Krishnan Guru-Murthy celebrates sustainability in education sector achievements at the GGAs 2011

Last night’s Green Gown awards, hosted by journalist and presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, was a resounding success and a fitting celebration for the pioneering environmental and sustainability initiatives that have been championed in the education sector this year.

Winners and Highly Commended awards were bestowed across 13 categories and guests from universities and colleges from across the UK were joined by leading figures from institutions such as LSIS, Association of Colleges, the Guardian and the Carbon Trust to commend visionary projects which are pushing the environmental best practice boundaries.

Organised by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), Chief Executive Iain Patton describes the Green Gown Awards as a shop window for environmental and suitable best practice, stating that “although it is a challenging and anxious time for universities and colleges, this year’s winning and commended entries demonstrate not only that innovative institutions are taking successful action to minimise their environmental footprints and enhance their social contribution, but also that this is often accompanied by other organisational benefits. The financial savings from many sustainability actions are certainly compatible with the belt tightening that seems inevitable in future years. It is therefore all the more important the whole sector learns from the successes of the Green Gown Awards’ winning and commended entries”.

Winning entries included South Lanarkshire College in the Colleges and Smaller Institutions Category for their low-energy, low-carbon future proofing of the curriculum and South Eastern Regional College in the LSIS supported category for Skills for their Environmental Skills Centre. Other notable winners and highly commended from the Learning and Skills sector were Coleg Gwent (Colleges & Smaller Institutions), Blackpool and The Fylde College (Colleges & Smaller Institutions), Bedford College (Courses), New College Stamford (Social Responsibility) and Pembrokeshire College (Space Efficiency)

A full list of this year’s winning and highly commended entries can be found on the Green Gown Awards website, along with the winner's brochure www.greengownawards.org.uk.

Now in their 7th year, The Green Gown Awards were founded in 2004 by the Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement project and have grown in reputation and stature year on year. With a record number of entries, the Green Gown Awards are firmly established as the most prestigious recognition of sustainability excellence in the further and higher education sectors.

This year's Awards were kindly sponsored by Future-Tech, The Higher Education Academy, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, the Sustainable Procurement Centre of Excellence and Willmott Dixon Construction.

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