climate challenge fund final report · 2016. 11. 24. · - community garden and travel coordinator...

Name of project, organisation and CCF number

Reducing Carbon in the UWS Community

SAUWS: Student’s Association University West of Scotland, Storie St. Paisley. PA1 2HB

CCF: 3697

www.sauws.org.uk

Starting Point

There have been a variety of environmental projects and activities running out of

the Students’ Association University of the West of Scotland (SAUWS) over the

past five years, since 2010.

Previous projects have also been funded by the Scottish Government’s Climate

Challenge Fund (CCF 2162, 1180 and 2668) and have included the following

activities:

- The Sustainable Food project

This reduced students’ CO2 footprint from food consumption by decreasing the amount

of food being wasted in home cooking, the amount of meat and dairy in students’ diets

and improving cooking skills throughout the student population by running activities such

as free cookery workshops, cooking competitions, online cooking videos, recipe sharing,

and providing tips and resources for a healthy, planet-friendly diet. A total of 30 students

Climate Challenge Fund Final Report

January 2014 page 2

attended cookery lessons with 20 more registering interest in attending future activities.

A number of different engagement strategies were used: from big events in central

university locations and one-off pop-up events, to supporting student-led workshops and

organising cookery challenges, in addition to the regular cookery workshops.

- The Lower Carbon Living project

This raised participants’ carbon literacy, helping them understand the actions which

contribute to their carbon footprint and encouraging changes in behaviour to reduce that

environmental impact. Through a program of Carbon & Money workshops consisting of

six informal sessions looking at food, energy, transport and waste in connection with

climate change, a range of issues were discussed in depth before individuals were

supported to devise a personal plan of action for personal carbon reduction. Five

committed students also received Carbon Conversations facilitator training. Participants

described the meetings as ‘thought provoking’, ‘interesting’, ‘useful’, ‘fun and

challenging’, ‘welcoming revelation’, ‘necessary change’, and ‘encouraging’.

- Halls Energy saving competition

In partnership with NUS Student Switch Off, an energy saving competition was run in

UWS halls of residence. This integrated student champions and social marketing to

achieve an average of 7% annual energy savings for those that participated. A total of

226 students signed up to the scheme, which equated to almost a quarter of the halls of

residence population at that time.

- Home energy saving advice

SAUWS staff ran drop-in clinics, home energy audits and energy monitor loan scheme,

involving student volunteers and working in partnership with the Energy Saving Scotland

Advice Centre. SAUWS carried out a total of 54 home energy checks for students.

January 2014 page 3

- Watts On? This project works with Home Energy Scotland to deliver home energy advice through a mix of face to face delivery and wider reaching mechanisms such as promotion via social media. The intensive delivery is mainly focused on students in halls of residence and those in private accommodation who are in greatest need. The wider reaching mechanisms target all staff and students, providing easy to use tools for reducing carbon and saving money.

- Reuse Scheme

An end of year collection was organised in student residences. This involved collecting

pre-loved reusable items from halls of residence and giving those items away to

students at the beginning of the following academic year. Anything not taken by students

was given to local charities.

- Halls Reuse and Recycling

New recycling facilities were implemented in halls of residence during August 2013: this

project provides the behaviour change support necessary to increase recycling rates.

Reuse and waste minimisation is also being encouraged amongst the student population

through our work in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, and we run regular pop-up

‘Free-Shops’ for students to donate and receive ‘pre-loved’ goods several times

throughout the academic year.

- National Union of Students (NUS) Green Impact (GI): GI Students Union (GISU),

GI Universities & Colleges (GIUC)

Green Impact is an environmental accreditation scheme where staff are encouraged to

make changes in their behavior to embed sustainable workplace practices and help

them to contribute positively towards the organisation’s carbon footprint. SAUWS has

implemented the Green Impact program for UWS staff during the academic years 2011-

12, 2012 – 2013, 2013 – 2014, 2014 – 2015. As part of this scheme UWS departments

compete to complete and submit the highest number of environmentally-concerned

actions using an online workbook within a set deadline. All workbooks are then audited

by the NUS accredited auditors and certificates and awards are handed out to the best

performing towards the end of each academic term.

- NUS GI for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

SAUWS worked in collaboration with the UWS academic staff to pilot the development

and implementation of a bespoke GI workbook for the first year Events Management

students as a method of embedding sustainability into their UWS curriculum.

- Education for Sustainable Development- ESD (none GI)

Working closely with teaching staff to identify the most effective methodology of embedding sustainability into courses, we were successful in developing a pilot programme in conjunction with the National Union of Students called ‘Dissertations for Good’. This project partners charities with dissertation students for the production of mutually beneficial research. Our work on ESD also supports students towards employability in the sustainability sector through the provision of paid internships and volunteer placements through the CCF funded projects.

January 2014 page 4

- Journeyshare

We also established a car share scheme in partnership with the UWS Sustainability team. SAUWS ran a student and staff face-to-face engagement campaign in order to increase the uptake of the university administered website.

- Gardening And Active Travel In partnership with Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) we have developed sustainable food growing projects at our Ayr and Hamilton campuses, reducing carbon through growing food locally and ‘up-skilling’ participants, enabling them to feel confident growing their own food at home. The project further reduced carbon through the use of reclaimed and recycled materials for garden development, a bike tool hire scheme and the promotion of active travel through various events and activities. The community garden sheds house bike maintenance equipment that people can use on site and several bike maintenance workshops were organised to provide users the skills and confidence to maintain their own bikes. Due to the projects (as highlighted above) that were previously implemented through SAUWS with funding from the CCF, there was a general understanding of certain trends as to what would or would not work well with staff and the overall students of the UWS community . As a result, the application for this CCF project (CCF3697) was tailored to expand strands such as the community growing, sustainable travel, reuse and recycling through the development of the Sustainability Hub, energy awareness, NUS Green Impact and Education of Sustainable Development. Additionally, a conscious effort was put in to enrich the legacy left behind from previous CCF funded projects, incorporating those resources to enhance the outcomes of this project, so that value for money is increased. Paid staff and positions employed on this project:

- Sustainable Behaviours Coordinator (SBC) [Full-time] - Community Garden and Travel Coordinator (CGTC) [Full-time] - Data Collection and Monitoring Intern (DCMI) [Part-time] - Marketing, Communications and Events Intern (MCEI) [Part-time]

The Marketing, Communications and Events Intern left this project just before the Christmas break 2015. As a result, and due to limited time on the project, the DCMI took on the role of MCEI in addition to their daily tasks.

January 2014 page 5

This CCF project had targets to deliver activities suited to the demographically

and culturally diverse community of the University of the West of Scotland,

offering opportunities for all members of the community to engage with the

project including academic and administrative staff to new and returning

Sabbatical Staff, part-time and full- time students and both the service users and

providers of outside organisations whilst achieving the following outcomes:

Sustainability Hub

CO2e Outcome(s)

Reduce CO2 emissions by 73.95 tonnes through provision of swap shop hub.

Reduce CO2 emissions by 217 tonnes though the provision of energy advice clinics

Reduce CO2 emissions by 116.4 through the provision of travel advice clinics

Reduce CO2 emissions by 84 tonnes through the provision of cycling workshops

Community Outcomes

To provide 400 students, staff and local low income households with access to free

essential goods.

To combat fuel poverty through the provision of advice to 50 students.

Travel clinics will reduce congestion in the surrounding area and help 65 staff and

students to save money through car sharing, public transport and active travel.

Green Impact Education and Expansion

CO2e Outcome(s)

To bring about behaviour change actions reducing emissions by 450 tonnes of CO2.

Education Outcome

To embed sustainability in coursework targeting 300 students.

Green Impact Cleaners, Facilities and catering staff

CO2e Outcome(s)

To bring about behaviour change in Cleaners, Facilities and Catering staff which will

reduce emissions by 193.78 tonnes of carbon. This will include saving in energy, waste

and travel.

UWS Gardens: Branching out into the Community

CO2e Outcome(s)

Reduction of 7.5 tonnes of CO2 through workshops encouraging food growing at home.

Reduction of 0.987 of Co2 through composting food waste.

Health Outcomes

Through promotion of the gardens as a Green Gym this will help to contribute towards

January 2014 page 6

the retention of UWS Healthy Working Lives Gold.

To help people with dementia live well with their diagnosis.

Community Outcomes

To develop a community of UWS staff, students and neighbourhood groups working

together to develop and manage the gardens.

Headline achievements

Overall, we have saved a total of 1532.76 tonnes CO2e through the different

strands of this project. This includes an increase of CO2 e savings by 389.16

tonnes from the original bid expectations (1143.6 tonnes).

We also managed to successfully engage with 1822 people through this project

although we expect the overall reach is much higher!

Please see the outcomes section and relevant appendices for the breakdown of the

numbers. Remaining carbon savings for Green Impact program will be provided as a

separate attachment in due course.

See Appendix 1 for summery carbon calculations.

Feedback from CCF funded project staff, as well as project volunteers, SAUWS and

UWS staff and students and steering group members:

Donation of 253 duvets and 153 pillows that would otherwise have ended up in

the landfill to local charities

Establishment of the Sustainability Hub – a permanent visual and a welcoming

space dedicated for sustainability in the UWS Paisley campus

Increased student engagement in reuse/recycle activities by more than 200%

through Sustainability Hub Free(compared to previous pop-up ‘Free-Shops’)

A total of 7388 pre-loved items were reused through the Hub

Development of a small but a strong community staff and student volunteers

Helping around 15 students to gain ‘Volunteer Recognition Award’ certificates

from the UWS

Provision of 2 internships for current or recently graduated UWS students

Complete development of a community garden at the UWS Paisley campus

Planting 2 community orchards within Ayr campus

Development of a small 'Welcome Garden' at an undisclosed location with the

refugees/asylum seekers and staff of Migrant Help Paisley

Re-purposing the garden at Alzheimer’s Scotland Memory-Lane Day-Centre in

Paisley into a productive growing space

Development of raised beds to grow wild and seasonal flowers to improve

biodiversity around SAUWS Paisley

Work with 16 different university courses to embed Education for Sustainable

Development for UWS students

Successful implementation of the WARPit scheme

Winning Gold at NUS Green Impact Award for SAUWS 2015

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Winning the NUS ‘Snap it Off!’ UK champion award and £500 prize money

‘Eco-Jam’ (final project celebration) attended by more than 100 people

For additional unexpected but headline achievements please see ‘Appendix 10’

Activities

Gardening

In partnership with Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), we have developed sustainable

food growing projects across our Ayr, Hamilton and Paisley campuses. During 2015-

2016 we have significantly increased the community growing spaces available to staff,

students and community groups at the Paisley and Ayr gardens. We have also planted a

sizeable 75 tree community orchard on the Ayr Campus. We have also run continuous

Grow Your Own training across the 3 community gardens and bespoke workshops on

composting, garden-planning, improving biodiversity, and working with vulnerable adults

in a garden setting. Alongside providing opportunities for local food production and

increasing carbon literacy around food issues, the gardens have provided qualitative

benefits to participant's physical health through the Green Gym project and participant's

mental health through the social and therapeutic approach taken to managing the

growing sessions. The addition of the Sustainability Hub at the Paisley Campus has

enabled indoor gardening workshops to run during inclement weather which has been a

popular addition to the garden project.

We have also developed partnerships with 2 local charities; Migrant Help and Alzheimer

Scotland. With Migrant Help we completed a small 'Welcome Garden' with refugees as

part of our 'Reaching out into the Community' target and ran a series of food growing

workshops in the Scottish Climate. With Alzheimer’s Scotland we have re-purposed the

January 2014 page 8

garden at Memory-Lane Day-Centre in Paisley into a productive growing space, again

as part of our 'Reaching into the Community' target. We have also invested in building

the capacity and the confidence of their staff's skills and confidence to run social and

therapeutic gardening sessions.

We have also run a successful partnership project with adult students with Additional

Support Need students at Ayr College; together we have designed and built a food-

based sensory garden extension in the Ayr Community Garden. In addition we were

awarded 6 spot-funds from Volunteering Matters Action Earth which we used to promote

increasing the carbon literacy of gardening volunteers through small projects on

biodiversity, food and friendship and creating sensory spaces.

Active Travel

The Active Travel targets of the project have been approach primarily in partnership with

the Bike Station's Unicycle scheme. A wide range of workshops on bike maintenance

have been provided for students alongside bike tools and maintenance sheds across the

campuses. Many of these projects have involved partnership working with departments

within the university, local councils, the National Union of Students (NUS), and other

local and national charities. We intend to work closely with the UWS Estates team and

external organisations relevant to future projects (Alzheimer Scotland, Migrant Help,

Zero Waste Scotland, Energy Saving Trust Scotland and Glasgow Bike Station) to

achieve the outcomes we have set out in this proposal.

In addition SAUWS Environment team worked closely with the UWS Sustainability

Manager to publicise and increase engagement of the UWS Car Share scheme through

all Hub Activities and the Green Impact program. Through additional travel surveys we

have managed to increase our reach and push for success.

The Sustainability Hub

The Sustainability Hub was officially opened at the UWS Fresher’s Festival in

September 2015 by Paul Martin (Depute Principal) and Jack Douglas (President of

SAUWS). The Hub is in a prime location on Paisley campus and provides a central,

visual space for students to engage in sustainability activity and benefit from getting

good quality, free items from the Free Shop. In addition, the Sustainability Hub currently

provides the opportunity for relevant volunteering opportunities for 15 students. All of

these students will receive credit through the Volunteer Recognition Award and the

Higher Education Achievement Record which appears on their Academic transcript.

This year, the project staff have seen a keen increase in confidence amongst many of

the student volunteers, especially the international members, and also observed a

strong community of friends build.

Through the relationship that the current CCF funded staff have built with the Halls of

Residence staff, third sector organisations through donations of reusable goods not

suitable for the Sustainability hub. This included 253 duvets and 153 pillows from the

UWS student residences donated to Migrant Help and the Glasgow Night Shelter. A

letter of support from the Halls of Residence staff is also included.

January 2014 page 9

Green Impact

Green Impact is an environmental accreditation scheme run by the National Union of

Students. The scheme provides a structured toolkit making it easier for Green

Champions across both UWS and SAUWS to work to implement carbon reduction

actions. The scheme has been delivered at UWS for the past 5 years through the CCF

funded projects, helping to engage staff members and students in sustainable, carbon

saving actions, whilst also producing savings in utility and equipment costs. This has

noticeably been the most successful way to engage staff members in both personal and

wider environmental issues, whilst also strengthen staff team relationships.

There are currently 21 active Green Impact teams with many Schools and Departments

writing Green Impact into their Operational Plans. This is one of the key approaches in

working towards the UWS Corporate Strategy carbon reduction KPI. The UWS

Environment and Energy Manager has worked closely with one of the current Project

Coordinators to raise awareness of this programme with Senior Management; resulting

in the recruitment of a number of new teams.

In addition, 15 students were trained as Green Impact Project Assistants and 8 students

as Project Auditors, positions which allows students to work closely with a Green Impact

staff team. This enables students to be responsible and to develop skills in

communication and auditing specifically, whilst working with staff in a professional

capacity.

With the CCF funded team coordinating the Green Impact programme, SAUWS were

also signed up to the Green Impact Student’s Unions workbook, which was completed

by SAUWS Environment members. Through much hard work over the last few years,

SAUWS was awarded the Gold award at the NUS Conference in the summer.

A further development of the Green Impact programme has been within the scope of

reducing carbon emissions and unnecessary waste through working in partnership to

implement the WARPit Reuse programme. This refers more specifically to items such as

office furniture. This programme has been combined with the management of Green

Impact, with operational support from two student volunteers, offering them both

valuable voluntary work experience as well as additional support to UWS staff members

attempting to combat this waste issue.

Recent Green Impact activity has also included Green Impact Education which provides

a tailored toolkit for the Business School, School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery and

the Events Management course to utilise as an effective method of embedding

sustainability into the curriculum of their chosen courses. This has been a really

successful stream of the current CCF funded project engaging 389 students, so far, in

sustainability issues relevant to their chosen careers on a more personal level.

April – Green Impact audits and final sessions with ESD Events Management

programme, design and set up of community gardens, gardening session with nursing

students,

May – Gardening workshops, start of duvet collections, recruitment of volunteers for

January 2014 page 10

following academic year

June – Green Impact awards, design and set up of community gardens, Trellis

workshop / training, main halls collection

July – Planning for Fresher’s and work with Scottish Communities Climate Action

Network (SCCAN)

August – Set up of Sustainability Hub, writing of ESD materials / workbooks, distribution

of items to local charities, set up and design of gardens

September – Launch of the Sustainability Hub, Dr Bike / Fix Your Own sessions,

gardening workshops, Fresher’s activities, speaking with students from School of Health,

Nursing and Midwifery

October – On-going activities in the Sustainability Hub, gardening workshops, Dr Bike /

Fix Your Own sessions

November – On-going activities in the Sustainability Hub, gardening workshops,

International student’s Event, Edinburgh Climate March, Trip to wind farm, HES

consultations, speaking with students from School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery

December – On-going activities in the Sustainability Hub, Christmas decorations

upcycling workshops, End of term celebration, gardening workshops, speaking with

students from School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery

January – On-going activities in the Sustainability Hub, forward planning for upcoming

events, donation of items to refugees

February – On-going activities in the Sustainability Hub, Go Green Week activities: Dr

Bike / Fix Your Own sessions, Home Energy Scotland advice and Fuel Efficient Driving

Lessons, Pop-up Free Shops in Ayr and Hamilton, 2 film showings and discussion,

gardening workshops, work began with Events Management students, continued ESD

work with School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery and School of Business

March – On-going activities in the Sustainability Hub, Fairtrade Fortnight upcycling

workshops, VRA submissions, Green Impact training and audits, end of project Eco Jam

celebration, gardening workshops, ‘Bin the Bin campaign’


Outcomes

Sustainability Hub

CO2e outcome(s) - Outcome exceeded

Reduce CO2 emissions by 73.95 tonnes through provision of swap shop hub.

1. 108.45 CO2 emissions were reduced through the provision of Free-Shop.

2. Please see ‘Appendix 1’, sheet ‘CO2 Calculations’ for summery calculations

3. Please see ‘Appendix 2’ sheets April to March for detailed calculations

4. We found very quickly that students, especially internationally students, came to

the Sustainability Hub for free second-hand items as they had travelled to Scotland

with limited belongings. Please see ‘Appendix 2.2’ Sustainability Hub customer

feedback record.

5. Unexpected outcomes - towards the end of the first trimester, we also saw quite

a number of these items being returned to the Sustainability Hub by students who

borrowed them in the first place. Thus convincing us of the success we have made

in embedding certain sustainable practices in UWS students.

Energy advice clinics through the Sustainability Hub

CO2e outcome(s) - Outcome partially delivered

Reduce CO2 emissions by 217 tonnes though the provision of energy advice clinics

1. An estimated 103.46 tonnes of CO2 e was saved through the referring of 16 UWS

students and staff to Home Energy Scotland for energy advice and other adaptive

energy saving measures (Appendix 3).

2. This part of the project had been unsuccessful due to various practical reasons

that were not considered during the bid writing process. As very few students and

staff responded to the call out for energy advice during the life time of this project

and due to many issues surrounding SAUWS staff having to do home visits to

increase the participation numbers for this part of the project; we were unable to

achieve the levels of CO2 e savings proposed by the original bid. Also due to the

limited number of persons employed by the project, there were insufficient staff to

carry out such home visits as well.

3. Also working as an intermediary between the UWS/SAUWS and the Home Energy

Scotland, it was evident that we were confusing clients by asking them to contact

us for energy advice all of which were then subsequently referred to Home Energy

Scotland; when they could have done this themselves providing them being

informed of this process in the first place.

4. As a result, we worked towards develop and encourage links between Home

Energy Scotland, the UWS Student Services team and SAUWS Case Workers to

strengthen relationships and improve the quality of energy advice available for

students.

5. In addition 164, 8 Megabyte USB memory sticks were given away to UWS

students to cut down energy stored in main data servers which are high are


usually known for their significant energy consumption.

Travel advice clinics through the Sustainability Hub

CO2e outcome(s) - Outcome Exceeded

Reduce CO2 emissions by 116.4 through the provision of travel advice clinics

1 A total of 1047.73 tonnes of CO2 was saved as a result of these activities.

2 1036.5 tonnes of CO2 e was saved as a result of encouraging more UWS staff

and students to car share (Appendix 4)

3 216 new members have joined the group ‘Budi’ between 1st April 2015 and 31st

March 2016 (Appendix 4.1)

4 47.29% of BUDi team members are now sharing a regular journey who used to

drive alone

5 According to UWS and Liftshare data a financial savings of £246.87 were made by

BUDi teams during the same period

6 Also an estimated 11.23 tonnes of CO2 e were saved through travel clinics

(Appendix 4) organised in partnership with the Glasgow Bike Station through

Dr.Bike workshops offering UWS students and staff free bike repairs each

trimester encouraging them to use their bikes more.

7 In addition SAUWS Environment team has conducted another Travel Survey

which has confirmed this trend of participants from the UWS community

expressing their desire for more care sharing and active travel schemes (Appendix

4.2 & 4.3)

Provision of cycling workshops through the Sustainability Hub

CO2e outcome(s) - Outcome partially met

Reduce CO2 emissions by 84 tonnes through the provision of cycling workshops

1 An estimated 21.06 tonnes of CO2 e was saved as a result (Appendix 4).

2 15 staff and students were trained in how to maintain their own bikes encouraging

people already cycle to cycle more and others to purchase a bike of their own. To

that respect participants were given more information about the UWS cycle to work

scheme (for staff), the free one month bicycle loan through Glasgow Bike station

(for students) and information of the public bike hire - ‘nextbike’ scheme (for both

staff and students) at all organised active travel events and activities.

Sustainability Hub

Community outcome(s) - Outcome Exceeded

To provide 400 students, staff and local low income households with access to free

essential goods.

1. 7388 pre-loved items were saved from landfill to be reused by students, staff and the general public (Appendix 1 and 2).

2. 769 individuals were provided with pre-loved, free, essential goods including

cookware, clothing, footwear, stationary, crockery, cutlery, bed linen, some


household furniture and some small electrical equipment (Appendix 1).

3. Some students who frequented the Hub also applied to be Hub volunteers as they felt an affinity to the environmental work carried out by SAUWS as part of this project. They also found the idea behind the Sustainability Hub to be fascinating, a one which they hadn’t come across before. This in conjunction with the chance to meet other staff and students from a variety of backgrounds made Sustainability Hub very popular with many students. Therefore we hope that the idea of setting up a sustainability hub would travel to many new destinations and localities through these students (Appendix 2.5) Also as we have managed to capture volunteer interest from undergraduate to PHD students of various different courses, we are certain that they would take away the positive message of reduce, reuse and recycle and general sustainable living to many different work environments in the future(Appendix 2.3). In addition many upcycling workshops were organised in partnership with both Rags to Riches and independent sessional workers to enrich students and staff of relevant useful skills on how to upcycle various items at home. These activities were very popular and high in demand. Through this up-skilling of individuals several sustainability hub volunteers have now started to lead their own upcycling workshops with staff supervision (using the space available through the Hub) to other members of the UWS community (Appendix 2.1). One of our students, Joaquin Terron Villalba, described how his experience as an ERASMUS student would have been “flat” without the Sustainability Hub. As a result 9 students have been awarded a Volunteer Recognition Award by the UWS during the first round and another 5 is hoping to submit their applications in in round 2 end of May 2016 (Appendix 2.6).

4. Unexpected outcomes. We have managed to build up a very strong relationship

with the staff from UWS halls of residence especially at the managerial level that

had helped us greatly throughout this project. They played a key role in

communicating our messages quite efficiently to both staff and students in Halls of

Residences and helped us in many ways to coordinate one time used duvet and

pillow donations to several local charities. Through these donations we were able

to support charities such as the Scottish Animal Welfare, The Glasgow Night

Shelter and Migrant Help Paisley. Scottish Animal Welfare have confirmed to say

that they would use these to provide bedding for rescued animals especially at

winter time. While Glasgow Night Shelter is planning to use these as bedding for

homeless walk-ins; Migrant Help will use these as extra bedding for emergency

situations of which there are many we are told. The lead person from Glasgow

Night Shelter has confirmed that some of these donations were also being sent to

the migrant camp ‘The Jungle’ in Calais to help those that are in need.

Energy advice clinics through the Sustainability Hub

Community outcome(s) - Outcome partially delivered

To combat fuel poverty through the provision of advice to 50 students.

1. 34 UWS students were engaged and 5 were referred to the Home Energy


Scotland for energy advice (Appendix 3.1).

2. Due to the lack of interest and responses from students and staff to receive energy

advice through this project, an intensive effort was put in to building strong links

between UWS/SAUWS and Home Energy Scotland to bring this service closer to

service users.

3. As a result following frontline staff members were given special training in how to

best facilitate this service to UWS staff and student. In addition those 11 staff

members have also confirmed that they would contact Home Energy Scotland with

regards to home energy advice for themselves.

- UWS student funding team leader

- 4 staff members from UWS Student Services department

- 3 members of the UWS Nursing Staff

- 3 members of SAUWS Environment team

Travel advice clinics through the Sustainability Hub

Community outcome(s) - Outcome exceeded

Travel clinics will reduce congestion in the surrounding area and help 65 staff and

students to save money through car sharing, public transport and active travel.

1. 136 individuals had taken part in travel related events and activities organised by

SAUWS Environment during the past 12 months (Appendix 4.4).

2. A total of 12 events in partnership with the Glasgow Bike Station was organised

across the 3 UWS campuses during the lifetime of the project.

3. 118 students and staff were engaged through Dr.Bike workshops

4. 15 students were trained in essential skills required to fix and maintain their own

bikes through bike maintenance lessons during the Go Green Week

5. Using Freshers Fair, Refreshers Fair, various gatherings at the Sustainability Hub,

volunteers, contacts made through SAUWS travel survey and SAUWS

Environment Steering Group; an intensive effort was put forward by the

Environment Team at SAUWS to widely publicise the UWS car share scheme to

both staff and students.


CO2e Outcome(s) – Outcome partially delivered

To bring about behaviour change actions reducing emissions by 450 tonnes of CO2.

1. According to NUS an estimated 202.18 tonnes of CO2 e had been saved as a

result. Additional savings are yet to be calculated and sent to CCF (Appendix 5).

2. It has also been estimated by the NUS that around 1147 people were reached

through the actions completed (energy, waste, water and travel criteria) by this

year’s workbook.

3. There were 6 new staff teams this year, bringing the total to 22 active teams with

16 teams managing to submit the final workbooks for auditing as follows.

Active teams this year:

1) Mother nature's minion (Finance) (Paisley)


2) Robertson Sports (Thornly Park)

3) Business School (Paisley)

4) Charlie (Chemistry labs) (Paisley)

5) Cleaning (Paisley) – Fiona Kearns / Margaret O’Donnell

6) Court & Senate Green Team (Paisley)

7) Greenday (Estates) (Paisley)

8) ITDS (Paisley)

9) The Green Machine (Catering) (Hamilton)

10) Warriors Against Waste (Ayr)

11) School of Engineering & Computing (Paisley)

12) Eco-Midwives (School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery)(Hamilton)

13) School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery Leadership team (Paisley)

14) Awesome (Student Engagement) (Paisley)

15) Learning Innovation (Paisley)

16) Creative Industries (Paisley and Ayr)

4. 16 student volunteers were engaged and trained as Green Impact Project

Assistants (GIPA). These GIPAs were then matched with different staff teams who

asked for additional support to help them in completing their departmental

workbooks (Appendix 5.2)

5. 10 student volunteers were engaged and trained as Green Impact Auditors

(GIPA), to audit the workbooks that were completed and submitted by the UWS

staff teams (Appendix 5.2).

6. Certificates for both staff and all GIPAs have been organised to be given away at

the Green Impact award ceremony in June this year. Please see below of the

special awards line up.

Environmental Hero: Finance, Team - Mother Nature’s Minions, for giving up their

bins and making significant savings in the department paper use

Community Action: Team - Warriors Against Waste, due to work with external

organisations in the Ayr garden and the encouragement of Gardening Leave using

the space. Also they worked with UWS Ayr Halls of Residences to gather duvets,

pillows and bedlinen and pass them over to students made homeless during their

studies at the UWS

Environmental Improvements: Team - Thornly Park Sports Centre, for their efforts

to significantly reduce general waste, increase in recycling (2 uplifts a week to 1

every 2 weeks!), reduce in petrol for mowers and reduce Gym energy consumption

Innovation for Engagement: Team - School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery, for

setting up a sustainability committee on all campuses to help encourage

sustainability across all areas and to circulate messages to other staff members. In

addition, a student was recruited to help engage other students in environmental

an issue which has been very successful.

Student Leadership: GIPA - Maana Ali. Maana has been very enthusiastic and

willing to help the Student Engagement team. She has been described as an asset

to the team and a joy to work with by the staff at UWS.



Education Outcome – Outcome exceeded

To embed sustainability in coursework targeting 300 students.

1. 490 students targeted through this criteria (Appendix 5.1) 2. This has been a really successful and rewarding part of the project. 27 student

teams in their 1st Year of study were set up to audit the events of the second year students in BA Events management course currently running at both the UWS paisley and Hamilton campuses. This programme helped to bridge communications amongst students across 1st and 2nd year groups whilst also encouraging their understanding of the importance of environmental sustainability when planning and managing real life events.

3. The Sustainability Behaviours Coordinator has done presentations to staff from the

various departments of School of Nursing and Health to discuss embedding

sustainability within a variety of Nursing and Health courses. Also the SBC has

spoken to students of the following courses over the last academic year with the

intention of including sustainability in their course work and to make them aware of

how easy it is to in-cooperate sustainability into workplace practices.

- MSc Health Studies (Comm Health) (PGDIp HV)

- MSc Health Studies (Comm Health) (PGDIp OH)

- MSc Health Studies (Comm Health) (PGDIp DN)

- MSc Health Studies

- MSc Health Studies (Family Health

- Grad Cert Neonatal

- MSc M&CH (Adv Paediatric Practice and Adv Neonatal Practice)

- MSc Midwifery with Registration

- PG Cert Child Protection

- BSc Midwifery

- BSc Nursing (Adult)

- BA Integrated Public Services

- MSc Adult Nursing with Registration

- BSc Health Studies

- PG Cert/Dip Advanced Clinical Practice

- MSc Mental Health Nursing with Reg

- MSc Vulnerabilities

- MSc PgD/PgC Psychosocial Interventions

- PG Cert Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

- Grad Cert Later Life Studies

- Grad Cert Sexual & Reproductive health

- MSc Health Studies (M& CH)

- BSc Mental Health Nursing

- PG Cert Personality Disorders

- MSc Later Life Studies

4. In addition the SBC has worked towards embedding sustainability in the course

curriculum of MSc Finance and Accounting through the UWS Business School.


5. Unexpected outcomes:

SBC was asked to present at the EAUC Scottish Conference, speaking in the

‘Developing Green Champions’ workshop. New College Lanarkshire requested to

sign up to the NUS Green Impact scheme after this presentation.

Green Impact Cleaners, Facilities and catering staff

CO2e Outcome(s) – Outcome partially delivered

To bring about behaviour change in Cleaners, Facilities and Catering staff which will

reduce emissions by 193.78 tonnes of carbon. This will include saving in energy, waste

and travel.

1. 28.29 tonnes of CO2 emissions were saved through this part of the project

(Appendix 6)

2. All three of these departments worked with the SBC to reduce emissions in their

departments and to increases levels of recycled waste in the UWS.

3. The Catering and Cleaning departments submitted Green Impact workbooks, and

the Facilities Department worked on the WARPit online scheme, as a result of

encouragement from the SAUWS Environment team, which enabled UWS to

reuse furniture within the organisation.

4. WARPit - An online reuse scheme that allows third sector institutions to freely

trade furniture and resources. This year, we have trialled this scheme internally,

coordinating with the Sustainability Behaviours Coordinator at SAUWS and Energy

and Environment Manager and Senior Facilities Manager at the UWS to facilitate

behaviour change both within the university and SAUWS to ‘swap’ furniture

between departments/individuals and limit the quantities of furniture that gets

discarded and purchased as whole.

5. As a result of not having the essential structures in place at the start of the project

and the UWS Estates unwillingness to prioritise any repair needs related to this

issue, we were unable to carry out the proposed rain water collection scheme was

not completed. Thus we were unable to save and CO2 emissions from rain water

reuse.

6. Although the Fuel efficient Driver training was widely publicised we were unable to

encourage and develop relationships with the staff as a result of a clash between

the time when their shift pattern was available ( half day shifts starting early @

7am ) and the availability of the HE Scotland to run the workshops ( 9-4).


UWS Gardens: Branching out into the Community (appendix 7. 7.1 and 7.2)

CO2e Outcome(s) – Outcome Exceeded

Reduction of 7.5 tonnes of CO2 through workshops encouraging food growing at home.

1. 8.20 tonnes of CO2 was saved as part of this this project. 2. Organised and promoted training in Grow Your Own, Intro to Permaculture, Forest

Gardening and Container Gardening Courses through the University and SAUWS social media channels, the Sustainability Hub and UWS weekly E-bulletin

3. 2 individual applications were submitted to CSV Action Earth for £250 to develop a biodiversity planting scheme to strengthen pollination levels, create habitat for invertebrates and increase environmental education opportunities around climate change in the garden area of both the Ayr and Hamilton UWS community gardens.

4. Regular community gardening sessions were held across the 3 gardens (Ayr, Hamilton and Paisley)

5. Number of staff and students and external individuals who had shown an interest in the project was encouraged to grow at home by providing them with seedlings grown by Community Garden and Active Travel Coordinator with soil, fertiliser and planters during summer months.

UWS Gardens: Composting Food Waste

CO2e Outcome(s) – Outcome Exceeded

Reduction of 0.987 of Co2 through composting food waste.

1. 1.733 tonnes of CO2 e was saved as part of this project. 2. 100 compost caddies have been purchased to prep for the home composting

project to start in August.


Health Outcome(s) – Outcome Exceeded

Through promotion of the gardens as a Green Gym this will help to contribute towards the retention of UWS Healthy Working Lives Gold.

1. Actively promoted 2 hour weekly Green Gym opportunity called The Big Build through the University social media channels and weekly E-bulletin

2. A team-building day was organised and completed in partnership with the UWS nursing department for a whole day event.

3. Worked with VASA (Volunteer Action South Ayrshire) to promote the Ayr garden as a community resource advertising the resource for older groups, mental health and NEETS (Not in Education, Employment or Training)

4. End of year garden BBQ at Ayr garden with 20 + student, staff and local participants

5. Development of a strong partnership between Ayr Community Garden and Ayr College and utilising this partnership to provide 10 adults with Additional Support Needs and 2 staff members Grow Your Own training for 18 weeks (this course was modified to account for learning difficulties experienced by the clients)

To help people with dementia live well with their diagnosis.

1. Repurposed a garden at Memory Lane Day-centre to create a therapeutic growing space for Alzheimers Scotland in Paisley

2. Submission of an application to CSV Action Earth for £250 to develop sensory reminiscence planting scheme to support the development of dementia friendly garden area.

3. In Paisley, the Community Garden and Travel Coordinator has developed partnerships with Migrant Help and Alzheimer’s Scotland to run workshops in windowsill planting and also support food production at their local office garden settings.

4. Alzheimer’s training day with Trellis was successfully carried out to benefit senior managers from Alzheimer’s Scotland and Renfrewshire council, UWS staff, SAUWS staff and students.

5. Taught an adapted Grow Your Own course for Alzheimer Scotland staff, volunteers and UWS students in order to build the local capacity across a number of residential and day-centres for people with Alzheimers and dementia to access gardening workshops.

Community Outcomes – Outcome exceeded (appendix 9a)

To develop a community of UWS staff, students and neighborhood groups working

together to develop and manage the gardens.

1. Outcome exceeded.

2. 977 individuals have been involved with the development and management of

community gardens both in and out of the UWS premises over the past year.

3. Actively promoted 2 hour weekly social gardening drop-in called Community Gardening Session through the University social media channels and weekly E-bulletin

4. Successful in the partnership and completing a project with Commonwealth Orchards and Coffee Conscience (http://www.coffeeconscience.co.uk/) to plant a Community Orchard of 61 fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry, plum) on a site open to the public on the Ayr campus. Event also used to strengthen relationships between UWS and SRUC through student and staff participation.

5. Organised, liaised & completion of weekly gardening sessions with Holmston

http://www.coffeeconscience.co.uk/


Primary School P1’s to support their Outdoor Learning term topic of “Eco-In the

Garden”

6. UWS PALS, the Paisley Alumni Lunch Society, have donated a bench to the UWS

community garden in Paisley

7. With the Action Earth additional funding we were able to create the following

additions to improve estetics and levels of biodiversity in the community gardens.

Wild-life pond in Ayr garden

Hibernacular in Ayr garden

Bug hotel in Ayr garden

Wild-flower area in Ayr garden

Herb garden in Paisley garden

Wheel-chair accessible soft-fruits bed in Hamilton garden

Learning & Reflection

Learning and barriers

Staff changes within CCF and SAUWS has been a significant barrier. We had a change

in CCF development Officer during this time which required up to resubmit a lot of

information, especially carbon calculation workings, which was time consuming given the

work that had been done previously to present this to the CCF and have it accepted.

Additionally, the change with the intern was difficult as it resulted in a break in our events

and communications planning. However, we worked with other SAUWS staff members to

receive help on communicating our events, activities to the wider UWS community.

The management of SAUWS has changed part way through this academic year as the

previous General Manager left in June 2015. A new Chief Executive was hired in

February 2016, so for around 8 months, there was intermittent managerial support from

an external consultant acting as an interim director. A more consistent management

approach would have assisted project delivery.

Student engagement has been low in particular areas in UWS / SAUWS for some time.

Although the Sustainability Hub definitely saw a huge increase in engaged students

through the Free Shop, workshops and general volunteer experiences, there were still

low levels of engagement around the community gardens, sustainable travel initiatives

and energy awareness campaigns which was detrimental to the work of the CCF project.

As a result, the staff found other ways to meet the CCF targets. For example, the CGTC

coordinated the development of 2 external community gardens – with Alzheimer’s

Scotland and Migrant Help – to help reach the targets set for the community gardens.

Further, there is a difficulty with running community growing projects in a university

setting as the main growing season takes place whilst students are away for the summer

break (May – September). This has provided further problems regarding both practicality

and engagement which led to the development of outreach gardens.


In regard to the energy campaigns, the CCF funded team found it very hard to

communicate with students about reducing their energy use in halls as they do not pay

for the energy that they use – it is included in their rent. Moreover, from a safety point of

view, it was not suitable for a CCF funded staff member to enter homes of members of

the community to advice on fuel poverty issues without specific training. Hence, the SBC

made connections with Home Energy Scotland and the staff members in SAUWS and

UWS that come in contact with students struggling with fuel poverty so that we were still

able to support students in this area.

We also arranged advice sessions with Home Energy Scotland so that students could

speak to HES representatives in a more relaxed way.

Some really productive learning has been that being visual – on campus – has been very

useful, and given students time and getting to know them has certainly benefited the

strength of the volunteer support with the CCF funded project.


Finance & Administration

Original budget amount: £95,922.24

Recruitment: All staff were already recruited and employed on previous CCF funded

project (2268).

One instance of recruitment took place for the MCEI which was advertised internally as the

terms for the intern positions state that this needs to be filled by a current or recent

graduate of UWS.

Useful support: SAUWS membership, especially membership manager, marketing and

volunteer coordinator, as well as admin and finance; UWS Residences; UWS Estates and

FMOs; Trellis; Alzheimer’s Scotland; Migrant Help; Coffee Conscience; UWS Student

Services; Volunteering Matters – Action Earth Funds; Glasgow Nightshelter; The Glasgow

Bike Station; Home Energy Scotland; Drivesense.

Finance: There have been some barriers with paying for items as it has been customary

for staff to pay for items and then claim this back from SAUWS and eventually be

reimbursed by CCF.

There were some problems getting claims trackers from the CCF this year (2016) which

meant that for the last few months, we had not been kept up to date with our overall

spends. As a result we were unaware of our current claims and the leftover underspend

until few weeks before the end of the project leaving the coordinators not enough time to

both sort out outstanding finances and write the final report prior to the end of the project.

Legacy

We have developed a wonderfully strong bank of interested volunteers.

ESD has provided 1,166 with relevant information and experience to take forwards

into their careers regarding why sustainability is important to them, both

professionally and personally

The project intern was promoted to take up the post of SAUWS Environmental

Project Coordinator, a post that has been funded by the SAUWS charity reserves

until the end of July 2016.

Paisley community garden will be continued by supportive staff and student

volunteers, as well as a PhD student studying Alzheimer’s therapy and gardening

at UWS.

Ayr community garden will be continued through the different community groups

and charities that have worked in it, as well as concerned and interested members

of staff and students at both UWS and SRUC

Supporting information


Please see Appendix 9a, 9b and 10

Name of report authors and date it was finalised:

Authors: Gamika Liyanpathirana with assistance from Naomi Arnold and Natalie McCall

Editors: Janine Hunt and David Devlin

Activities Grid – Please fill in only those activities which relate to your project.

More information about all of these activities can be provided in other sections of

the report – these figures will enable us to collate some overall impacts of the CCF.

How many advice/information centres – regular drop-in centre, advice

surgery etc. - is your project running?

30

How many training sessions where skills and/or information were

passed on – e.g. composting training, cooking workshops, etc. – has your

project has held.

40

How many events did your project hold, e.g. information fairs, open days,

etc.? Do not include events held by other organisations which you have

attended.

45

How many staff, volunteers or community members have achieved

qualifications through the project – e.g. City & Guilds Energy Awareness,

Trail Cycle Leader, etc.

0

How many people were directly employed by your project. Tell us the full-

time equivalent (FTE) number of employees (e.g. 3 days per week = 0.6

FTE).

The project employed 2 FTE Project Co-ordinators and 2 Interns employed

at 0.5 FTE. In the last 3 months of the project the 2 Intern posts were

merged into 1 FTE post.

3 FTE

Is the project is supporting the development of any long-term jobs which

are not dependent of CCF Funding? How many?

1 FTE but

Temporary

post

How many people are actively involved in your project – attending groups

& workshops, using the project facilities etc.?

2,648

How many people volunteer their time and energy to keeping the project

going – don’t forget the members of your management committee or board.

248


How many schools are involved in your project?

2 – in Ayr

and

Hamilton

gardens

How many community-owned buildings have been refurbished? 0

How many Home Energy Checks or similar energy efficiency reports

have been carried out by your project?

5

How many households have been referred on to other agencies or

providers (e.g. HES, Green Deal assessor) for further action?

11

How many households installed energy efficiency measures – loft, wall or

floor insulation, draft-proofing, double glazing etc. – as a result of your

project?

How many households installed green energy generation measures –

photovoltaic panels, solar thermal panels, air or ground source heat pumps,

wood fuelled heating systems etc – as a result of your project?

How many miles of car journeys have been reduced through the activities

of your project?

1,049,450

miles

How many square metres (m2) of community growing space (allotments,

poly-tunnels, raised beds, community gardens) has your project brought into

use?

Outside SAUWS Student Association: 3m2

Paisley Community Garden: 42m2

Ayr Community Garden Extension: 9.02m2

Ayr Community Orchard: 22.5m2

Migrant Help Welcome Garden: 9m2

Alzheimer Scotland Memory Lane Garden: 11m2 (inclusive of 2m2

Greenhouse):

96.52m2

How many tonnes of waste have been diverted from landfill because of the

activities of your project?

66.607

How many kWh of energy has been reduced because of the activities of

your project?

climate challenge fund final report · 2016. 11. 24. · - community garden and travel coordinator...

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