(L-R) Professor Iain Stewart, Coleg Gwent’s Estates Development Manager Alex Anderson and Health, Safety and Environment Manager Ian Rowe with Doug Parkin, Programme Director at the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education
Coleg Gwent has been Highly Commended for a Green Gown Award for continuous improvement at an award ceremony hosted by Derby College on Tuesday 12 November.
The awards, organised by The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by educational institutions across the UK.
“To be shortlisted and Highly Commended for a Green Gown Award is a huge honour for the College,” said Coleg Gwent’s Health, Safety and Environment Manager, Ian Rowe. “It’s recognition for both the staff and the students who have helped make year on year environmental improvements to embed sustainability as a core principle of Coleg Gwent.”
Coleg Gwent was shortlisted for its ‘One College: One Planet’ five year plan to integrate and embed sustainability into the heart of the College. The initiative included:
- Achieved the Welsh Government Corporate Health Standard
- Gained Fair Trade status
- Became one of the few Colleges in the UK to achieve the highest level of the Green Dragon Award
- Achieved a recycle rate of 86%
- Energy use reduced by 49%
- 82% of all paper purchased is recycled paper
- New buildings were awarded BREEAM standard of ‘Excellent’
- Improved student engagement with projects such as otter holt building, hedge planting, and creation of a wildflower meadow
The awards were hosted by Professor Iain Stewart MBE – best known as the presenter of a number of BBC programmes including the BAFTA nominated Earth: The Power of the Planet. Iain is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Professor of Geoscience Communication at Plymouth University and a member of the Scientific Board of UNESCO’s International Geoscience Programme.
Summarising the significance of the Awards, Professor Iain Stewart said: “Sustainability is one of those ideas that means something different to everyone. And yet we all have a clear notion of what is “unsustainable”. The Green Gown Awards are about celebrating a shift in thinking within the university and college sector to embrace and support those that are really pushing ahead with meaningful ways of making a future that works for all.”
