The University’s specially built Medebridge solar farm powers up to 65% of the University of Manchester’s on campus electrical demands!  Through a collaborative project between University Living Labs, Professor Jen O’brien (Academic Lead for Sustainability) and the University’s Central Environmental Sustainability Team, students and colleagues helped showcase this milestone and raise awareness of renewable energy across campus.

With the help of local organisation Ardwick Climate Action, we launched the Sunny Campus engagement campaign to raise awareness of this amazing achievement within the Sustainability sector. 

From late March onwards, we distributed over 800 sunflower seeds to our staff and student community. Alongside encouraging members of the community to engage with growing their own flowers at home, regular planting sessions were hosted throughout late spring and early summer at the Community Allotment on our campus (located behind the Kilburn Building). With this, the project also worked to boost biodiversity and increase pollinators on our campus!  

Some seedlings were also distributed later in year, as sprouting plants were given out at the Universally Manchester Festival to members of the local community.  

With this year being one of the hottest summers on record, the campaign had plenty of obstacles to overcome. Extreme heatwaves in June left some of our on-campus flowers in a bad state, and some of our furry friends on campus found the heads to be a food source.  

Despite this, the heart of the project remained a testament to how nature, community and sustainability brings people together. Over the course of the entire campaign, more than 50 volunteers comprising both staff and students showed up to planting and potting sessions. The campaign branched off from department to department, with some teams organising their own internal growing competitions.  

We are looking forward to reworking this engagement campaign for the 2026/27 academic year.  

• Find out more about Medebridge solar farm.