Aston University: Sustainability Review

Lead Organisation

Sustainability West Midlands

Project Manager: Anna Bright, Chief Executive

Overview

SWM were commissioned to undertake a review of the university’s approach to environmental management and sustainability to ensure that recruitment of their new Sustainability Manager resulted in the appointment of the best candidate for the role, taking account of the future needs of the university. To inform this review and the resulting recommendations, SWM undertook the following activities:

1. Review of all sustainability related strategies to understand the plans and future direction of the University in this area.
2. Interviewing relevant individuals at the university with the aim of understanding how well the current organisational structure works, and where there may be issues that could be addressed with the appointment of a new individual. This included the Chief Operating Officer, the Director of Regional Strategy, the Student Volunteer Sustainability Officer and individuals from teams including Estates & Capital Development, Health & Safety, Digital Services, Catering Services and Procurement.
3. Review practice at other universities across the West Midlands to understand the remit of similar roles, learn from best practice, and identify learning points. This was achieved through a combination of desk-based research and interviews with Birmingham City University, University of Keele, University Warwick, University of Birmingham and University of Worcester.

SWM also acted as a critical friend to the university whilst they were without a Sustainability Manager, providing advice to the Estates & Capital Development team, feeding into their Sustainability Working Group, and providing content and presentations to student groups