Green Summit 2024: Barker backs Greater Manchester’s carbon neutral goals by 2038

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In the run up to the Greater Manchester Green Summit, we’re previewing what to expect on the day and hearing from our headline sponsors and official partners.

In this blog, Ed O’Connell, Partner at Green Summit 2024 official partner Barker, looks at how they are supporting GMCA via the Powering Our Schools project.

Click here to find out more about Green Summit 2024.

Barker is proud to support Greater Manchester’s Green Summit and its ambitious goal of achieving Net Zero by 2038. We believe that significant change starts with small actions. At Barker, we are contributing by assisting Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) schools in reaching Net Zero through our Powering Our Schools project, which leverages solar energy.

Powering Our Schools

The Powering Our Schools initiative helps schools install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, aiding the region’s journey towards carbon neutrality. Barker has been appointed as the ‘Owners Engineers’ for this project, providing comprehensive support to GMCA and schools from pre-contract surveys and conceptual design to procurement and project delivery.

Currently, the project includes 35 schools across six Greater Manchester authority areas, participating in a collective purchase tender. This scheme offers competitive bulk purchasing of solar panels, centralised support from GMCA, and high-quality installations by local suppliers.

Benefits of Solar PV for schools

Generating renewable energy on-site can significantly reduce a school’s carbon footprint and monthly energy costs. Solar PV installations provide a sustainable and cost-effective energy source. The more energy schools generate, the less dependent they are on energy from the grid and the less affected they are by rising energy prices. Typically, a school can generate 25% of its electricity on-site with solar PV panels. Savings on energy bills can be reinvested in staff and student projects. Additionally, renewable energy projects can be integrated into climate education, offering students hands-on learning experiences.

How sustainable is your school?

Take our sustainability self-assessment. It takes 5 minutes to answer a series of short questions, and you will receive a customised report instantly.

Barker Energy360™

At Barker, we develop and implement sustainability strategies to help schools and other organisations achieve their environmental goals. Sustainability is at the core of our operations, and our in-house specialists use the Barker Energy360™ process to support sustainability transformation. Visit our team at the Barker stand during the Green Summit on 9 December to discuss your decarbonisation plans.

Barker is a multi-disciplinary property consultancy that designs, creates and manages inspiring, sustainable spaces where people learn, work and play.

Our award-winning team of Chartered Architects, Building Surveyors, Engineers and Environmental Consultants will take care of all your design, project and programme requirements to bring your vision to life.

Take action…

To make a big change, we must all take small actions. Becoming greener and making an impact is easier than you might think. We have put together a range of blogs, articles, toolkits and checklists to help you make a start.

Explore resources

Although we set out with a simple mission to reduce plastic waste, we’ve quickly realised that it’s just one piece in the sustainability puzzle. One of the biggest, but most easily attainable actions we can achieve is to look at where our goods come from and reduce the carbon footprint needed to get a product from manufacturer to consumer. Many of the products we stock are made by local, independent manufactures, who provide us with a wide range of things from reusable face wipes, wax food wraps, face coverings, soap bars, plant pots, kitchen cloths/sponges and butty bags.

Carl from Lentils and Lather

Our aim is to start changing the habits of families in Greater Manchester by getting them to ‘borrow’ rather than ‘buy’ brand new toys. We’re making sure that toys can be reused again and again by children who need and want them – and they are not just sitting in a cupboard or under someone’s bed.

Kim from That Toy Thing

The best part of upcycling is that old furniture is often better made than the equivalent flat-packed furniture we get today and with a little bit of time, love and care, you can create a completely unique piece of furniture for your home that no one else will have. I also love that these pieces of furniture have a history of their own and through transforming and updating them we can breathe a new lease of life into them.

Hannah from Tread Softly

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is providing a further boost to the ambitions of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership to create a thriving, inspirational and connected landscape. It supports the recovery of wildlife through habitat creation and improvement as well as community recovery through providing opportunities for local people to develop skills, knowledge and beneficial connections to their local natural environment.

Jo Kennedy, Coordinator of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership

The reason I signed up to the Green Homes Grant scheme was two-fold, selfishly the measures will add value to the properties and make them more valuable in the future. But more importantly it benefits the tenants, keeping them warmer and prevents problems like damp and condensation. Ultimately measures like external wall insulations should keep tenants happier and ensure they remain in the house for longer.

Neil, Rochdale property owner

We used to think we didn’t have enough time to shop on our local market because we were working; how wrong we were?  We discovered it is an amazing place to shop for plastic free. We swapped tea bags for tea leaves and coffee jars for beans which we buy from The Market Grounds on Ashton Market – well worth a visit as the homemade cakes are delicious. All the stall holders have been amazing, not one of them minds us taking our containers to be filled with meat from the butchers. We get our bread, cheese, fruit and veg from the market too.

Julie from Ashton-under-Lyne

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

The Business Growth Hub has given us focus and extra knowledge. They’ve helped us form the base to grow sustainably and work efficiently as a team while making us conscious of our environmental impact as a business.

 

Ollie Birchall, Founder of Nutri Bar

I’ve not really been a cyclist throughout my life, more of a runner to be honest. And certainly not commuted. But I just thought if I’m going to change, surely now is the moment to change. I’m feeling the personal benefits of doing it. You just feel better when you come into work. It clears your head. There are benefits of cutting congestion, cleaning up the air. Everyone benefits when people cycle.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

We think our water fountain is INCREDIBLE, it’s the perfect place for people to ‘refill’ and help themselves to any of the free edibles we’ve got growing in Market Place. We’re so grateful to all the organisations that helped make this happen. Alongside the plastic free motion that was passed by council and helped us achieve our first Surfers Against Sewage objective and in turn our Plastic Free Community status, it shows real commitment in reducing plastic waste and supporting our community.

 

Pete Fillery, Plastic Free Rammy and Incredible Edible Ramsbottom

I guess I’ve always been what you would call a conscious consumer. I’ve always detested plastic bags, all of my skin care products at home are plastic-free, vegan, and sustainable. My toothbrush is made of bamboo, there’s no plastic anywhere in the house. Everything in the salon has to be vegan – that was the first rule for me. We started with one brand of haircare products that was vegan, organic, and Fairtrade, but the distributor in the UK was wrapping all of the deliveries in plastic, and it felt really needless, so we ditched them.

 

Rachael, Gronn eco-salon in Bury

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

 

Kat Mulhall, Victoria Baths Trust, Manchester

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