This project puts partnership working at the centre of sustainable development and recognises that universities need to demonstrate leadership in a new era of localism.
By partnering with local public and private sector organisations the project will identify common targets, objectives and solutions for sustainability in the county of Northamptonshire as a pilot project; with the aim of identifying the multiplier effects above and beyond that which are achievable by any one organisation.“Shared Solutions for Sustainability” will be created and some trial actions implemented across the county.
The learning gained will be developed into toolkits, events and presentations to facilitate the dissemination and encourage adoption of best practice by other higher education institutions in partnership with their local communities.
This project sets out to explore a new paradigm for sustainability; by developing a model of inter-organisational best practice to create shared solutions.
The fundamental need this project addresses is that universities, to date, have largely focused within their own organisations for solutions to sustainability, which is inherently self-limiting. Sustainability, by its very nature, is an issue that demands a holistic approach.
The public sector in the UK is increasingly recognising that the best practice model for shared solutions and services can deliver efficiencies beyond that which would be possible by working alone.This project was conceived from the belief that this model is applicable and appropriate to solutions for sustainability, and that these shared solutions should go beyond the boundaries of any one sector and engage partners from local government, healthcare, education, etc., within a geographic area.
There is evidence of demand for shared solutions within Higher Education; for example The Higher Education Funding Council for England has stated that “institutions should seek opportunities to work effectively in partnerships to enable solutions that share learning and would not have been possible if working alone” (HEFCE, “Carbon reduction target and strategy for higher education in England”, 2010/01, paragraph 50). This project seeks to implement and test good practice in local partnershipworking.
Increasingly, The University of Northampton is developing extra-organisational solutions to meet the needs of the higher education agenda, and will build on its good practice to date as the lead partner in this project. The University has recently led a consortium including other universities, the Building Research Establishment, two Knowledge Transfer Networks, a local Development Corporation and two local authorities in the development of the £10m environmentally sustainable iCon building, which will be the home to the East Midlands Sustainable Construction Innovation Network when completed in Spring 2011 (www.icon-em.org).
The project seeks to use partnership working within Northamptonshire as a pilot in order to:
Identify sustainability aims, objectives and targets common to all partners;
Identify shared solutions that positively impact the environmental, social and economic sustainability of Northamptonshire;
Create an action plan for implementing these shared solutions between the partners;
Ensure that the model of inter-organisational working is replicable as an example of good practice;
Disseminate the learning and conclusions to the wider higher education sector.
This project explores how universities can lead to achieve a co-ordinated response to sustainability across sectors within an area. The University of Northampton has evidenced demand from county-based organisations for the need to bring public and private sector partners together to identify coherent, coordinated and holistic solutions that will be of environmental, economic and social benefit to the county.
Public organisations are keen to work together to make efficiencies wherever they can, however, working across sectors is often difficult because of the different objectives and drivers each sector is subject to. Sustainability crosses the boundaries; while each sector has different targets, the objectives are ultimately the same. In the case of carbon savings, for example, the need to make savings from indirect scope 3 carbon emissions, such as commuter transport, are significantly harder for each individual organisation to impact upon and would benefit from an approach based on localism to find solutions.
This project will explore the incentives necessary to bring these organisations together to achieve significant multiplier effects.Key policy makers, experts, academics and practitioners acting as change agents through this project will be able to implement more ambitious, holistic solutions for reducing carbon emissions.And they will save a significant amount of money – a key need over the next few years.
The project will explore ways to offer university knowledge and expertise to create a plan of action for new initiatives that are area-based, rather than organisation based.The University will bring together disaggregated organisations in a county-wide initiative.
The project comprises two main phases:
1.Northamptonshire Pilot Phase – partnership working with local public and private sector organisations to develop and implement tools to identify ‘Shared Solutions for Sustainability’.
·A series of Carbon Summits will be held,covering waste, water and energy, transport and biodiversity, to identify common targets, expertise and resources that could be pooled, and aspirations that cannot be achieved by one organisation alone.
·A ThinkTank of key academics, practitioners and policy makers will explore, research and model the cost-benefits of the possible shared solutions identified from the Carbon Summits and make recommendations.
·A training programme will be developed to enable partners to conduct resource efficiency audits within their own organisation and supply chain, embedding a culture of sustainability within organisations.These organisations will be given the skills to train further organisations, ensuring the sustainability of the tool through a cascade effect.
2.Dissemination Phase – disseminating the learning and conclusions from the Pilot Phase to higher education institutions.
·Using the lessons learned within Northamptonshire, the project will develop a toolkit for the other universities supporting the project to develop their role as a leader for sustainability within their locality. When this project has demonstrated that it is possible to work across sectors to achieve greater economic, social and environmental sustainability, this toolkit will be taken to the wider HE community. The Toolkit will be supported by training events and conference presentations to initiate a community of practice.
Northamptonshire:
This project will lead to a greater understanding of common sustainability targets and shared objectives within the public and private sectors. It will lead to the development and implementation of tools to identify shared solutions for sustainability that will achieve a greater impact on sustainability and resource efficiency than that achieve individually.
The potential financial benefits of this project are significant; working in partnership with key stakeholders and policy makers in the county will have a multiplier effect that will benefit all partners and the wider community. Furthermore, the project will stimulate the growth of the low carbon sector in Northamptonshire, and anywhere else it is implemented.
HE Sector:
In addition to this project creating and sustaining long term benefits for Northamptonshire, the dissemination of the learning and best practice established by this project will ensure that other universities are able to act as change agents and leaders for shared solutions for sustainability within their communities.This learning and best practice will be used to develop a toolkit for other universities to implement.This will be supported by the establishment of a community of practice, which will enable these universities to continue learning from one another and share best practice as it develops while allowing The University of Northampton to monitor the wider and ongoing impact of the initial project.
In an era of renewed localism, universities exist within geographic communities and have the opportunity to be leaders in sustainable regional development. Within most areas there will be multiple sustainability targets from a national, regional, county, district and organisational level that organisations are often trying to meet on their own. It has been recognised that while there is often a coordinated response to economic development in an area, there is frequently no equivalent for sustainable development. This project focuses on partnership working that will create a rich seam of ideas and collaborations to improve sustainability for universities and their communities.
October 2010 to August 2012; active
The project is led by The University of Northampton, with support from three regional HE institutions, and is funded by the UK Higher Education Funding Council for England’s LGM Fund.
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