This month, Leeds Trinity takes an exciting next step in its University history, a bold new venture right into the heart of the city centre, with the opening of our new City Campus at 1 Trevelyan Square. This not only supports our growth as a University, providing academic excellence and vital links to businesses and opportunities for our students in the city, but is also supporting our progress towards our sustainability and climate action ambitions and our contribution towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

I am extremely proud to say that the building has been designed and on track to achieve the internationally renowned sustainability standard BREEAM Excellent, which has been no small feat for the design team who took over the building earlier this year. We have successfully achieved BREEAM Excellent Certification during the design stages and are now set to finalise the certification in the months following completion.  

Chosen for its impressive location, including proximity to city centre amenities and a stone’s throw from public transport links such as Leeds Train Station, 1 Trevelyan Square stands proud, now carefully renovated by our team to the highest of standards. Our contractors, Graham have worked tirelessly to not only deliver quickly but also maintain exemplary considerate construction practices, including social and environmental management. 

Through the refurbishment, we have sought to retain as many original features and materials as possible to reduce the use of new materials and our carbon footprint. We have ensured that what we do use is responsibly sourced and resilient for a low carbon future. We have chosen to fully upgrade the heating and cooling systems to ensure that the building is future proofed, in line with our energy reduction goals, supporting our journey towards Net Zero Carbon. The building is all electric, powered through green electricity and utilising the latest heat pump technology, with smart controls.

Our design team have worked hard to ensure that our building meets the latest standards in terms of specification and controls, with low water consuming devices, intelligent lighting and mindful design to maximise the comfort and conditions for our users. Students, colleagues and visitors will benefit from the provision of excellent end-of-journey facilities, including cycle racks, showers and changing facilities, along with café and faith facilities and high spec specialist facilities to support their learning and teaching. Our café will operate our new “Wipe out Waste (WoW) cup” scheme, an innovative new scheme for coffee cup re-use, introduced to our Horsforth campus already this year, whereby users will return their cups for washing and re-use, thereby reducing waste from disposable coffee cups.

Whilst the City Campus is designed to meet high environmental standards, our move to the city also demonstrates and supports our civic responsibility and our role as a Leeds Anchor Institution. Through the partnerships we are forming and the opportunities our students will experience, we will continue to advance our positive social, community and cultural impact in the region.

I am delighted to see our sustainability ambitions come to life with the opening of 1 Trevelyan Square. As we adapt to our new surroundings and grow, I am excited to see how we will continue to live our University Mission and Values and advance our commitments towards positive impact, regionally, nationally and globally. Through our new Campus, our graduates will continue to shape a rapidly changing world and be active and responsible members of our wider community. This is the start of something big for Leeds Trinity University and I am thrilled to be part of this journey.

Katie Clegg is Director of Sustainability at Leeds Trinity University.