The Bartlett, UCL’s global faculty of the Built Environment, has been awarded an Athena Swan Bronze award in recognition of its work towards gender equality.

The accolade is the first time a UCL faculty as a whole has achieved an Athena Swan award. The honour also places The Bartlett among only a handful of built environment faculties in the country to be acknowledged for its work towards gender equality.

The Bronze award recognises that in addition to institution-wide policies, the department is working to promote gender equality and to identify and address challenges particular to the department and discipline.

Alice Chilver, the faculty’s Athena SWAN lead said: “We’re delighted to be recognised for our committed work to gender equality. This really is just the beginning of a much broader evolution of our working culture and practices which will make the faculty a better place to work for all staff and a better place to study for all students. I’m privileged to have been able to support the faculty in reaching this critical starting point and am excited about the next stages.”

Professor Alan Penn, Dean of The Bartlett, said: “This award recognises that our faculty are aware of the precise issues we face related to gender inequality and that we have a robust and specific plan of action in place to address them. Thank you and congratulations to all staff from across the faculty who have contributed to making this happen. It represents a significant step forward for The Bartlett and for our sector.”