SUSTAINABILITY AT BROMSGROVE

Our long term aim is to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the School and therefore lower our carbon footprint.

The long term strategy for the Bromsgrove sites is linked to a project being led by Bromsgrove District Council to introduce a Central Heat Network using ground source heat pumps as a sustainable source of energy. We are working with the Council to discuss the feasibility of this long term solution.

In the interim, our strategy is to seek sustainable solutions whenever we build new buildings or undertake significant refurbishment or maintenance (subject to capital constraints).

Our primary aim will always be to seek to enhance the thermal performance of the building and our secondary aim will be to instal sustainable energy sources for heating and lighting.

Our Achievements so far

100% of the electricity supplied from the grid across the four School sites comes from renewable sources.

The thermal efficiency of Elmshurst, Cobham and Webber have been improved through recent refurbishment projects. Exterior walls and roofs have been insulated and high performance windows have been installed. The ongoing refurbishment of Wendron Gordon also involves insulating the roof and installing new windows to avoid heat loss.

Our strategy is to seek sustainable heating and lighting solutions whenever possible. Recent improvements include:-

• Routh Music Hall – all heating is provided from an air source heat pump.
• Elmshurst – a separate air source heat pump has been introduced for staff accommodation.
• Wendron-Gordon – Solar thermal tubes have been added to the annexe roof ensuring that two thirds of the hot water used for showers comes from solar energy.

An LED lighting replacement programme has commenced. In the Senior School, all of the lighting in the Humanities block, the Wendron Gordon boarding house, Millington, Café 1553 and the CCF have been converted to LED. The Senior School new astroturf and tennis courts lighting has also been changed to LED.

The Estates department have a Building Management system (Trend) which allows them to centrally control maximum temperatures for heating systems. Currently 72% of our buildings are on this system. Smart meters are also installed across the site.

Plant rooms have been reviewed and additional lagging has been installed.

We have data for each School building of both the gas and electric carbon emissions. By sharing this data with the community, we hope that this will provide additional focus in driving our emissions down. We have 80 buildings – the charts show the 10 highest usage buildings with the other 70 combined within the orange band.

Our Plans for the Future

With regard to our current building developments:

• The Senior School Dining Hall is the second highest user of electricity across the School sites. A solar array is to be installed in the 22/23 academic year on the Dining Hall roof to enable c15% of the electricity to be provided from a sustainable source.

• The Senior School Swimming Pool is the highest user of both gas and electricity across the four sites. We are exploring opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of the pool including the possible installation of a solar array and an air source heat pump. This will be a high priority for the 23/24 academic year. In the meantime, we will instal inverters on to the boilers to reduce energy use.

• Winterfold Penryn Hall – plans are being developed for a new School hall. These will include a sustainable heat source in order that Winterfold can reduce its dependence on oil.
• Page House requires external maintenance to the cladding and windows of the “White building”. The windows will be replaced with new energy efficient double glazed units and the cladding is to be replaced with a sustainable Living Green Wall.

• Laundry and Grounds – both of these buildings have been identified as future net zero buildings. Plans will be developed to consider options.

The LED replacement programme will continue. In the 22/23 academic year, all lighting in Kyteless, the Sports Arena and the Administration block will be changed. We will continue to comply with all ESOS and SECR reporting requirements.

We will review all radiators around the School and add temperature monitoring valves where possible to allow local control (maximum temperatures will be set by BMS).

We aim to undertake thermal image surveys and obtain EPC ratings for our buildings to ensure that we remain focussed on the highest priorities.

One of our main achievements so far is that none of our waste goes to landfill sites. We have a reputable waste management partner, B&M Waste who assist the School in ensuring that all of our waste is disposed of responsibly:

• All recycled waste goes to a Recycling Centre
• All food waste goes to an Anaerobic Digestion Waste Management site.
• All metal is recycled by a local metal contractor.
• All cardboard is compacted on site and 100% recycled. This includes a significant amount of packaging from Catering and boarder deliveries.
• All general (non recycled) waste goes to incineration and generates refuse derived fuel (RDF).
• No waste goes to landfill.

We have installed recycling stations into the Prep School and all Senior Day and Boarding Houses to encourage the community to recycle. Plastic drinking bottles have been banned from School. We have improved the digitalisation of the School which has had a significant impact in reducing the volume of paper waste.

General Waste per year =137 tonnes

Whilst our carbon is low due to responsible recyclying, we remain concerned about the volume of general waste not being recycled at source.

Food Waste per year =194 tonnes

Our Plans for the Future

Our overall aim is to reduce waste by 5% in the 22/23 year.

Our Eco Committees are committed to trying to reduce plate waste. There will be a number of new initiatives in 22/23 led by our pupils to encourage their peers to act responsibly and avoid food waste.

Our Catering partners, Holroyd Howe are committed to reducing food preparation waste. This will be a real area of focus in 22/23. They are monitoring, recording and tracking waste to inform menu production planning. They are also looking to re-use products which are wasted in other recipes eg bananas, potatoes, leaves. All food waste will continue to be separated from general waste to go to the School’s Anaerobic Waste site. All other products eg tins and boxes are recycled to minimise the volume of general waste.

Our catering partners are introducing new initiatives regarding portion sizes to encourage our pupils to avoid plate waste.

Further recycling stations will be introduced across the School. As a priority, we will seek to install stations in external areas. We will continue to educate the community about the importance of recycling.

This includes:

• Staff and families travelling to and from School
• School Transport for games, trips, activities etc
• Estates and Grounds Transport

Whilst our families and our staff will make individual decisions about sustainability, the School needs to support them by providing opportunities for carbon reduction wherever possible.

As technology develops with Minibuses, Buses and Grounds equipment, the School will continue to review all vehicle and equipment provision to ensure that sustainable changes are made.

Our Achievements so far

The Estates team use an electric van to distribute post and parcels across the School campuses.

The Grounds and Gardening teams have moved over to electric utility vehicles to transport equipment around the sites.

The Grounds and Gardening teams at both the Senior and Prep Schools will not be using any petrol machines by the end of January 2023.

The School has just taken delivery of a Dennis ES-34R, which is an electric 34-inch rotary mower, replacing the petrol equivalent. 2023 is the first year of a four-year programme to change four large petrol mowers to electric. This plan will then extend to Winterfold.

The Grounds team have a replacement policy to replace other equipment, such as chainsaws. leaf blowers, hedge cutters, with electric equivalent. Approximately 60% of all equipment is now electric.

Our plans for the future

The School transport team and the Sports teams will seek to reduce carbon by sharing transport wherever possible for sports fixtures and avoiding the situation where large buses are used to transport a small number of pupils.

We are seeking to install electric charging points in the Staff car parks and in the Grounds / Estates yards to provide for further conversion to electric in the future.

We believe that it will not be long until electric minibuses are introduced on the market. We are watching this development closely as we have a significant number of minibuses used for the daily School home transport service. The Grounds team are also monitoring the market for developments in electric (or hydrogen) tractors and sit on mowers.

As and when Estates and Grounds vans need replacing, we will consider replacing with electric models. We are encouraging teams to walk rather than use vehicles whenever it is possible.

We will continue to encourage our families to share school runs or to use the School transport service. We will continue to promote the tax efficient “cycle to work” scheme for all staff.

We are extremely fortunate as we have beautiful natural grounds across our four Schools. We also have a Grounds team who are totally committed to managing, protecting and enhancing the natural habitats across our estate. They are also very active in developing planting schemes to offset the carbon generated across the site.

Our pupils are also very engaged in biodiversity projects through the Eco Committees, the Gardening Clubs and the Forest School activities.

One significant ongoing achievement is that all grounds waste is composted and recycled across our four sites.

'Badger Cam'

Our Achievements so far

• Forest Schools are well established in Bromsgrove Prep School, Winterfold and Bromsgrove Pre-prep. Our pupils are involved in sustainable projects which involve schemes to plant trees, flowers and vegetables and to attract wildlife.

•Two new orchards have been established.

• In the 21/22 year, 2,500 trees and new hedgerow plants were introduced. In addition, 50,000 bulbs were planted.

• We have a number of wild flower meadows across the School.

• The School has a number of wildlife ponds which have been developed by our Gardeners in partnership with our Eco-Committees to encourage pond life.

• We have living sedum roofs on both the Sports Arena and the Senior Dining Room.

Our Plans for the Future

Key Focus on Food

The School’s first priority is to focus on reducing carbon in areas where they have direct control. It is far more complex to control carbon in our supply chain but the School is committed to working with our various partners to influence positive change. This includes areas such as food chains, stationery and uniform.

A key area of focus in the short term is Food. We are very pleased about developments that our Catering partner is looking to introduce with regard to sustainable meal provision. They will be working closely with our Eco Committees to start to introduce more plant-rich meal options and to educate our pupils about the environmental benefits of opting for more sustainable meals. They are already including plant-based proteins into most of the braised and sauce based dishes.

They are also embarking on a project to measure the carbon content of menus in order that our staff and pupils can have a better understanding of the impact that their food decisions have on the environment. Bromsgrove is set to be amongst the first to trial carbon labelling of menus.