University of Reading
Internal audit for Energy and Environmental Management System
University of Reading
The University of Reading is one of the UK’s top universities and a leader in sustainability teaching, research and operations. Regularly included at the top of UK and global university rankings for teaching and research quality as well as sustainability practices, the university is based on three award-winning green campuses in Reading and Henley-on-Thames.
With sustainability a core pillar of the university’s strategy, Reading operates an integrated environmental and energy management system, certified to ISO 14001 and ISO 50001. Since 2020, we have worked in partnership with the university to conduct rigorous internal audits and compliance reviews of their management system.
Outcomes
- Supporting improvements in management and performance: Our internal audit support has provided an expert external perspective, providing reassurance of conformance and the status of the system.
- Sharing insights from within and outside the sector: We’ve drawn on our extensive experience to share good practice and insights from across the sectors we work in, supporting innovation and continuous improvement.
- Continued certification: The detailed audits have helped to keep the university’s management system working well, supporting continued certification to ISO 14001 and ISO 50001.
The situation
Leverage external perspective for management systems
The University of Reading have made sustainability a key part of their vision as an institution. With this university-wide mission, they have incorporated sustainability across their teaching, research and operations. Their efforts have led to well-deserved recognition, including being named Sustainable University of the Year 2025 in the Times Good University Guide and being ranked No. 1 in the 2023 UK People and Planet University League.
Innovation and continuous improvement underpin the sustainability team’s approach, and in 2020 they sought an audit partner to bring additional insights to their environmental and energy management systems. Brite Green were appointed and have supported the team since.
Brite Green have audited the University’s Energy & Environmental Management System for a numbers of years, always providing a thorough assessment of the system’s effectiveness in a friendly and constructive manner. Their audits help ensure our management system doesn’t just tick along, but is preparing us for an evolving landscape – and we welcome their continued support.
The solution
Delivering a robust internal audit programme
We provide the university with a bespoke audit programme, tailored to their specific requirements. This included:
- Risk-based audit plans: We plan each audit based on key areas of risk, impact and opportunity. We take into account previous audit findings, changes in legislation and operations, relevant compliance obligations, and the scale of environmental impact in order to develop a detailed audit plan.
- Expert audit teams with sector experience: We design audit teams to match the requirements of each client. For the University of Reading, our audit team is led by our Managing Partner, Darren Chadwick, who has a wealth of experience in higher education and is a lead ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 auditor.
Our approach
Detailed, collaborative, and focused on improvement
Unlike certification audits, management system internal audits can go beyond assessing conformance with the standards and include detailed advice and more specific guidance for improvement. As such, we approach internal audits for the university collaboratively, and take every opportunity to share our extensive experience to support improving the quality of management and environmental performance.
We kick off each audit cycle with a planning meeting with the university’s sustainability team. We discuss emerging issues, risks and opportunities and agree the focus areas for the audit. We then prepare a detailed audit plan, setting out the timings and key areas to review, and our team work closely with the sustainability team to finesse the plan to align with the availability of university staff.
The multi-day internal audit is undertaken on-site at the university’s beautiful Whiteknights, London Road, and Greenlands campuses. We start the audit with an opening meeting with key members of the sustainability team and university management team. We discuss the audit objectives and the plan for each day.
The audit process reviews management practices across all aspects of the university’s operations, including teaching, research, lab management, grounds and biodiversity, catering, maintenance and construction.
Our audit approach is focused on transparency, rigour and building honest and trust-based relationships. As we conduct audits of the individual functions, departments and processes, our audit teams seek to put members of staff and faculty at ease, communicate clearly and seek to build up a fair picture of management practices. We tend to describe our observations as we proceed, supporting university staff in building a full picture of current practice, including the relevant challenges and context for each area. We also seek out supporting objective evidence, ensuring our audit findings are robust and fair.
This approach has helped us to really get to understand the university’s mission, programmes and culture, and build a long-lasting productive relationship with the team. As a result, our audit reports for the university are detailed, informative, and specific, providing more value and insight than is possible from the certification audit process.