The Manchester College The Manchester School of Building

A social approach to sustainability

Claire Daviescsdavies@themanchestercollege.ac.uk

The Manchester College

• The College commitment to sustainability includes

– Organisational and financial

– Social

– Environmental

• The Manchester Colleges Group

– > 40,000 learners

– 102,996m2 floor space covering 14 campuses

The Further Education Business

• Our business is about people

– Influencing lives

– Developing potential

– Broadening horizons

• The conflict of work to jobs

– Making our learners resilient and resourceful

– Providing opportunities for transition

The Welcomb St Story

…this project, on a scrap of land at the edge of The Manchester School of Building shows what can be done by a committed group of individuals with a £5,000 investment, and a shared vision….

• Started in January – opportunity use a piece of land to create a garden, our learners got ‘stuck in’

• Supported by– Micheala – Youth Worker who gave her inspiration and passion– David Shadbolt – who brought with him willing learners and used the area for

assessments– Our learners – from many different curricular areas, levels of ability and

behaviours– The Sustainability Team, Claire & Cath – providing assistance, budgetary advice

and administrative support.

The Manchester School of BuildingBefore

The Manchester School of Buildingwork in progress

The Manchester School of Buildingafter (but still work in progress)

Our learners

Using recycled or reusing material where available• Areas of learner involvement with this one project:

– Entry Cert & Multi trade cleared the land. – Construction/Brickwork built raised beds.– Ground work completed the block paving.– Joinery built bird boxes, benches, wall planters and trellises.– Tilling has decorated the area with mosaics.– Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) Groups,– Preparation For Independent Work (PIFW) students came on

site and planted the first raised bed.– Curriculum assessments– Team building and staff development, including natural building

methods (getting muddy)

The Learner Experience

• Affecting lives – Bringing in our learners

• Adding value to the learner experience– an area for learners to be actively and creatively engaged with opportunities to learn newly acquired skills

• Adding value– cross curricular, team working, non-formal learning environments to help

support our learners with complex needs

• Opportunities for 1:1 discussion or ‘time out’ with Youth Workers

• Improving the look and feel of the campus– Learners taking pride in their work – And pride in their campus

Behaviour

• Affecting lives

– Engaging some of our most challenging learners in a non-formal learning environment

• Michelle Rigg, Curriculum Lead Manager for our Youth Work Team

“This project has supported learner engagement from a diverse range of curricular areas & has helped our learners to stay in college and to stay focussed on their studies”

Opportunities & Next Steps

• Ongoing, but work planned to continue work during the next academic year

• Opportunities for cross-curricular involvement– Art and design, mosaics designs and plans from

Art & Design curricular

– Learners at Construction centre follow plans and put designs onto the walls

– Building a pizza oven from cob – tutors trained, learners to ‘have a go’

Lifeskills to Support Individual & Community Resilience for an uncertain future

Wider College Behaviour

• NUS Green Impacts

• Staff and learner sustainability champions

Links and resources

• http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_phillips_creative_houses_from_reclaimed_stuff

• Earthships: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9jdIm7grCY&list=PL9AD20D6C2FBD4D78

• Passivhaus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_houseThe route to resource efficiency in housing design and retrofit.

• Amory Lovins: – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sOtrGkNLIw&list=PL746C

B5EE6DDCDA73– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5txQlEI7bc&index=3&list

=PL746CB5EE6DDCDA73