SCHEME OVERVIEW

The SKArating Higher Education Environmental scheme offers universities, higher education institutions and project teams a practical and accessible framework for assessing the sustainability performance of fit-out and refurbishment projects across the campus estate. Designed specifically for the higher education sector, the scheme reflects the unique challenges and opportunities that university environments present — from the complexity of mixed-use estates and the demands of highly serviced technical spaces to the heightened expectations of students, staff and institutional leadership around sustainability performance and accountability.

Using a set of sector-specific Good Practice Measures, the scheme enables project teams to evaluate, benchmark and demonstrate environmental performance across key impact areas including energy, water, materials and waste. Whether you are refurbishing a lecture theatre, upgrading student social spaces, fitting out a new library or delivering a technically demanding laboratory environment, SKArating provides a clear, consistent and credible means of evidencing your sustainability commitments across every space type on campus.

The current Higher Education v1.0 scheme is live and available for use, with an updated version in development to align with Net Zero Carbon and 100% Circularity goals and expanding to cover the Life Sciences sector — ensuring the scheme remains at the forefront of sustainability good practice and keeps pace with the ambitions of these two sectors.

For estates teams and project managers working across higher education campuses, assessing projects through SKArating delivers tangible value beyond the individual assessment. It provides a structured means of tracking and improving sustainability performance across a diverse and complex estate — from standard teaching and social spaces through to specialist research facilities and highly serviced laboratories with significant energy and resource demands. Consistent use of the scheme across multiple projects builds a powerful and credible evidence base that supports institutional sustainability strategies, meets the expectations of funders, governing bodies and accreditation bodies, and demonstrates genuine environmental leadership to students, staff and the wider public.

Joining SKArating means joining a community of like-minded higher education estates professionals and industry partners committed to raising the bar for sustainable fit-out across the sector. Projects are registered via the SKArating online tool, giving your team immediate access to scheme resources, Good Practice Measures and assessment support.

KEY AIMS OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION SCHEME

  • To provide a sector-specific assessment tool that reflects the scale, complexity and diversity of higher education fit-out and refurbishment projects.

  • To drive measurable progress towards energy efficiency and resource management and recycling across higher education estates.

  • To enable universities and higher education institutions to assess and benchmark sustainability performance consistently across individual projects and wider estate strategies.

  • To support institutional sustainability commitments and provide credible evidence for students, staff, governing bodies and public reporting.

  • To encourage responsible procurement and supply chain accountability within higher education projects.

  • To position higher education institutions as leaders in sustainable fit-out practice, in line with current industry good practice and the expectations of students, staff and wider society.

THE HIGHER EDUCATION v1.0 GOOD PRACTICE MEASURES

For the full detail of the scheme criteria, scoping and assessment evidence required, download the full Good Practice Measures of this scheme at the button below.

Good Practice Measures (GPMs)

KEY SCHEME DETAILS

The SKArating Higher Education sustainability scheme provides a clear and practical framework for assessing the environmental sustainability of fit-out and refurbishment projects within university and higher education environments. Developed by and for the industry, the scheme recognises the unique complexity of higher education estates — from diverse building typologies and mixed-use spaces to the heightened expectations of students, staff and institutional stakeholders around sustainability leadership. The scheme sets out a series of Good Practice Measures across key environmental impact categories, enabling higher education project teams to evaluate, benchmark and demonstrate their sustainability performance in a consistent and credible way.


IMPACT CATEGORIES

The scheme covers the following environmental and one wellbeing impact categories:

  • Energy & Carbon
  • Water
  • Materials
  • Waste
  • Pollution
  • Wellbeing
  • Transport
  • Project Delivery
  • Ecology


SCHEME MEASURES

  • The HE v1.0 scheme contains 131 Good Practice Measures across 9 impact categories.
  • Each measure is weighted to reflect relative environmental impact.
  • Measures are either a yes/no decision, a performance benchmark, or a project process.
  • Projects are scored and awarded a SKArating of Bronze, Silver or Gold.

TRY THE SCHEME ON THE ONLINE TOOL

Follow the link below to the online tool; on this you can quickly register an account and then create a new project using the Higher Education v1.0 scheme! Registering and using the scheme on projects and completing them, is free and open to everyone.

SKArating Online Tool

SKArating ROADMAP TO 2030

The SKArating Board has published a Scheme Development and Updates Roadmap to 2030 to support industry and market alignment, and to inform strategic decision-making across stakeholders. The Roadmap sets out our ambition to deliver more frequent scheme updates that help drive the market, respond to the pace of industry change, and reflect growing client demand for performance.

Read about the SKArating Roadmap to 2030

CONTACT

If you have any questions or require further clarification, please contact us at [email protected]