Over the past two years, the VIP Carers Centre project has been a great success. Students developed a Sustainability Report that helped the Centre strengthen its relationship with the local authority and plan for future improvements. Building on this, there's now an opportunity to work with St Stephen’s Church in Lansdown, Bath, to:
- Assess how the church building can become more sustainable.
- Explore its potential as a community asset for both the parish and wider Bath area.
Background: In October 2023, students began working with the Bath Carers Centre to produce a sustainability report aligned with the local authority’s Net Zero 2030 goals. The report was accepted and led to continued collaboration. In 2024/25, students developed costed upgrade plans to support decarbonisation and sustainability efforts. Implementation is pending funding.
Students gained valuable experience in:
- Teamwork and project management
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
- Explain Sustainability and Net Zero principles
- Carbon assessment (Scopes 1, 2, and 3)
- Public engagement and communication
- Report writing and presentation skills
- Tackle sustainability challenges in historic buildings.
Impact: The project provided students with practical experience, enhanced career readiness, and fostered collaboration and leadership skills.
VIP 2025 – 2026 and Beyond
Part 1;
This initiative builds on the previous Carers Centre project and has two main goals:
Sustainability: Explore ways to reduce the church building’s carbon footprint. Community Use: Assess its potential as a valuable asset for both the parish and wider Bath community.
The project will be supported by BANES, and the Church of England’s Net Zero lead, among others.
Part 1: Building Sustainability St Stephen’s Church is a historic Bath landmark with high energy demands due to its size and design. To ensure long-term viability, the project will; Research sustainable upgrades to reduce energy use and carbon impact and Explore its potential as a visitor attraction, highlighting features like stained glass windows.
Activities:
- Engage with church leadership to understand current needs.
- Research similar buildings and their solutions.
- Identify challenges and plan project activities.
- Form a team, define roles, and create a project charter to guide collaboration.
Part 2;
St Stephen’s Church is a valuable asset to both the local parish and the wider Bath community. While it serves as a place of worship for around 5% of the week, it remains unused for the remaining 95%, presenting an opportunity to reimagine its role.
Project Goals:
- Congregation Engagement – Understand views on non-worship uses of the church, respecting values and beliefs.
- Community Involvement – Explore how Lansdown residents might use the space and what activities they’d support.
- Wider Use – Identify interest from other groups (e.g. Carers Centre, dementia support, loneliness relief) to use the church as a hub for wellbeing and connection.
Next Steps:
- Conduct surveys to gather insights.
- Analyse data to inform design ideas for a multi-use, sustainable space.
- Link findings to Part 1 of the project (carbon reduction and sustainability).
- Develop a report using systems thinking, risk and scenario planning, and costed proposals.
- Present findings to stakeholders.
- Plan fundraising and explore grant opportunities, aligned with Carers Centre goals.
Ideas from Church Open House:
- Create a welcoming space for community connection
- Support youth and eco-groups
- Encourage inclusive friendship and wellbeing activities
Sustainable Development Goals
SDGs: 13 Climate Action
Academic Director
Brian Rutter, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Prof. Jonathan Foyle, Dept of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Project Updates
The team produced a poster for end of Semester 2 AY2425
Read the teams latest blog post
Who can Apply?
This VIP welcomes applications from all University of Bath students who have an interest in climate change and supporting a local charity.
Applications for Semester 1 AY25/26 are open.