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UNITE STUDENTS SUSTAINABILITY
Unite Students is a huge community. We're home to more than 64,000 students across 22 cities in the UK. We’re the UK’s largest owner, manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation, providing high-quality accommodation for students to call home while studying at university.
We’re driven by our purpose, to create a Home for Success - a place where everyone has room to thrive. For our residents, homes are safe, supportive, inclusive and sustainable.
Our sustainability strategy focuses on making a positive impact in four key areas: young people, local communities, the environment and our colleagues.
Across these four areas, by 2030, we’ll:
Invest £15 million in supporting young people
Volunteer 15,000 hours to support local communities
Cut our operational energy consumption by a further10%
Strive for Platinum Investors in People
Young people: We’ll championing inclusion, wellbeing and success for young people in higher education.
Communities: We’ll show up and give back, so we can make a real impact and contribution to the communities we operate in.
The environment: We’ll continuously work to reduce our environmental impact and tackle climate change.
Our colleagues: We’ll foster a diverse and inclusive workplace where our people feel valued, supported, and empowered to grow – knowing they truly belong.
Support students transitioning to independent living, offering support if they need it, and a home where they can thrive while studying.
Boost inclusion and success for disadvantaged student groups, through our work with the Unite Foundation and research such as Living Black at University and the Applicant Index.
Provide high-quality paid opportunities to earn invaluable experience via industrial placements, internships, and our sector-leading Resident Ambassador programme.
Encourage employees to volunteer one day per year to support local community environmental and social projects in the areas we operate in.
Provide essential long-term partnerships that support charity partners in our buildings, such as Streets of Growth at Hayloft Point.
Work with our suppliers to maintain the highest labour standards and improve social impact within our supply chain.
Continue to purchase 100% renewable electricity.
Invest in our buildings to cut energy use, improve water efficiency, and reduce resource use and waste.
Working with our suppliers to reduce environmental impacts and carbon in our supply chain, such as the carbon footprint of constructing our new buildings, and the maintenance of our existing buildings.
Transition to net zero carbon across all our existing and new buildings, and ensure we’re consistently measuring success against the most ambitious standards.
Grow and foster a diverse team who represent the local communities we work in and build belonging and connection in our communities.
Look after our people through our commitment to the Real Living Wage.
Build a strong values-led culture, where our employees have a say in feel connected to and invested in what we do.
Students are at the heart of everything we do, and that includes our sustainability measures. Here’s how we’re working to make your university experience as sustainable as possible while living with us.
In 2025 we rolled out new recycling facilities to every flat, to help our residents recycle and reduce waste to landfill.
We’re installing smart heating controls across our estate to help keep residents comfortable while reducing carbon emissions and, so far, have installed them to around half our properties.
At Unite Students, all your energy bills are covered in the cost of your rent. But we also take responsibility for the carbon emissions - which are tracked and included in our sustainability pledges.
That means whenever you boil a kettle, charge your laptop, or turn on the heating, we’ll track the emissions to ensure we stay on target with our goals.
Our transition to renewable energy will reduce our students’ carbon footprints and contribute to a more sustainable future for the planet.
