How is UCL making its buildings more sustainable?

According to the UK Green Building Council, the built environment contributes around 40 % of the UK’s total carbon footprint. Almost half of this footprint is from energy used in buildings and infrastructure – At UCL we know that reducing the carbon footprint of our more than 150 buildings can have a huge impact. That’s why, we committed to net zero buildings by 2024.

A Sustainable Building Standard

UCL’s Sustainable Building Standard seeks to maximise our buildings’ value throughout their lifecycle and sets out the highest standard for construction projects. It focuses on a few core principles: future-proofing UCL’s buildings, reducing energy demand and increasing durability, thoughtful design for healthy environments and the use of circular economy principles.

Measuring our progress

We are measuring progress with industry-recognised tools like ‘BREEAM’ (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) with strong and consistent success. All of our new projects are achieving minimum ratings of ‘Excellent’, which indicates high levels of performance across a range of areas including energy efficiency, water consumption and low-impact materials – as well as measures to support the health and wellbeing of our staff and students.

UCL’s Sustainable Buildings

UCL East is set to be a great model for sustainable campuses. The Pool Street West building, for example, will provide labs, teaching and research spaces alongside spaces for socialising and collaboration – as well as student accommodation with spectacular views! It incorporates a range of innovative sustainable features ensuring energy performance goes beyond regulatory requirements.

Meanwhile, our new Pearl (Person Environment Activity Research Laboratory) facility will explore ways in which people interact with their environment. It will be our first net zero carbon project thanks to high levels of insulation combined with a huge array of solar panels covering the entire 4000m² roof. It is likely to generate more electricity than it consumes meaning that we can sell our surplus.

Creating a truly sustainable estate is a long-term task, not least, as we tackle challenging, older buildings. However, we are lucky to have the internal and external expertise to help make this a reality and work towards our low-carbon goals.

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CGI image of UCL's PEARL project, credit: Penoyre & Prasad