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Sustainable Drainage Systems: The Future of Flood and Water Management

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are key to building sustainable cities and countering the influence of urbanisation. These eco-friendly solutions maintain habitats, support natural cycles, and protect human communities. Since 2023, it is now a legal requirement for all new major developments to include SuDS in their planning.

Newcastle University has great research infrastructure in this area, including the UKCRIC National Green Infrastructure Facility (“the living laboratory”) and the Newcastle Urban Observatory. This blog will explore how SuDS work and their importance, using a current student’s project as a steering guide. Enjoy!

What are SuDS and why are they important?

The main purpose of SuDS is to mimic the natural processes that urbanisation has impeded, i.e. the infiltration of water into the ground. Smaller projects use methods like installing green roofs or rain gardens while large-scale projects use basins and swales (flood ditches).

Check out this helpful video for an in-depth explanation of SuDS, linking their function to the University’s Green Infrastructure Facility:

So, what are the actual benefits of SuDS over traditional drain systems? SuDS are known to:

Decrease risk from flooding
Reduce flood damage costs
Improve water quality
Act as a carbon store
Support biodiverse habitats and animals

Image: Snapshot of a hidden drainage grate among greenery and purple flowers. Demonstrates the contrast between manmade installations and natural stores. Credit: John Donoghue.

“Domestic SuDS Planter: Design, Construction and Evaluation”

During her study, Madeleine Tate found herself drawn to water and flood management, which inspired her MEng dissertation project. Madeleine chose to install and test a sustainable planter box at Kensington Terrace accommodation. The research aim was to combat the issue of increased storm water affecting the residential sector. Kensington Terrace proved to be a perfect location:

“Everyday I go into university I walk past and check on it. It’s quite easy to collect data from.”

Image: Close up photograph of the SuDS planter, showing the pipe diversion, the overlaying gravel, and the blooming plants. Credit: Madeleine Tate.

Madeleine’s planter collects rainwater from the roof and interrupts its flow by slowing it down. The water flow is filtered a variety of soil layers within the planter (see image below for a layer breakdown). After the water has moved through the layers, it passes through a geotextile, finally exiting the planter via an outlet. This outlet deposits water back into the drain system. Thus, the mechanism slows down the journey from roof to drain, giving the traditional system more time to cope. Crucially, this reduces flood and Combined Sewer Overflow risk.

Interestingly, the planter itself was made from a reused intermediate bulk container, which was cut down and repainted. How innovative!

Image: Diagram showing how the planter in Kensington Terrace works. Shows soil layers and step-by-step route of rainwater through the system. Credit: Madeleine Tate.

Project Success

Madeleine’s planter is still in the process of collecting data but has so far proven to be a success! Here we can see a graph comparing inflow levels to outflow levels for rainfall events in May and June 2024. The orange outflow dataset is consistently lower than the blue inflow dataset, by up to 75%. This mirrors the slow pace of the flow travelling through the soil layers.

Image: A graph tracking water inflow and outflow in the planter for events from May 1^st – June 19^th. Credit: Madeleine Tate.

The Future of Planters and SuDS

Due to its success, the planter installation will remain at Kensington Terrace and will continue to produce meaningful data. Madeleine is now in the process of starting her PhD, looking at how these planters can be scaled up. She is collaborating with Newcastle City Council to project datasets, visualising a city where these planters are installed in all houses and drainpipes. In what Madeleine deems the “snowballing effect,” this initial planter innovation will open the door for more similar schemes:

“The future should bring more research; more use and more awareness”

As the threat of climate change becomes more imminent, SuDS and modelling wide-scale integration will prove to be an important tool for risk prevention. If no action is taken, water systems are bound to collapse due to heavier rainfall.

I would like to thank Madeleine Tate for her extensive help and her informative graphics. She ensured that my first post on the sustainability blog was both inspiring and educational! For more information about the UKCRIC National Green Infrastructure Facility, click here. If you are interested in learning what Sustainable Campus are doing for water management, click here.

Thank you for reading!

Keep Cosy, Cut the Costs, and take Climate Action this Chilly Season

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Only 1.8% of UK homes meet the top energy efficiency ratings, making them some of some of the biggest energy-wasters in Europe. As the colder months approach and the East wind begins to bite, keeping your flat, house, or halls warm can become increasingly challenging. This guidance outlines some ways that you can tackle rising energy costs whilst also taking climate action!

Home Energy Advice North East (HEANE)

A new local authority led service HEANE is here to help you cut costs and stay cosy. Even if your energy bills are included in your rent, their advice can help you avoid exceeding any cap set by your landlord. Whether you’re living in Newcastle City centre or further afield, there’s a range of free support available to help you boost energy efficiency, save money, improve living conditions, and reduce your carbon footprint.

HEANE is working in partnership with charities and organisations like Groundwork and Community Action Northumberland to offer help in Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Durham, Sunderland, and Northumberland, prioritising those who’re struggling to pay bills or keep warm.

How can HEANE help?

Provide immediately implementable energy saving habits. These insignificant changes can add up over the university year! If you’re not convinced, check out their website for energy (and money) saving habit ideas paired with concrete stats showing the potential difference it could make to your pocket!
A knowledge bank of useful info (e.g. how to understand your energy bill, how to tackle condensation and damp, and how to stay in control of your heating). University is often the first time many of us deal with the responsibility of bills and home maintenance. For most of us it’s a venture into the unknown, so reliable and expert tips on how to navigate this new realm is seriously valuable.
Impartial in-person advice. Sometimes it’s easier to show than tell. And when it comes to a house or flat you’ve only recently moved into for the academic year a second pair of eyes and opinion can be really useful to create a next steps plan.
Personalised recommendations (no obligation home assessments to make it a more energy efficient space). Not all advice is equal! Getting advice appropriate for your living situation and budget helps put you on the road to action more than generic pointers.
Help applying for energy improvement funding and finding local certified installers (available to your landlord if you rent). Not owning your home doesn’t mean you have no control! Making your landlord aware of the advice, resources, and recommendations given by HEANE could result in some real change making.
Ongoing support at every step – Have you received some advice or information, and you are not sure what to do next? Don’t let your questions go unanswered! Whether it’s the 1^st or 100^th query, make use of the experts available.

Energy and water reduction guidance for your home

You might think you’ve heard all the energy-saving tips before. For example, not leaving devices on standby, avoiding overfilling the kettle, turning off lights and using a low temperature setting on the washing machine could already be part of your routine – great job! These actions alone can save you £67 a year. But did you know saving water can also reduce your energy costs? And advice to take control of your heating can be especially useful when renting, as lowering your thermostat by just 1°C can save £80 a year.

In short, make use of this resource! Keep cosy, cut the cost, and take climate action. What could be a better start to the chilly season?

Sustainability Communications Placement: interviewing Evan

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Evan has been our Sustainability Communications Placement this last year and he’s now leaving to continue his studies in London. Plenty has happened over the year and he’s been a part of lots of the work we’ve been doing, so we wanted to ask him about his experiences in the role and whether he’d have any advice for our future placements!

I can’t believe it’s been a year already! How has it been for you?

Amazing, yeah! Looking back, it’s hard to believe how much I’ve learnt and grown over the past year. The team are so welcoming, friendly, and generous and I’ve had the chance to experience so many different aspects of sustainability work with their guidance. In this way it’s been a brilliant introduction to both the sustainability sector, and the world of work in general, and I’m hugely grateful to everyone in the team for that.

Your job touches on several different aspects of the team’s work. Have there been any areas that you’ve focused on more and which aspects have you enjoyed the most?

The team works on a really wide variety of interesting topics and being able to explore and get involved in these has been one of the things I’ve liked the most about this role. I’d say that points of focus change depending on what’s happening at any given time, though. So, over Winter there’s more to do around the University’s heating and ventilation systems and software, early Spring often brings engagement activities like Sustainability Week, and late Spring/Summer is audit season. Each of these periods brings its own opportunities, challenges, and a new type of working – from conducting site visits and writing up observations to making promotional materials and chatting with students and colleagues.

I’d say one of my favourite things, however, is the sustainability blog that’s been running throughout the year. Being able to focus in on the sustainability considerations of different areas, from agriculture to medicine, and learning about projects including solar PV and innovative heating/power technologies has been really fun and interesting. Writing about these varied topics in an easily digestible way is also a good challenge that helps you to engage with the content further and I’ve really enjoyed the chance to do that this year.

Image: The Millenium and Tyne Bridges at night, their lights reflected in the river below. Credit: Graeme Peacock.

Have you been able to pick up/ hone any new skills this year? And do you feel like this role has introduced you to the sustainability sector?

Absolutely! Getting stuck into a range of different tasks is a great way to learn and I’ve been able to gain and practice lots of skills that I’d never come across before. A good example of this is the website project I’ve been working on alongside colleagues for much of the year. Here, I’ve improved my written communication skills, gained insights into navigability and accessibility, and I’ve been trained in how to use several different website management system. All of this is supported by the team’s strong desire to invest in its members, and I’ve had the opportunity to complete fully certified ISO140001 auditing training and Carbon Literacy training. This is all in addition to the organisation, communication, and technical skills I’ve picked up while completing regular responsibilities such as helping organise events and utilising the building management system.

I also feel like I’ve been given a really good introduction to the sustainability sector in general. I’ve had the chance to get involved in team meetings and discuss the University’s approach to a variety of environmental issues and sustainability projects, to chat with colleagues in different roles across campus, and even to attend regular sessions of the EAUC to hear about the actions and plans of other higher education institutions. This is really interesting and insightful because you get to understand and consider both solutions, including renewable energy, colleague action programmes, and district heating, but also more challenging areas, including the execution of offsetting and managing travel emissions.

Have you been able to link your work to wider goals and contexts, including those of the University, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the climate crisis more broadly?

Definitely, and in many cases these three separate sets of goals often align very closely. In terms of working towards the University’s goals, my auditing responsibilities were an important part of the University’s wider energy and environmental sustainability management systems and it felt significant being able to play my part in maintaining that for such a large organisation. The UN SDGs and broader climate issues are worked in throughout the various themes that the team works on and I feel as though I linked to these mostly strongly in my communications work. Here, answering questions and sharing ideas around everything from renewable energy to biodiversity, and active travel to water, allowed me to expand upon many important issues and solutions and I’m very grateful to have been able to do that.

How have you found working for the University, and in Estates and Facilities especially?

It’s been really nice. The office is full of kind and welcoming people, and you never have to look far for a helping hand. I’ve gotten to know everyone in the Sustainability Team really well, of course, and these friendships fostered a real sense of community within the team, but I’ve also met lots of colleagues working in a variety of other fields within Estates and Facilities. Chatting to these lovely people has added new perspectives to my work and given me further insights into the way that the University works.

Additionally, on a wider scale, working for such a large organisation on a beautiful campus and towards the University’s important missions has been really exciting and interesting. Chatting to colleagues from across the University at events, seeing various workspaces during audits, and simply wandering between the buildings throughout the year reminds you of just how much important research and teaching is going on here, and that’s amazing to be part of.

Do you have any advice for someone applying for or starting a placement with the Sustainability Team?

For those applying: Definitely go for it – it’s given me such a great start and I cannot thank the team enough for all they have done for me.

For those lucky enough to be starting a placement: Initially, well done! The first few weeks of any new job are stressful as there’s just so much to take in, but the team are absolutely lovely and your main task is to just get comfy with how everything works. Regarding this, my big piece of advice is to not be afraid to annoy people in the team! Ask lots of questions, however small, and don’t place too much pressure on yourself to learn super fast or find everything out on your own. Your colleagues want to help you, and you’ll soon settle in enough to begin helping them too!

I’d like to say a huge final thank you to the Sustainability team and for all they’ve done for me over the last year – it’s been a real privilege to be part of the team and I’m going to miss you guys!

Sustainable innovations: designing the homes of the future in the _OME

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Completed in June 2021, the _OME is the flagship research and showcasing facility of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE), an innovative research partnership set up between Newcastle and Northumbria Universities. With funding from Research England, the HBBE combines expertise in biosciences, design, architecture, and engineering to advance cutting edge research on biotechnology. As part of this, the team, now made up of nearly seventy researchers and support staff (HBBE, 2022), are constantly testing ways to improve the health and sustainability of our homes by researching everything from controlling the spread of pathogens to innovating on sustainable technologies. This diverse and hugely beneficial work is centred on the state of the art _OME facility, so how exactly are these exciting projects designing the living spaces of the future?

Image: a front elevation showing the interior spaces of the _OME and their uses, including the experimental apartment, biotechnology laboratory, and testing/showcasing spaces for new technologies. Credit: Armand Agraviador.

Located on Devonshire walk, next to the Great North Museum: Hancock and the Devonshire and Drummond buildings, the _OME houses an in-house experimental apartment, accompanying laboratory, and display space for innovative materials and technologies. The HBBE’s research is organised into four key themes and utilises concepts including the genome, biomes, and home, hence the name: _OME. The four research themes being undertaken in the facility touch on a variety of repurposed, improved, and novel technologies and practices to lower carbon footprints and keep us healthy by design. So what do they all involve?

Theme 1: Building Metabolism

The first theme focusses on building-wide methods to achieve a higher degree of sustainable self-sufficiency by creating an artificial ‘metabolism’ in the structure and systems of the house itself. Practical examples of how this metabolism works include generating renewable electricity on site via solar panels on the building’s roof and utilising greywater to lower water use by, for example, reusing water from sinks or the shower to flush the toilet. Additionally, other technologies being woven into this metabolism include rainwater harvesting from the roof gutters and developing waste handling systems within homes that can deal with waste on site and even generate heat and other useful resources from it! When combined, these technologies could work to maintain a living space with a fraction of the energy and water requirements of a standard home, helping to save on both carbon and bills!

Theme 2: Living Construction

The construction sector is a major emitter of carbon globally and commonly used materials including steel and concrete require an awful lot of energy to produce (Wang and Ramakrishnan, 2021), leading to homes with high embodied emissions. Thankfully, lower carbon materials, including cross-laminated timber, are becoming more commonly used (Ahmed et al., 2024), but researchers at the HBBE are looking to advance construction even further by developing intelligent materials. The focus of this research sits squarely on bio-materials, including biominerals, biopolymers, and hygromorphs, which promise not only to lower embodied emission further, but also to offer other advantages. One exciting potential feature of these biomaterials would be to respond to certain stimuli and regrow their structures when damaged – creating self-repairing buildings! These innovations would further add to the construction sector’s arsenal of sustainable building techniques, giving architects more tools to create buildings that are good for both people and planet.

Image: a view of the side and main façade of the _OME laboratory, exhibition space, and experimental apartment. The apartment is located in the central upper floor section, behind the large opening for natural light. Credit: Professor Ben Bridgens.

Theme 3: Microbial Environments

The third theme touches on the _OME’s creation mid-way through the Covid 19 pandemic. Here, research teams are designing homes to better support healthy microbiomes and passively reduce the spread of illnesses, including pandemics. Proposed technologies for achieving this include smart ventilation, antimicrobial materials, and advanced microbiome monitoring systems to better understand what’s going on in the home. Not only will these innovations improve people’s health, but they could also reduce the environmental costs of dealing with illnesses and epidemics (see our sustainable medicine blog here) by creating environments that are far better at handling these issues by design.

Theme 4: Responsible Interactions

As seen previously, the HBBE is working on a variety of innovative technologies, but implementation of these isn’t always smooth sailing. To help ease biotechnologies’ transition from research to widespread use, therefore, researchers are investigating a variety of potential potholes, from accessibility concerns to unintended environmental effects. Additionally, ensuring these new technologies can seamlessly integrate with existing practices and standards, and making sure that people are culturally on board to accept innovations such as biomaterials, remains an important challenge. The _OME is major part of the solution here, as novel technologies can be tested out in the living laboratory and new materials can be shown off to unsure potential adopters, helping to tackle challenges before they become significant issues.

Thank you to the amazing HBBE team for their innovative work and their dedication to improving the sustainability of our built environment. Upon its completion in 2021, the _OME joined a series of Living Labs associated with Newcastle University across campus and elsewhere. These facilities look to continually generate high quality research and data as part of their site’s design (often while being used for a variety of other useful purposes) and you can learn more about them here. Additionally, further information on the HBBE’s activities, including its publications and additional research groups, can be found here. If you’d like to find out more about sustainability at Newcastle University, you can explore our website and other pieces in this blog, and sign up to our newsletter here.

References

Ahmed, S., Dharmapalan, V., and Jin, Z. (2024) ‘A Subject Review on the Use of Mass Timber in the US Construction Industry’, Construction Research Congress 2024: Sustainability, Resilience, Infrastructure Systems, and Materials Design in Construction. pp. 287-295.

Dixon, T., Connaughton, J., Green, S., (eds) (2018) Sustainable Futures in the Built Environment to 2050: A Foresight Approach to Construction and Development. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE) (2022) Annual Report 2022. URL: http://bbe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/HBBE_2022_Annual-Report.pdf (accessed 29.08.24).

Wang, X., and Ramakrishnan, S. (2021) Environmental Sustainability in Building Design and Construction. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

World Water Day 2024: Managing our water sustainably

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Water is an incredibly precious resource that is central to natural ecosystems, agriculture, sanitation, industry, heating, transport, and, of course, keeping us hydrated! For all of these reasons, UN Water recognise sustainable water management as a vital part of the sustainable governance of communities, countries, and large organisations such as our university. So, to mark World Water Day, this blog will explore how we in the Sustainability Team ensure that the University’s water system is efficient, safe, and abides by all environmental regulations, plus we’ll add in some tips of how you can save water at home too!

Image: Sunset looking east down the tyne with the Swing, Tyne, and Millennium bridges visible. Credit: Graeme Peacock.

The University’s water

The University’s water is managed in accordance with our Environmental Management System and we have Operational Control Procedures in place that control significant environmental aspects such as water reduction and trade effluence. These are audited internally and externally annually. To further support our water management, we work with building users, technicians, and our external monitoring partners Demeter to ensure that water is being used responsibly and any leaks are identified and repaired efficiently. Some examples of recent leaks that were rapidly detected and promptly repaired include a broken fitting on a main pipe at our Bowsden Court student accommodation, a fractured main near the Stephenson Building, and a flood inside Henderson Hall due to vandalism.

In addition to this work to quickly remedy faults in the system, we’re being proactive in saving water across our facilities in a number of ways, including:

Installing Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) software across the University. This system is capable of logging water consumption data every 15 minutes, allowing us to assess and monitor the University’s water usage data accurately.
Developing a water strategy. Our strategy will help us to holistically review our watermonitoring and management processes.
Identifying any issues with fixtures and fittings in our buildings. We ask staff and students to report problems such as broken taps and toilets when they find them so they can be fixed quickly. We also use the AMR data to help us with this as the frequent data logging enables us to identify trends and any anomalies where problems may be occurring.
Installing push taps to reduce water consumption.
Including water systems in our Sustainable Construction Framework. New systems designed for capital projects have specific sustainability requirements to meet, including specification around water systems.
Monitoring our water consumption daily with specialist support. Our partners Demetersend us information every day about building water consumption to help us stop leaks and identify areas where usage is higher than it should be.

Image: Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. Credit: UN SDGs.

How can I save water at home?

There are plenty of easy ways you can save water around the house and these actions will help lower your water bill as a bonus!

Use a shower timer to help reduce water use in the shower – timers are typically set to four minutes.
Only use a dishwasher on a full load and avoid pre-rinse settings.
Fill the kettle with only as much water as you need, saving energy as well as water.
Use any leftover cooking water on houseplants.
When purchasing a new toilet, look for a dual flush option.
Fit tap aerators onto your taps and look into aerated shower heads to easily reduce water consumption.

Is there anything I can do on campus?

You can report any water defect, whether it’s a dripping tap, overfilling toilet, leaking pipe or water which is too hot, by getting in touch with the Estates and Facilities Helpdesk. Always make sure taps, hoses, and cooling systems are turned off after use. Additionally, if you manage or work in labs you can reduce water use by:

Using recirculating cooling systems to save energy and water, and reducing the water supply to water-cooled equipment to the minimum required.
Avoiding using water vacuum pumps where possible as they use large quantities of water.
Specifying what levels of water purity are necessary for various applications and not using distilled water when it is not necessary.
Only running washers when they are full and ensuring the lab has correctly sized equipment for its common usage to prevent inefficient washing of oversized items.
Joining the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF)!

Thank you so much for reading this blog. If you want to explore more information on water at our university, take a look at our dedicated webpage, or email us in the Sustainability Team!

2023: A year in sustainability

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2023 was a busy year for us in the Sustainability Team! We launched projects, ran events, helped the University to score highly in prestigious league tables, and welcomed new team members to continue and expand our work.

Delivering a sustainable Newcastle University is complex and multi-faceted work and requires a great deal of coordination and involvement between teams, colleagues, and students across the University. These efforts have led to sustainability improvements throughout our organisation, making our campus and community better for people and planet in a range of ways – read on for an overview of everything we’ve achieved together!

Image: An aerial shot of campus, featuring the Stephenson and Merz buildings in the foreground. Credit: Elemental Photography

Awards and accreditations

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a key priority for our university and so we were honoured to have contributed to the achievement of some exceptional scores in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. In the rankings, which are judged against the SDGs, Newcastle University placed top 25 in the world and 4^th in the UK – a submission which takes a huge effort from our team and colleagues across the University!

That’s not all, however. We also kept our ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 accreditations for our Environmental Management System and Energy Management System, respectively. These technical accreditations reflect the care we put into our high-quality processes for managing the environmental impact of the University’s operations and we’ve now held both accreditations for almost a decade running.

Finally, 10 more labs gained Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) accreditation last year (including 5 at gold level!), doubling the size of our community of environmentally certified labs! If you work in a lab and are interested in joining LEAF, check out the information on our website.

Projects

We began several big projects with our colleagues last year, starting with the next phase of the University’s campus-wide solar photovoltaics (PV) project. This two-year programme will install solar PV panels on 32 academic buildings and accommodation sites, adding to our already expansive renewables network and reducing expected CO₂e emissions by over 380 tonnes a year.

Additionally, we also began the installation of a biofuel combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Merz Court’s Energy Centre. This system uses greener biofuel to generate electricity while also harnessing waste heat to warm up our buildings – greatly reducing carbon emissions as compared to gas systems. These improvements will have a substantial impact as the Energy Centre provides district heating to a whole swathe of the campus, including the: Henry Daysh, Cassie, Stephenson, King Edward VII, Percy, and Old Library Buildings, plus, of course, Merz Court itself!

Image: An aerial shot of the Armstrong Building with the Old Quad, King’s Quad, and Student Forum visible. Credit: Elemental Photography

Engagement and events

Last year was a busy one for sustainability engagement too! Firstly, in January we launched our Sustainability Network to keep colleagues and students up to date on all things sustainability at our university. This community has now grown to 256 members and you can join them here. Additionally, speaking of mailing lists, our ongoing Furniture Reuse project hit 700 members!

Secondly, we’ve been working on this Sustainability blog throughout the year. We posted 30 blogs in all, offering updates, tips, and information on everything from wind power at the University to sustainable hacks around the house.

Finally, 2023 saw a whole range of events with environmentalism at their core, including:

Sustainability Week – five days of sessions covering green infrastructure, climate anxiety and more,
A Veganuary Bake sale to raise funds for biodiversity charities,
Spudfest – a festival offering free food and dedicated to highlighting innovative agricultural research,
Leave Newcastle Happy – our joint campaign with the City Council and Northumbria University to ensure that waste from the student move-out in summer is dealt with responsibly,
The Dr Bike project, launched last summer to support active commuting to campus. In eleven sessions the project has managed to rehome 50 second-hand bikes and helped over 200 people with advice, resources, and repairs!

The team

We’ve seen some exciting changes to the team this last year. Firstly, Melissa Stephenson, previously a Sustainability Officer, became the University’s new Waste Manager – a vital role in the University that she’s quickly got the hang of! Additionally, our team has grown to a total of ten sustainability professionals with the appointment of:

An Assistant Sustainability Officer – Charlotte Robson,
A Sustainability Communications Placement – Evan Bromage,
And two Sustainability Officers – Phoebe Sowerby and Jordan Heeley!

Thank you so much to everyone who got involved with sustainability last year, we couldn’t have done it without you! 2024 will bring fresh challenges and opportunities as we draw ever closer to our 2030 Net Zero target, so stay informed with this blog, the Sustainability Network, and our website and let’s make this year just as good as the last!

Engaging with impactful change at your University in 2024

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Student action is important!

2023 was once again a year of extreme weather conditions and events around the world, underscoring the importance of sustainability in major institutions such as our university. As the majority portion of our university community, students are a vital part of achieving crucial environmental targets such as net zero by 2030. So, if you’re looking for an impactful way to create positive change in your community, read on for some ideas on how you can get involved with sustainability and environmental justice at Newcastle University.

Image: the clocktower of the Students’ Union Building. Credit: John Donoghue.

1. Join the Student Environment and Sustainability Committee

The Student Environment and Sustainability Committee (SESC) is a student-led and student-focused committee looking at sustainability at Newcastle University. The committee is chaired by the Ethics and Environment Representative who, this year, is Ayoub Ouakkaha!

The SESC gives feedback to the Environment and Sustainability Committee (ESC), of which most members are colleagues, but it also has Students’ Union Sabbatical Officers and the Ethics and Environment Rep (Ayoub) as members.

SESC membership is made up of Environment and Sustainability Reps from academic schools. If you are not currently an Environment and Sustainability Rep for your school, but would like to get involved with the SESC, send Ayoub an email!

2. Stay informed with the Sustainability Network!

Join our Sustainability Network to receive information to expand your knowledge across various themes relating to sustainability, be updated on climate action progress at the University, and be provided with upcoming sustainability event notifications.

As our Climate Action Plan progresses, the Sustainability Network will connect you to our work, progress reports, and new targets by directing them straight into your email inbox. You will also be notified on actions contributing to our goal of being net-zero on scopes one and two carbon emissions by 2030!

3. Explore our EAUC membership

Newcastle University is a member of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), an organisation that supports sustainability within the UK tertiary education sector and offers benefits for members that include:

Access to a sustainability resource exchange,
Opportunities to learn from blog posts, news articles and publications,
Information about UK sustainability training and events,
Job listings,
Conferencing opportunities.

All Newcastle University colleagues and students can register for free EAUC membership.

4. Write for our blog

Are you passionate about a particular area of sustainability?

You can share your knowledge with colleagues and students at the University by writing a post for our blog! Sustainability looks at all areas relating to sustainability and environmental justice, from lifestyle tips and tricks through to discussions on green careers and how solar energy is used at Newcastle University!

If you are interested in writing a blog post for Sustainability, please send an email to sustainable-campus@ncl.ac.uk and outline what you would like to write about.

Image: Students walk through the Old Quad. Credit: Dan Bolam.

5. Volunteer!

Grow Volunteer

Grow Volunteer is Newcastle University Students’ Union’s on campus urban growing project. As part of the team, you’ll help to grow and source local produce including a range of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and trees right here on campus! Meetings take place regularly and are flexible to attend.

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity or register your interest, you can do so on Grow Volunteer’s sign up form.

A Second Life

A Second Life is a creative up-cycling project provided by Go Volunteer which aims to use old materials or products and give them a new lease of life. This is a great volunteering opportunity for individuals who are keen to get creative and explore reuse and recycling!

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity or register your interest, you can do so on A Second Life’s sign up form.

To learn about additional Go Volunteering opportunities that are themed around the environment and conservation, such as caring for green spaces, read more on the Student Union website.

Become a volunteer auditor

Every year there is an opportunity to become a volunteer student auditor for the Fairtrade University and College award on behalf of Students Organising for Sustainability.

Volunteer auditors work in a team to review the University’s efforts to embed Fairtrade and wider ethical consumption.

Full training for this role is provided and a role description is available if you are interested.

6. Use active or public transport

Travelling to university can be a major source of emissions, but luckily there are lots of options to ensure that both your commute and any longer distance travel are sustainable.

Firstly, for regular commuting onto campus, active travel, such as cycling and walking, is a healthy option both for you and the planet.

Most student accommodation as well as major student housing areas such as Jesmond and Heaton are within walking distance of the university and resources for route planning can be found on our website.
Cycling is also a good option, with cycle parking available across campus and a variety of helpful services provided throughout Newcastle. Additionally, you can join our Bicycle Users Group to get involved with an active and helpful community of cyclists and receive all the latest updates on events such as our free Dr Bike repair sessions!

Active travel isn’t accessible for all, however, and isn’t practical for long-distance trips, so a good replacement option here is public transport. Nexus and Traveline provide information on public transport in the North East and trains are a brilliant sustainable option for travel throughout the UK and into Europe!

Planning sustainably at Newcastle University

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Image: Members of the University community walk through the greenery-framed arches of King’s Gate. Credit: John Donoghue.

The University’s lovely Planning Team are responsible for designing and delivering our campus’s impressive variety of beautiful and cutting-edge spaces, both indoor and outdoor. This work has a major role to play in the environmental commitments of our institution and so we decided to have a chat with our friends in Planning to see how they’re incorporating sustainability into their practice. Here’s what we learnt.

How Planning works

One of the main functions of the Planning Team is to receive and solve Space and Project Requests (SPRs) which are sent to them by colleagues all across the University. These requests might involve the creation of a new teaching space for a growing department, for instance, or perhaps the conversion of a room to provide specialist resources. For each request, the Planning Team devises solutions to provide for the requester’s varied needs and maximise the potential of the spaces involved. As part of this process, our planners pay close attention to the sustainability of each project throughout its conception and delivery in a number of impactful ways.

Image: the newly renovated Herschel Learning Lab in the Herschel Building. Credit: John Donoghue.

Sustainable practice

Importantly, following the Carbon Literacy Training that some members of the team undertook, the Planning Team have developed a “carbon conscious methodology” for their work which incorporates a range of sustainable approaches and complements the environmental guidance written into the University’s procurement framework. These methods range from limiting hard landscaping and protecting green areas where possible, to considering how spaces can be designed in a versatile manner to accommodate several uses at different times. Additionally, when delivering on SPRs, the team considers sustainability from the very outset by conducting their own research to ensure the necessity of each request. This evaluation is then followed by a consideration of how existing spaces and features can be reused to lengthen their life – similar to repairing clothes instead of buying new!

Where items are no longer needed or replaced, however, the team puts the responsibility for dealing with the unwanted furnishings on the requester, to ensure that simply throwing items away is never the easiest option. Thanks to this, these items are then either reused somewhere else in the University (via our furniture reuse list, for example!) or are disposed of responsibly by contractors such as the wonderful people at RightGreen. As if this wasn’t enough already, the team are also full of ideas for how their planning can become even more sustainable in future!

Image: Flowers and greenery in the Old Quad. Credit: Charlotte Robson.

Sustainable futures

Core to these aspirations is a holistic view of the planning process. This involves taking moments to pause and consider the sustainability of each aspect of a project, for instance, and considering the full lifecycle of each space including how it can be reused and/or returned to nature at the end of its lifespan. One of their ideas for putting this into practice is adapting University College London’s Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), which Newcastle University uses, to allow those submitting SPRs for a variety of spaces to gain accreditation for environmentally friendly reuse and refurbishment. These ideas build on the amazing suite of sustainable policies our planning team already utilises to offer an exciting vision of what the future of Planning could look like at Newcastle University.

So, next time you’re on our brilliant campus, whether you’re enjoying our labs, lecture theatres, historic buildings, or green spaces, take a moment to appreciate the hard work our amazing planners do to bring these high-quality spaces to us in as sustainable a manner as possible. Finally, if you want to learn more, please do check out the information on their blog also!

Plastic Free July 2023

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The need to transition away from the world’s reliance on plastic relates to the global environmental problem of plastic pollution. Plastic is a highly durable material, therefore it rarely completely disappears once out in the environment, it will instead take many years to break down into smaller pieces or microplastic.

“Approximately 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced from 1950-2017 became plastic waste, ending up in landfills or dumped”

United Nations Environment Program

Plastic pollution is causing harm to marine life, the climate and humans across the world, which we have discussed in our World Environment Day 2023 post.

Plastic Free July is a challenge created by the Plastic Free Foundation that aims to help people begin or continue their journey to reduce their use of single use plastic. The beginning of the journey to reduce single use plastic as an individual or family can be daunting, so here are some tips on where you can begin:

Tips on how to reduce single use plastic in your everyday life:

Travel cup: By carrying a travel cup with you every day, you can remove the need for single use coffee cups when you buy coffee out and about. Some coffee cups are now designed to be collapsible, so they take up less room in your bag.
Water bottle: Instead of buying water in a single use plastic bottle, you can carry a reusable water bottle with you and fill it up from a tap when you are on the go, at school or at work.
A great way to reduce plastic packaging is by buying dry food products such as rice, pasta, and spices from refill shops, simply save some containers or take some Tupperware to the shop to bring your purchases home in.
Invest in a re-useable cutlery set to carry for your meals on the go, some even come with a reusable straw, you could even just bring your home cutlery in your bag if you don’t want to buy a travel set!
Reuse what you already own as much as you can, for example do you have plastic takeaway containers that can be used as a lunch box instead of buying a new plastic lunchbox?
Do some research into what food products that you consume may contain traces of plastic, such as tea bags and chewing gum and look for alternatives such as loose tea.

If you would like some more specific ideas for swaps, we have posts on Sustainability that outline small sustainable swaps for your bathroom and kitchen that aim to reduce single use plastic.

Resources to help you with your journey to plastic free:

What are environmental and energy management systems?

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An Environmental Management System (EMS) assists businesses and organisations in improving their environmental performance and their operations that have an environmental impact.

It is worth noting that an EMS can be implemented within any business or organisation, it is not dependant on the size or activity of the organisation/ business.

An implemented EMS would be applicable to a wide variety of areas within an organisation such as a university or hospital, this is due to the extensive range of daily activities that are conducted at these institutions, most of which are likely to have an environmental impact in one way or another.

An example of some prominent areas that are assessed through an EMS include:

Carbon usage
Water usage
Biodiversity gains and loses
Waste generation and disposal.

Once an EMS has been successfully implemented within an organisation, that organisation can become certified. Newcastle University’s EMS is certified to ISO 14001.

We have recently had an external audit on our environmental and energy management systems in June 2023 and we are pleased to say that we have been recommended to be re-certified for both our systems.

How is the environmental management system different to the energy management system?

An Energy Management System (EnMS) is similar in nature to an Environmental Management System however, it has a primary focus on helping the organisation improve energy performance and identify energy inefficiencies.

An implemented EnMS will assess an organisation or businesses daily activity, of which areas that impact environmental performance will be identified and addressed within the system.

In addition to an Environmental Management System, Newcastle University has also implemented an Energy Management System (certified to ISO 50001) and the two have become an integrated system.

Some questions answered by our EnMS manager, Luke Whittaker

Do you have a favourite procedure/ element of the EnMS?

“For a data nerd like me, the Energy review and baseline is my favourite element. It is where we consolidate the entire University’s energy consumption into a single document. This means that we can rank buildings based on their size and type. We can also compare usage year on year, which is really useful for identifying where energy saving projects have been effective (or where there is some abnormal high usage).”

What areas of the University do the EMS and EnMS apply to?

“It would easier to say where it doesn’t apply! Officially it applies to “provision of education and research, and the management of buildings, laboratories and land at the University’s UK sites”, so essentially the EMS and EnMS covers the entirety of the University. This includes our functional farms, marine sites and sports ground. Everyone has a part to play in making sure our EMS and EnMS work as best as they can”.

What is my part to play with the management systems?

Staff and Students: Our Environmental and sustainability policy and Energy policy that are in place at the university apply to the whole university, this includes both staff and students.

Students: The Student Environment and Sustainability Committee (SESC) is a student-led and focused committee who look at areas relating to sustainability at the University. For more information, please look at the student action part of our Sustainable Campus website.

Staff who work in laboratories: Labs are areas where there is a higher environmental impact, LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) aims to improve the sustainability of labs. The online platform has actions for lab users to complete that relate to areas such as waste, travel, energy and water. If you work in a lab at the university and would like to join LEAF, please register.

If you have any questions about the environmental and energy management systems in place at the University, please send us an email at: sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk.