The sustainable construction and refurbishment of buildings and infrastructure is fundamental to achieving King's vision for sustainability, driving the reduction in operational impacts such as costs and carbon, while providing world-class teaching and learning facilities.

King's has produced guidance outlining a framework for the delivery of sustainable design and construction projects, supporting our policy objective of managing construction, refurbishment and post-completion occupancy of our buildings to reduce environmental impact and enhance wellbeing of building users.

All construction or refurbishment projects, regardless of size, are expected to consider and support the requirements set out in the Sustainability Guidance-Capital Projects Brief, and wherever possible seek to enhance the sustainability performance of our estate.

In 2021, Estates & Facilities created a Strategy and Action Plan for Embedding Sustainability in Capital Projects. This document re-examined King’s existing approach to embedding sustainability, including lessons learned, and identified where improvements could be made. This plan provides a clear roadmap with specific actions to ensure the delivery of these improvements. This live document gives project managers the impetus and authority to embed sustainability into refurbishments and new builds and offers guidance on engaging with other departments at King’s whose input is essential to the longevity, sustainability and overall maximisation of the use of each building. 

We have also set targets to carry out BREEAM assessments on new buildings and major refurbishments, and for large-scale fit-out projects to apply the above guidance or complete SKA assessment.