Social Sustainability

Our goal is to lead on sustainability and raise standards in the living sector. We sat down with our Head of Sustainability James Tiernan, who leads our Sustainability Strategy, to discuss what’s changed since he joined us in 2012, what our focus is for the next year and how we’re creating places that deliver a positive impact for our people, our communities and the planet.

Purpose-built student accommodation isn’t just a building – it’s about being a positive and engaged part of a local community. We spoke to Ivy Yarrow, Social Impact Manager at Unite Students, for a deeper dive into what social impact looks like at Unite Students and the benefits it provides for our employees, students, university partners, charities and local communities.

Lottie Randomly, Leapskills Consultant at Unite Students, shares additional research we’ve undertaken with school teachers to understand the needs of the current cohort, and how the findings from both this and the Index highlight the need to prepare young people for independent living at university.

One of the starkest findings from the Living Black at University report was the mental health challenge faced by Black students in UK student accommodation. Guest contributor Melissa Browne, Deputy Director of Commercial Services and Estates at University of Kent and Vice Chair of CUBO (College and University Business Officers), has seen the impact first-hand in her family – now, she shares her advice for parents of Black students on how to support them during their university experience.

Unite Students has today published ‘An asset, not a problem: Meeting the needs of neurodivergent students’, a report on the experiences of students who are autistic and/or have ADHD, created in collaboration with students from Bristol University Neurodiversity Society (BUNS). Here are some top-line findings about their accommodation and university experience.

What actions did our delegates take away from the Living Black at University Conference to create a more equitable living environment for Black students? Here are six key takeaways from the day.

Student belonging is the Higher Education's current hot topic - but what does it all mean for accommodation? Jenny Shaw hosts a panel of experts to weigh in on what their research and experience has shown about students feeling a sense of belonging in their accommodation, how inclusion and wellbeing intersect with that sense of belonging, and how student accommodation practitioners can facilitate a community in which students feel they belong.

It’s been a year since Unite Students published its Living Black at University report – here, we share what we’ve done since to support greater equity for Black students within the sphere of student accommodation, how we’ve partnered with others in the sector, and what’s still to come in 2023.