UCL wins Green Gown Award for Technical Innovation in Sustainability

UCL has won its first Green Gown Award, reflecting the university's growing influence on embedding sustainability in the HE sector.

The Green Gown Awards are a celebration of sustainability best practice, and recognise pioneering initiatives being championed across the tertiary education sector.

CarbonBuzz, a project led by a consortium including UCL's Energy Institute, received the award for Technical Innovation for Sustainability from Professor Iain Stewart MBE.

CarbonBuzz is a unique online platform used by architects, engineers, property owners and operators in the public and private sector. It helps identify and close the energy performance gap between design-stage predictions and operational use. 31 universities already use the platform, which has the potential to dramatically change the way higher education buildings are designed and used.

Richard Jackson, UCL's Head of Environmental Sustainability, welcomed the award as testament to UCL's work in both influencing wider trends in the sector and beyond, and highlighting the importance of using HE research and innovation to embed sustainability into the fabric of the university.

Professor Paul Ruyssevelt of the UCL Energy Institute, who leads UCL's involvement in the CarbonBuzz project, also welcomed the award, stating: "I am very pleased that UCL and CarbonBuzz have received this prestigious award which I trust will encourage others to take advantage of this free resource".