The University of Padua has been awarded the Education Prize at the fifth edition of the Compraverde Award – Buygreen Veneto

The Veneto Region awarded the University of Padua the Compraverde Veneto Award – Education Category, now in its fifth edition, for the following reason, ‘The three proposed competitions reveal particular focus on recovery and redevelopment of urban spaces, on soil consumption, and on compliance with MEC (minimum environmental criteria). These three points are enriched by the presence of requirements and incentives linked to international certifications in the sector.’

The award underscores the University of Padua’s commitment to sustainability, implemented with project UniPadova Sostenibile and the adoption of the Charter of Commitments for Sustainability 2018-2022, which identifies seven areas of action that relate to the environmental, social and economic dimensions (resources, environment and energy, mobility and transport, well-being and sports, inclusion, equal opportunities, education), consistently with the UN 2030 Agenda. At the same time, a series of monitoring and reporting actions were initiated to verify and measure the impact of their actions, to communicate them and discuss them in a constructive exchange of good practices with other bodies and institutions.

Building and property management interventions play a priority role in this context, as the built heritage and construction activity play a decisive role in achieving various national, European and international ‘green’ targets.

The University of Padua’s Intervention Plan for building development, which envisages an economic commitment of 270 million euro over the three-year period 2022-2024, has prioritised the recovery of urban spaces located in the city’s historic centre through sustainable design practices. Management of the University’s building heritage aims to reduce the impact of facilities on the environment through the annual calculation of the carbon footprint, environmental performance analysis and energy efficiency, also with the help of state-of-the-art systems and technologies.

The University of Padua has also committed itself, as contracting party, to introduce, within the tendering procedures, ecological criteria studied to guarantee high environmental performance of the buildings undergoing redevelopment by combining the need for building expansion and rationalisation of its presence in the city. The core objective is to reduce its emissions to zero.

The three projects proposed by the University of Padua for the Compraverde Veneto Prize are just a few examples of a sensitive approach to ecological transition issues, which witness the need to integrate these aspects into all phases of building interventions.

In particular, for the new building in Via Gradenigo, the design competition envisaged rewarding, among other things, the best professional qualities and experience of the design team, developed in the areas of environmental sustainability, optimisation of energy performance, and reduction of energy or raw material consumption throughout the building’s life cycle.

For the partial renovation of the Via Campagnola complex, which is a major urban redevelopment process, the call for tenders attached particular importance to environmentally friendly green building works and to maximising green space, as the compendium will be accessible for use not only by university staff and students but also by the entire community.

Finally, the call for tenders to design and construct the new Engineering Hub at the Trade Fair appropriately evaluated offers that were technologically sustainable, environmentally friendly, and intended to reduce the consumption of energy or raw materials, besides aiming at certifying the building through the LEED protocol, Platinum level.

Indeed the winners of these tenders demonstrated, in their contractual fulfilments, that they actually support the administration in working, through actions and initiatives, towards a shift to a virtuous model of sustainability.