Picture this: your firm has just completed a low-carbon retrofit of a tired school building. The EPC rating has leapt, the new solar panels are saving money and reducing impact on the environment. Yet the real buzz comes a month later, when a group of year 11’s release a two-minute video explaining not only how you slashed the site’s CO₂ but how a new space you’re firm is re-developing can be utilised by the local community.
Parents share it, local media agree to run a story and a councillor references it at a planning meeting. Suddenly your technical triumph is a community talking-point, a talent magnet and a standout line in the CSR report. A LinkedIn post on the projects success has gone viral – resulting in a flurry of new enquiries and connection requests.
That virtuous loop, linking project data, youth voice and compelling content, is exactly what Fluent Media exists to engineer. Based on our ongoing work with Camden Council and Google as they prepare to launch their new HQ which will accommodate 7,000 staff, we’ve a developed framework for companies focused on sustainability to co-create meaningful, curriculum-linked projects- aligning a need to engage young people and CSR issues.
This short video documents our work with Google and their CSR/ student engagement objectives in the borough of Camden and Islington. Click here to read the full case study and see other films produced as part of this campaign.
Case Study – Atlas Copco Group
When Atlas Copco asked us to film the revival of its empty Technology House, the brief went beyond BREEAM scores and recycled materials. The brief was to show that sustainability can be felt in everyday moments, coffee in a sun-lit plaza, a lunchtime gym session, ideas exchanged on a sweeping staircase-while still meeting net-zero and budget targets.
Designers and staff explain why light and flexible “touch-points” matter; only then do we drop the carbon data and delivery deadline. In under three minutes this film attracts talent, reassures employees and frames Atlas Copco Group as leaders in the drive towards net-zero, people-centred workplaces and sustainable innovation.
The same people-first, impact-second logic powers the Story-Led Engagement Framework below. In this article, we unpack the key reasons companies that design, build or decarbonise the built environment should weave student-led storytelling into their communications strategy.
Empower students to tell their own sustainability stories.
1. Compelling Stories Accelerate Retrofit Programmes and Strengthen ESG Credentials
A project delivered by The Young Foundation about community-first engagement around domestic retrofits reinforces why builders and sustainability firms should collaborate with local people (including students).
- Scale of the challenge: London must upgrade 2.2 million homes to hit net-zero targets, helping to protect residents from climate impacts such as heatwaves.
Relevance: The demand for retrofit expertise is huge. This presents an opportunity for construction-focused companies to engage schools through projects involving hands-on learning. - Participatory, paid research model: A project that trains and pays peer researchers (local residents) to design interviews, run workshops and analyse findings helped to upskill young people while documenting the impact of their sustainability initiatives. By paying residents to attend workshops (three hours, £40 each) where they co-create ideas for making homes more energy-efficient and affordable.
Relevance: Such an approach yields actionable insights, supports the shift toward the skills-based workforce and create compelling stories that accelerate retrofit programmes, strengthening ESG credentials.
2. Organisations are Shifting from “Jobs” to “Skills” to Stay Agile
Deloitte’s study on the rise of skills-based organisations (SBOs) reinforce the case for bringing pupils into live green-infrastructure projects.
Firms need fresh skills and new mindsets to deliver their sustainability roadmaps. When companies involve students in the design process, they can map real sustainability tasks: energy audits, carbon-data visualisation, biodiversity surveys- to the specific skills they’ll need in future workforce. That creates a direct pipeline from classroom to site.
3. Community Engagement Projects Help to Increase Long-term Public Support
A 2024 Acadia Center report found that infrastructure schemes with meaningful local participation allow residents to feel heard and see the direct benefits. Timelines shorten and trust compounds, as such projects face fewer legal challenges.
When you bring schools into the process early—through site tours, design sprints or interactive, engaging approaches to students understanding and monitoring data, you generate buy-in which helps to build credibility and relevance with trustees and leadership teams.
4. Gen Z Want Purpose- and They’re Watching Your Actions
Research by Deloitte shows many young employees are sceptical around where businesses really stand on the values they say define them. Authentic, ground-level stories, especially those told by peers, help to close that gap.
- 94% of Gen Z’s and 92% of millennials say feeling a sense of purpose is critical to job satisfaction and well being.
- 50% say they have rejected a role or project that clashed with their personal values.
- 74% of both generations say an employer’s community involvement and wider societal impact are critical when choosing where to work.
Involving students in real-world sustainability upgrades proves that your organisation lives up to it’s CSR and community engagement objectives. Co-creating energy-saving or retrofit projects with local schools, then showcasing the shared benefits, makes you far more attractive to tomorrow’s workforce.
Deloitte
5. Skills Shortage in Property & Construction
The UK construction industry is facing a significant shortfall of skilled professionals in 2025 prompting sector bodies to urge deeper engagement with young people through schools and colleges.
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) estimates that the industry will need an additional 216,800 workers by 2025 just to meet demand. Films, micro-docs and social snippets that demystify site roles and spotlight apprentices can tilt recruitment in your favour.
6. Storytelling Multiplies the Impact of Your Sustainability Data
Industry press is clear: narrative trumps spec sheets when it comes to trust and differentiation. Student-fronted content is the most authentic form of that narrative, because the beneficiaries speak for themselves. While analysts may appreciate the data, a heartfelt story can connect with those who want to see the human side of corporate initiatives.
Sustainability storytelling in particular helps audiences connect emotionally with carbon metrics and ESG jargon.
Highways Today
7. Proof it Works: the Camden STEAM Model
Last year Fluent Media filmed 16- to 18-year-olds on placements at Google, AstraZeneca and British Land. Separate edits persuaded more businesses to host students and more pupils to apply, while an extended documentary now screens across Camden’s schools, reinforcing diversity in STEAM careers. The takeaway? When young people tell the story, the call-to-action lands twice-once with industry, once with peers. View the Camden/Google case study here.
Metrics That Matter: Schools, Colleges and the Local Community
- Student participation numbers
- Measured kWh / CO₂ reduction
- Curriculum enrichment evidence
- Footfall/use of upgraded space
- Community-event feedback
What Matters Most to Students?
- Practical opportunities to increase confidence
- Real world experience
- Gain insights into different careers
- Digital badges/ UCAS points
- Portfolio pieces (videos, design boards)
How Your Property or Construction Business Can Benefit
If you already sells estates and energy-strategy advice to MATs, LAs and FE colleges, you’re in an ideal position to offer a student-engagement layer that will help you to:
- Differentiate from pure-play consultants (ie. you focus your efforts on one line of business or industry) and win frameworks on ESG and social-value scoring.
- Showcase impact in plain language and visual evidence – exactly what headteachers need for governors and Ofsted.
Next Steps:
- Pick one pilot site where you already have an energy-audit relationship.
- We’ll schedule a joint ideation call.
- Define pilot KPIs (e.g. 10% lighting energy cut, 200 students engaged, 15 films delivered).
- Secure seed funding – CSR budget, school capital grant, or local authority climate pot.
Are you ready to build storytelling into your next project, while helping you to win new business?
Email us at info@fluentmedia.co.uk
Let’s make purpose, people and sustainability a part of the same narrative – told by the same students who will inherit the places you create.
