic and research buildings, residential development, major refurbishments, and smaller works. We worked closely with the University’s Estates Team, to develop a vision and framework for sustainable development across the whole university estate, which comprises the city centre campus as well as several satellite sites providing student accommodation and additional research facilities. It is strongly linked to the Estate Strategy and the University’s academic vision.

We created an engagement programme to embed the document within the University’s ongoing development work; the programme includes training sessions to launch the new processes and introduce the Standard to the wider team. We have also updated the Integrated Management Systems to integrate sustainability actions into project delivery processes.

We are now working with the team to embed the standard on several of their capital investment projects and demonstrate the value of sustainable development from a whole of life perspective.