The Cycle Friendly Employer (CFE) accreditation is an international benchmark for active travel in the workplace. Organisations can achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold accreditation within the scheme after being assessed and audited.

The audit evaluates an organisation’s cycling culture, infrastructure, facilities and policies that enable colleagues to cycle to and for work. Some of the key initiatives that contributed to the gold accreditation include:

• Bi-weekly Dr Bike sessions
• Our cycle repair stands on the city and Helix campuses
• Our extensive network of Sheffield stands and secure stores
• Provision of the Cycle to Work Scheme
• Our partnerships with local charities and organisations that support cycle commuting in Newcastle, including WATBike and Cycling UK
• Our active Bicycle Users Group on Microsoft Teams

Professor Jane Robinson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Business, Partnerships & Place and the Executive Board lead for sustainability said: “The Gold Cycle Friendly Employer accreditation recognises the progress we have made to date in enabling active travel at Newcastle University and supports our commitment to be sustainable in all that we do. As someone who regularly cycles to work, I know the difference this initiative has made and hope it will encourage more people to travel sustainably in the future.”

Dr Alistair Ford, Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering and member of the University’s Sustainability Committee and Bicycle User Group, said: “The Gold Cycle Friendly Employer accreditation is a recognition of the hard work that the University is doing to enable staff and students to travel sustainably to campus. The accreditation demonstrates great progress but importantly it also requires continual improvement to ensure more colleagues feel able to cycle in the future. We will continue to work on our own campus, and in partnership with the City Council and with organisations in Newcastle, to enable more people to get to work, study, or visit by bike.”

We will continue to encourage and support the utilisation of active travel for both our colleagues and students that commute to campus and use the recommendations from Cycling UK to drive continual improvement.

Cycling UK

Cycling UK are a charity that have been championing cycling for over 140 years with a vision for happier, healthier and greener lives. They have served as the UK's sole auditor for the Cycle Friendly Employer programme on behalf of The European Cyclists’ Federation since 2017.

We look forward to continuing to work with Cycle Friendly Employer so we can learn from the organisation and expand our support for active travel commuters.