The key source of the College’s direct emissions are its buildings. To address this, the Buildings Committee has become the Sustainability and Buildings Committee and commissioned a heat decarbonisation plan to guide our programme of works over the next decade. This survey is now informing our priorities for removing gas boilers and improving insulation with a view to ensuring that we can make rapid progress to decarbonising our operational sites. Corpus is dedicated to reducing the energy use in its buildings and decarbonising by 2050 at the latest.
Completed Projects
Corpus has been consciously aiming to integrate sustainability into its buildings projects for some time now. For instance, the Al Jaber MBI Auditorium was constructed to be heated by an air source heat pump, which is hidden in the terrace above. Furthermore, our Lampl Building site has a combined heat and power plant which reduces emissions by generating heat and power simultaneously. Likewise, our Banbury Road properties have solar panels which generate part of our electricity needs on site.
The College is also among the first Oxford Colleges to have removed all gas appliances in its kitchen, a key part of gas use reduction.
Similarly, the programme of upgrading old sash windows in Gentleman Commoners’ Quad was completed during summer 2022 with a view to improving the thermal efficiency of our heritage buildings. The same is the case with the recent refurbishment of the Porter’s Lodge.
Sustainable Buildings
Corpus considers the environmental impacts of any new building projects, aiming to ensure that any new developments or refurbishments adhere to best-on-class sustainability standards.
To read more on Corpus approach to sustainability read the College’s Sustainability Policy here.
The Spencer Building
The new Spencer Building, home to the College’s Special Collections, is a landmark achievement in sustainable design. It is one of the very few libraries in the UK, and among the first at Oxford, to be certified to the rigorous Passivhaus standard, an especially notable feat within a Grade I listed site. The building’s design reduces its energy demand to just 15 kWh/m²/year, far exceeding the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge benchmark. This was achieved through a combination of high-performance insulation, triple-glazed windows, rooftop photovoltaic panels, and an innovative design that uses the thermal mass of the neighbouring wall to create a stable, low-energy archival environment. The Spencer Building demonstrates the College's profound commitment to safeguarding both its historic collections and its future environmental legacy.
For more information about the building, look at the project’s website here.
Read architect Clare Wright's article in the August 2025 issue of the Sundial here.
