Lead Organisation
Sustainability West Midlands Project Manager: Anna Bright (Chief Executive)Overview
This project was commissioned by Greater Norwich Authorities, awarding Egnida the main contract, who then subcontracted part of the project to Sustainability West Midlands. The aim of the project was to deliver four high-level case studies explaining key projects from around the UK that have demonstrated the development of local energy infrastructure. This task involved reviewing strategies, journal reports and wider information to determine the necessary information and provide key recommendations for Greater Norwich.Aims
- Produce multiple high-level case studies, exploring local energy infrastructure from across the UK which face a series of challenges
- Highlight common themes that appeared throughout the case studies that have been beneficial to each
- Provide a list of key recommendations that will make the projects carried out by Greater Norwich Authorities successful.
Results and achievements
Since the inception of the project, Sustainability West Midlands has completed our role in the project and has delivered four detailed case studies which address the key areas outlined in the project brief. As well as this, we went above and beyond in producing a series of infographics for each case study, giving each a visual appeal as well as a detailed breakdown of the projects. On top of producing these case studies, we further included a list of key recommendations for the Greater Norwich Authorities to have in mind when planning their own local energy infrastructure. The list was developed as a result of the research involved with and the execution of the case studies and includes common themes found throughout the successful projects we selected to report on.“Sustainability West Midlands supported our project with the Greater Norwich authorities, which was investigating how to manage electricity grid constraints for new developments. The local authorities were keen to understand how these kind of issues had been approached by planning authorities in different parts of the country and SWM’s case studies were relevant, tailored and focussed on the authorities’ needs. We would happily work with SWM again in future.” – – Becky Hart, Principal Consultant, Egnida
Download the full case study
Lead Organisation
Sustainability West Midlands Project Manager: Simon Slater (formerly Chief Executive)Overview
Sustainable development is a complex agenda, how can it be interpreted and practically applied by regional, public sector organizations? SWM set out to answer this question in the context of Advantage West Midlands (AWM). The aim of this was to help build the understanding, confidence, and capacity of regional organizations to practically integrate sustainable development into their strategic and operational processes. The aim of this work was to take national good practice, in the form of the Sustainable Development Action Plans (SDAP) required to be produced and reported on annually by Government Departments to the Sustainable Development Commission, and adapt for regional public bodies such as AWM.Results and achievements
- AWM moved from the bottom to the top of the league table of corporate sustainability performance within the RDA network
- The creation of a board champion for future generations to chair the new sustainability sub-committee of the board to measure the progress of the SDAP
- Creation of small sustainability team of staff and co-located staff within AWM to drive ‘mainstreaming’
- Using the opportunity to refresh the economic strategy to produce the UK’s first low carbon regional economic strategy
- Internal environmental management system that led to operational savings from waste and energy efficiency measures
- Sustainability criteria built into funding investments, business support, and land and property development. This included a new carbon reduction target and reporting measures
- Developing a new sustainability standard for large sites, that was incorporated into Regional Planning Guidance
- Tailored training and support for the board, staff and partners to help them deliver their role in the SDAP
