Back to 2017 BPA Winners Overview
An outstanding performance wins the University of Bradford Department of Estates and Facilities the ultimate accolade in this year’s awards. This is the second time that they have been crowned the overall winner after they won Client of the Year and Carbon Champion in 2012.
Not only has this tight-knit team demonstrated an admirable commitment to excellence in everything it does, but it also continues to serve its institution with distinction.
From the outset, the team was determined to regenerate its estate sustainably as part of the university’s pioneering Ecoversity programme. Ecoversity is about far more than just the environment, or how the team builds and runs its estate. It is also about how it embeds sustainable development into the formal and informal learning experience of all the university’s
students.
But, even more than that, the estates and facilities team involves staff and visitors in the initiative, and helps foster a strong sense of community.
Indeed, it has powered ahead with a wide range of green initiatives, achieving the highest ever BREEAM Outstanding score for a university for the Bright Building and decreasing its carbon footprint by a stunning 35% over the last decade.
The age of the estate has been a signifi cant challenge for the facilities team. Most of it was built in the 1960s and early 1970s and the majority of the buildings have poor thermal performance, high asbestos content, blown air heating and large areas of single glazing. This shows what can be achieved with legacy buildings.
Indeed, although the university has come a long way since 2006 (when it starting receiving solid investment), signifi cant legacy issues remain.
To resolve these, two new posts – mechanical and electrical building services technicians – were created in 2014. One of their core roles is to identify anomalous energy use and wastage, and apply on-site solutions.
The university is, rightly, tremendously proud of the worldclass sustainable campus it has created and the journey it has been (and continues) on. City Campus in Bradford is the only place in the world where a single estate has three ‘BREEAM Outstanding’ buildings and a Passivhaus building within 100 metres of each other.
It is equally delighted with its achievements in cutting carbon emissions and dramatically reducing utility costs by 27% in a market that has risen by 90%, accruing aggregated savings of £8 million over ‘business as usual’.
All-in-all, a worthy winner of the prestigious Building Performance Champion Award.