Sustainability and Social Value - University of Staffordshire

Search courses
Search staffs.ac.uk

Hit enter to search or ESC to close

Home
About us
Facilities
Campus transformations
Student Village
Sustainability and Social Value

Sustainability and Social Value are central to the Student Village project, with every detail carefully designed for the future.

We’re committed to minimising environmental impact both during construction and once the buildings are operational, through innovative techniques and material reuse.

Beyond construction, this project is guided by strong social value commitments that will evolve as the project progresses. Led by Willmott Dixon and Pinnacle Group, the Student Village aims to create jobs, offer work experience, support local businesses, and provide meaningful opportunities for community involvement.

Sustainability

Just like our other recent campus transformation projects including The Catalyst and Woodlands Day Nursery and Forest School, the Student Village (and associated amenities) have been designed with sustainability in mind.

Our aspiration is to achieve Net Zero Carbon in Operation (NZCiO) across the Student Village development site and the development will built to Passivhaus design principles.

Our Main Contractor Willmott Dixon will be incorporating modern methods of construction and offsite manufacturing to ensure the Student Village and Village Hub is a low-carbon development. Combine this with renewable energy sources, building to Passivhaus design principles and structures that are directly inspired by the setting, the University will have a development with a strong character and identity.

The shared design team vision for the project imagines a new student village in the woodland. A development that works sensitively with the natural features of the site, where buildings form terraces following the natural sloped topography and the existing varied landscape is enhanced and integrated. This approach creates a holistic development with a strong character and identity, fostering a sense of place and community.

The Village Hub outwardly expresses its sustainability credentials. An efficient timber structure of glue-lam beams and columns supports cross laminated timber floors. The use of concrete is minimised to the stepping ground floor and retaining walls. The building is wrapped in a high performance pre-fabricated glazed facade that incorporates a sophisticated copper interlayer that reflects unwanted sunlight.

In partnership with Corstorphine & Wright and Ramboll, the energy assessment for the Student Village demonstrates a comprehensive approach to reducing carbon emissions using the following energy reduction hierarchy;

Minimise building energy demands using passive measures
Conserve, recoup and maximise efficiency of delivered energy
Supply energy from Low Carbon energy sources
Maximise Renewable Energy generation on-site

Sustainability Aims

Student Village

53% reduction in the primary energy demand and carbon emissions for the refurbished Clarice Cliff Court halls of residence.
36% reduction in primary energy demands for the new Student Village accommodation.
32% reduction carbon emissions over Part L notional building targets for the for the new Student Village accommodation.

Village Hub

36% reduction in carbon emissions over Part L notional building targets for the new Village Hub building.
38% reduction in primary energy demands for the new Village Hub building.
31% greater site area weighted average carbon emission reduction is predicted, than required by the emerging local planning policy target.

Biodiversity and Green Spaces

Once the Student Village accommodation is built, we’ll be turning our attention back to the main Leek Road site to demolish our existing Leek Road Houses and Leek Road Halls of Residence.
Building on the University’s existing nature reserve and biodiversity projects following the River Trent Restoration project, demolition of these buildings will create new parkland and open green spaces on campus creating vibrant green spaces on campus.
This demolition project will make way for accessible parkland, which will result in a project biodiversity net gain of 12%.

Construction, Materials and Energy

4000m3 of quality topsoil is being saved on site near the Sir Stanley Matthews Sports Centre for use in the Parkland area once the existing Leek Road accommodation buildings are demolished in 2027. This equates to 450nr lorry loads of material being re-used and not sent to landfill.
The cutting and filling exercise of the new Student Village area is a 9–10-week process whereby all material is being retained on site, with improvement made where required, which again is a huge saving on embodied carbon, not on for retaining but also for not needing to import as much material.
The light gauge steel frame superstructure is a very low carbon solution that is also very quick to install. It requires far less deliveries to get the material to site. Windows will be installed in the light gauge steel frame factory, meaning another delivery type is now not heading to Stoke-on-Trent, creating less disruption to the local university road network. This means no window installers will need to visit Stoke and impacts the embodied carbon calculation of the delivery and labour requirements.
Once built the buildings will be very low energy use. A clever recipe of modern mechanical and electrical systems has been designed, which also reduces the labour needed to come to Stoke-on-Trent and will reduce the energy costs to operate the accommodation.
To assist with the operational energy, we have circa 1600nr PV panels being installed on the accommodation roofs, with any surplus generation feeding into other Leek Road campus buildings such as the Sir Stanley Matthews Sports Centre, The Catalyst and Ashley buildings.

Social Value

The main contractor, Willmott Dixon, aim to deliver brilliant buildings, transform lives, strengthen communities, and enhance the environment so our world is fit for future generations.

Willmott Dixon will be delivering many initiatives that drive social value during the construction phase of Staffordshire University’s Student Village project.

One of the most important commitments is to provide local employment opportunities, which will see 25% of the workforce from within 10 miles of the project and 50% within 30 miles. Similarly, to support local jobs and businesses, 25% of total spend will be with organisations located within a 10-mile radius of the project and 50% within 30 miles. The supply chain supporting Willmott Dixon in building the village will be predominantly from areas close to the university, allowing substantial investment to go back into the local community.

Willmott Dixon will also support learning, development and upskilling for local people in the following ways:

Apprenticeships
Internships
Work experience
Careers workshops

Using their existing relationship with The Careers and Enterprise Company, Willmott Dixon is working with Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Careers Hub to engage with local schools and colleges. Through various initiatives, Willmott Dixon will engage with those who have not yet considered construction as a career, those who have already started their journey, as well as those who are unemployed and will benefit from re-entering work.

Teaming up with Beating Time to drive social mobility

Willmott Dixon has a long established relationship with the charity Beating Time and will be running workshops at HMP Stoke Heath to improve the futures of those currently in prison who are due for release within 12 weeks. These workshops will equip ex-offenders with the skills, knowledge and confidence to gain sustainable employment and continue their rehabilitation journey.

As a business with firm roots in the Midlands, Willmott Dixon will use its work building Staffordshire University’s Student Village to sustain local jobs, deliver new growth for local companies and upskill many people who live in Stoke-on-Trent and surrounding area, so it can leave a legacy that lasts long after the village’s completion.

Woodlands Day Nursery and Forest School

Willmott Dixon will be collaborating with the University’s on-site nursery and forest school over the lifespan of the Student Village project on a variety of social value and outreach initiatives. From inspiring the next generation of construction professionals to supporting a variety of nursery-led events. This includes:

Donating construction related books and play equipment for the babies and toddlers to help inspire budding construction workers.
Donating pumpkins to celebrate the theme of Autumn at the nursery.
Organising child friendly events to see construction and plant equipment up close including “big diggers”.
Making over the staff wellbeing space.
Curating a fruit tree orchard and a vegetable patch for the nursery children.

Nursery children are wearing hi-vis jackets and helmets outside on the playground

Student engagement and outreach

Willmott Dixon, together with the University’s ResLife team, will be collaborating with students residing in Clarice Cliff Court on a number of initiatives across the project including issuing regular student newsletter communications and facilitating an inter-block sustainable energy competition in 2025.The competition will be run between each block to see who can use the least amount of energy every term.