New City College announced as sustainability Finalist in UK-wide Beacon Awards

New City College has been announced as a Finalist in the prestigious Association of Colleges (AoC) Beacon Awards 2025/26, recognised for its outstanding commitment to sustainability and climate action.

The college won through preliminary rounds against other colleges across the country to receive the Finalist accolade in The Sustainable Energy First Award for Education for Sustainable Development category.

NCC is one of only three colleges nationwide to achieve this distinction. The Beacon Awards celebrate the very best in further education, recognising innovation, excellence, and impact across the sector.

A spokesperson for New City College said: “Our sustainability model is replicable, inclusive, and future-facing and it positions the college as a true climate action leader and a beacon for education for sustainable development.”

The Finalist recognition highlights NCC’s success in embedding sustainability across curriculum, operations and culture – from reducing its carbon footprint to transforming lessons, engaging students and staff, and sharing best practice across the education community.

Through its strategic commitment to sustainability, New City College has:

• Transformed and integrated climate action into every aspect of college life
• Achieved a 23% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions, saving over 600 tonnes of CO₂e
• Developed a comprehensive framework that includes curriculum transformation, carbon reduction, student engagement, staff development, and community collaboration
• Embedded sustainability across all areas of the curriculum, with green skills and climate literacy tailored to vocational and academic pathways
• Embarked on an ambitious programme of replacing gas boilers with air source heat pumps (operational at two campuses with a third underway) and introducing high efficiency VRF units
• Empowered students to lead climate campaigns and developed certificated carbon literacy super curricular programmes for students
• Embedded sustainability into staff CPD and teaching, with over 4,000 sustainability CPD hours delivered so far

NCC has also shared best practice nationally, contributing case studies, showcasing environmental work at major conferences, and welcoming visits from other colleges.

The Finalist announcement was made at the AoC Annual Conference on 18 November 2025. Assessors will now visit New City College and the other 2 finalists (Nottingham College and South Eastern Regional College), between December and January to decide who will be crowned overall winner.

This latest recognition follows NCC’s success in the 2023/24 Beacon Awards, where it achieved finalist status in both The Inenco Award for Education for Sustainable Development and The AoC Award for Widening Participation.