Best in the West: UWL named Environmental Corporate of the Year at West London Business 2024 Awards

West London Business Awards - showing UWL staff and host on stage at the ceremony.

Best in the West: UWL named Environmental Corporate of the Year at West London Business 2024 Awards

22 February 2024

The University of West London has been rewarded for its commitment to sustainability and its work towards becoming a net-zero carbon institution by 2030 at the West London Business 2024 Awards, where it won Environmental Corporate of the Year.

The Awards, which took place at Twickenham Stadium, recognise the achievements of businesses and organisations based in the west of the capital. It was a good evening for the 'career university', with International Student Experience Coordinator Andreea-Daniela Coroama also receiving a Highly Commended Award in the Apprentice of the Year category.

UWL is committed to being a leader in environmental and sustainability management by preventing pollution, complying with environmental legislation, and continuously striving to improve its sustainability performance.

A student smiling whilst sat on a bench in the memorial garden.

UWL’s Head of Environmental Sustainability Nasrin Khanom said:

Winning the Environmental Corporate of the Year award is not just a recognition of our efforts; it's a testament to our commitment to sustainability. It highlights our success in engaging key stakeholders in our shared mission to protect and preserve our planet for future generations.”

The award also recognises how successful the University has been in embracing energy-saving technologies, as its Director of Property Services Claire Willitts explained:

I am delighted to receive this award which is yet another recognition of our impressive decarbonisation journey to date.

It really is a testament to the success we have had in implementing complex and challenging projects with very ambitious timelines and our ability to embrace innovation."

UWL’s decarbonisation journey began in 2012 when it transformed its buildings in Ealing into a new campus incorporating energy-saving technologies. Claire said:

Improvements to the fabric and lighting of buildings not only provided a better learning and social experience for students, but also significantly upgraded the site’s environmental performance.”

Since then, in 2019, the University has invested £800k in further upgrading its lighting in west London to LEDs, saving around 350 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year. And in 2021, UWL secured £5.1m of grant funding to install a range of clean and renewable technologies including the world’s largest combined ground source heat pump and solar photovoltaic thermal system at its Ealing facilities. The project saves as much as 529 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.

Two students socialising outside in the memorial garden, sat on a bench holding hot drinks.

Claire added:

We created new jobs to support the local economy at a time when many people were being furloughed due to the Covid 19 pandemic And we also worked with the local community, including Kew and Cultivate London, to enhance biodiversity in the green spaces at our Ealing site.”

We are working to continuously improve our performance against our targets. And going forward we are looking at how we can embed sustainability in all our capital projects.”