QMU wins Green Gown Awards

Queen Margaret University was recently presented with the International Green Apple Award 2009 for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage. The Green Apple trophies are awarded annually in recognition of building projects that enhance the built environment and/or protect our architectural heritage. The new campus is considered to be an inspirational example of a modern University facility and is one of the UK’s most environmentally sustainable university campuses.

Steve Scott, Director Estates, was presented with the trophy on behalf of the University by Kate O’Mara, star of stage and screen and a keen environmentalist, at a ceremony at Hampton Court Palace in London.

The Green Apple Awards campaign is run by The Green Organisation, an independent non-political, non-profit organisation that recognises, rewards and promotes environmental best practice around the world.

Our new campus has won a national Green Gown award for sustainable information and communication technology, and also achieved highly commended at the awards ceremony, for the building of its sustainable campus.

The Green Gown Awards recognise exceptional sustainability initiatives being taken by the UK’s education institutions. QMU has won the Green ICT category of the 2009 awards for implementation of thin client, the sustainable ICT system which has been installed throughout the new campus.

Innovative ICT forms the bedrock of the new campus, maximising economies of space and energy usage, and offering environmentally-sensitive solutions to design problems. Thin client infrastructure was central to the ICT structure, and fundamental in delivering the exemplar energy and environmental performance ratings of the new campus. With thin client, users do not have hard drives at their desks. Instead, processing is performed on central servers and users have a low-power terminal. This technology minimises heat generation, reducing the need for ventilation. Consequently, the building design requires minimal air conditioning and mechanical ventilation. Instead, the design is based around natural ventilation.

QMU was also ‘highly commended’ in the Sustainable Construction category of the Green Gown Awards. This recognises the exceptionally high standard of sustainability within the design and build of the Craighall campus.

QMU’s new campus sets benchmark standards for sustainable building in the higher education sector. The design has secured a BREEAM* ‘Excellent’ rating; with exemplar achievements in efficiency of space utilization and energy consumption, and in ‘green’ transport planning.

* For over a decade, the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) has been used to assess the environmental performance of both new and existing buildings. It is regarded by the UK’s construction and property sectors as the measure of best practice in environmental design and management.

For further information please see the press release
http://www.qmu.ac.uk/marketing/press_releases/qmu_sustainability_award.htm