Westmorland and Furness Council’s Cabinet has approved a new Sustainable Building Strategy, which will shape the way council buildings and schools are refurbished and constructed in the years ahead.
The strategy sets out clear policy requirements on sustainability and energy reduction for all corporate and maintained school estate projects. It will ensure that every refurbishment or new build project helps reduce carbon emissions, improves energy efficiency and supports the Council’s ambition to reach net zero carbon emissions for Scope 1 and 2 by 2037.
Tackling climate change is a key priority for the council. The strategy builds on their Carbon Management Strategy 2024–2029, which identified that emissions from council buildings and vehicles made up 13% of the organisation’s carbon footprint in the baseline year. Most of these came from heating and electricity use in schools, offices and care homes.
To meet its targets, the Council will prioritise reducing heat loss in buildings, moving away from natural gas heating, installing more efficient systems and technologies, and generating renewable energy through measures such as solar panels on suitable buildings.
The Sustainable Building Strategy provides a clear framework for all projects, adopting two approaches depending on the scale of the scheme:
• Strategy A – for minor refurbishment, maintenance and small extensions
• Strategy B – for major refurbishment, repurposing, new build and large extensions
Both approaches are guided by ten core sustainability objectives, covering issues such as energy use, transport, materials, waste, water, biodiversity, climate resilience, wellbeing and social value.
All projects will be assessed against these objectives using a Sustainability Tracker, ensuring that progress can be measured and reported consistently.
Cllr Andrew Jarvis, Westmorland and Furness Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, said:
“Embedding sustainability from the start of every project will deliver key benefits for communities by helping to cut energy use and carbon emissions across the council’s property portfolio.
“It will provide a consistent and transparent approach for projects, encouraging innovation and best practice in building design, minimising waste and support more resilient and more efficient public buildings.”
Cllr Giles Archibald, Cabinet Member for Climate, Biodiversity and Environmental Services, said:
“This new strategy combined with our existing, Carbon Management Strategy and action plans, gives us a clear and consistent framework to ensure all our buildings from schools to care homes and offices are more sustainable, more efficient and more resilient. It will help us achieve our net zero goals while also creating better environments for people who live, work and learn in Westmorland and Furness.”