LAMDA
Sustainability review to launch a step-change strategy
LAMDA
Founded in 1861, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) is the oldest drama school in the UK. The Academy provides exceptional vocational training for music, theatre and film, and offers public examinations globally in performance, communication, public speaking and musical theatre.
Wishing to make a step change in their sustainability management, LAMDA approached Brite Green to assess their sustainability data and practices as a launch-pad for the next stage of their sustainability programme.
Outcomes
- ESG management improvement opportunities: Identified clear, practical improvements for environmental management and compliance that will support ISO 14001 certification.
- Enhance carbon reporting: Established carbon and energy reporting enhancements that will improve completeness and granularity of reporting.
- Opportunities to improve sustainability ratings: Highlighted key reporting improvements to support improved sustainability ratings in the People and Planet University League.
The situation
A challenging estate and emerging academic context
LAMDA were looking to make a step change in their sustainability management. Building on their long-standing programme of environmental initiatives and the recent publication of a new sustainability policy, the Academy were looking for insights to drive the next phase of their strategy.
LAMDA’s estate presents a unique challenge, encompassing both a modern, passively-heated building and a Victorian Wing with older systems and controls. In addition, there is growing focus on sustainability within the curriculum, both within formal teaching and in-formal learning opportunities. As such, LAMDA’s long-term aspirations are to establish a leading sustainability programme that addresses both academic and operational spheres.
The solution
A bespoke review using a range of sustainability frameworks
To provide LAMDA’s management team with the insights to set a new sustainability strategy, we undertook a detailed review of the Academy’s existing management practices using four standards and frameworks:
- Brite Green Sustainability Maturity Model: We assessed LAMDA’s existing sustainability management using our comprehensive proprietary ESG assessment tool, which analyses the maturity of an organisations’ sustainability management and performance.
- ISO 14001: 2015 Environmental Management Standard: We conducted a gap analysis against the ISO 14001 standard, the leading framework for environmental management systems, to define the route to certification.
- People and Planet University League: We reviewed LAMDA’s current practice against the scoring criteria for the leading Higher Education Sector sustainability league table, to identify opportunities to improve disclosures and rankings.
- Environmental Data Review: We analysed LAMDA’s energy and carbon reporting, assessing the granularity and completeness of data and the calculation processes against the GHG protocol.
Our approach
Personable, detailed and bespoke
When working with organisations, we take the time to really get to know them. We started the project with an in-person briefing for LAMDA’s sustainability committee and senior management team, talking the team through the process and what we need.
We prepared a detailed data request, which sets out the documentation and records that would be useful to review – we worked with the LAMDA team to collate relevant records that the Brite Green team then reviewed.
We also conducted a site walk to understand the specific impacts, challenges and opportunities from LAMDA’s estate, including the specialist teaching spaces and plantrooms. We supplemented the site walk with detailed interviews with key members of the LAMDA team, exploring their existing practices, their ambitions and challenges.
Drawing on both the in-person interviews and site assessment, and the review of the Academy’s records, we prepared a series of detailed reports, one for each of the frameworks we assessed LAMDA’s practices against. In addition, we prepared a summary report, setting out the aggregated insights and recommendations.
We met with LAMDA’s sustainability committee and senior management team to present the insights and recommendations, and to discuss how LAMDA can best build on the wide-ranging review to establish the next phase of their sustainability programme.ss.