Today Rt Hon Greg Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change visited The Green student accommodation scheme at Bradford University and was inspired by the project that was completed in September 2011 calling it “environmentally outstanding student housing”.

On his trip to the north that included visits to the Green Build Expo in Manchester and Baildon Place homes in Leeds as part of his promotion of the Government’s Green Investment Bank (GIB), he was given a tour of our student accommodation scheme by Vice-Chancellor Mark Cleary and GWP Architecture Director John Wybor.

Mr Barker said: “It is a very exciting project because it is pushing boundaries for innovative low-carbon buildings and also doing that cheaper than building a bog standard student development. That shows that low-carbon developments are smashing through economic barriers that have held them back in the past. Gone are the days when low-carbon buildings would be nice to have but expensive.

“The Yorkshire Post is absolutely right to shine a spotlight on this type of green success because it not only makes us feel good that we are doing the right thing by the planet but over the last two years the low-carbon goods and services sector has accounted for nearly a third of all growth in the economy and is growing by around five per cent year on year when other sectors are struggling.”

The Green won last years Built Environment – Projects Over £1m category in the Yorkshire Post Environment Awards.

John Wybor said: “It was great to win the award. It is nice to be recognised for trying to improve things. The Green is not just highly sustainable, anyone can do that at a vast cost, it is also very affordable and that is the important message.”

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Extracts taken from the Yorkshire Post article – ‘Bank ‘can help deliver region’s green hopes