Amey, a provider of complex facilities to the public sector, has run an energy reduction campaign across Barnsley and Bradford schools during Net Zero Week.
Amey is responsible for the facilities management of schools across Barnsley and Bradford, and during Net Zero Week ran an energy reduction campaign across a number of the sites. Barnsley Schools achieved 5.91% in carbon savings and Bradford achieved 5.4%, meaning a combined reduction of 1771kg CO2 across the schools that took part.
This is the second year Amey has run the campaign which involves posters, educational presentations, informative emailers, and the offer of school assemblies from Amey’s energy team. In 2022 the campaign was trailed with just two schools in Barnsley and this year it’s grown to staff and students from Outwood Academy Shafton, Outwood Academy Carlton, Darton Academy, Dearne Academy, Holy Trinity, Penistone Grammar and Netherwood School in Barnsley and Titus Salt School in Bradford.
The target was met by switching lights off, shutting down computers instead of leaving them on standby, and turning the biomass boilers down to a summer temperature of 75°, instead of the standard 85°.
Stephanie Hennebry, Operations Graduate at Amey Secure Infrastructure, said: “At Amey, we’re encouraged to bring forward any ideas that will have a positive impact on our business. When I heard about Net Zero Week last year, I really wanted our team in Barnsley to join in and challenge ourselves. I’m proud that we’ve been able to expand and pilot the campaign in Bradford this year too, it’s down to our team and the schools that got involved that made it such a success. I look forward to seeing what we can achieve by continuing these behaviours going forward and getting more schools involved next year.”
Cara Akroyd, Executive Principal, Outwood Grange Academies Trust said: “At our Academies we’re making it a priority to educate our staff and students on the importance of reducing our carbon footprint. We have Eco Groups where we encourage people to be more considered in their choices and Amey’s Net Carbon Week initiative gave us an opportunity to bring this work into the spotlight again. It was a great campaign to be involved in and to engage the students, we’ll be continuing the mindfulness around the energy we use all year round.”
Alan Crossley, Regional Technical Service Manager at Amey, commented how the company is working towards ambitious targets when it comes to reducing its carbon emissions for clients and within Amey’s core business properties alike: “We recognise the urgency and focus needed to reduce emissions and so we’re working towards reaching carbon net zero by 2040. The work our Barnsley and Bradford teams have been proactively engaging in is a great example of how collectively we can contribute to achieving this. Amey’s Social Value Plan envelops our commitment which is not to simply offset our emissions but realise absolute reductions.”