The University of York

Constructing Excellence

York is a true success story within the UK higher-education sector. Celebrating their 60th birthday they have powered their way to a consistently high ranking in the UK and are one of just six post-war universities to have appeared in the world top 100 rankings.

Clear and consistent leadership, their ambitious ‘Vision for York’ strategy to transform their campus is aligned to the Construction Playbook key policies.

Passionate about their campus and creating the right spaces to help students and staff to achieve excellence, their ‘Campus for the Future’ mission gives staff, students, and visitors the best experience during their time at York. Their vision seeks to reimagine the campus whilst staying true to the original principles of a neighbourhood feel. Underpinned by their master plan principles centred around making excellent and inclusive places for everyone.

Three Winning Facts:
  1. Despite facing many challenges, the University of York have successfully undertaken a bold transformation of their estate through their ‘Campus of the Future’ strategy, creating excellent and inclusive spaces, world class research facilities, and vibrant spaces to support new ways of working. Their journey with their supply chain demonstrates what can be achieved by working in a collaborative non-adversarial way, developing a clear but stretching vision, whilst encouraging innovation. As a relatively new university they have achieved some big results in a short period of time. Their approach and fully integrated team have successfully improved the student experience and working environment for their staff. Sustainability is embedded within all decision making, and they are making significant progress towards becoming carbon neutral in 2030, they reduced their Scope 3 emissions by 41% and saved 592tonnes of carbon in 2022.
  2. They are implementing a number of transformational initiatives to improve the student experience, boosting their research capability and income, and driving inclusivity and diversity. This includes their new net zero carbon student centre and the use of digital collaboration tools and MMC to deliver high-quality projects faster, greener and safely. They are a Green Campus and continue to innovate, their single use coffee cups, latte levy and 5,400+ cycle spaces underline their commitment.
  3. Community is a key priority for the University, they are ranked 17th in the world for partnerships, and they leverage these to deliver exceptional social value outcomes, the University contributed £603.5m within the Yorkshire and Humber economy. The six capital projects delivered by Tilbury Douglas have supported a £138m injection within the local economy and every project had a bespoke Community Investment Plan. This included placing a minimum of 75% of subcontracts with local suppliers and 80% with MSMEs. These contracts safeguarded over 1,000 local jobs and supported over 200 apprentices. Over 22,000 hours of community volunteering have been delivered by the University.