At Story Events we truly believe in doing what we can today in order to create a better tomorrow. Focusing on making the right choices everyday can make a huge difference later on and that’s why we have reached out to five of our favourite sustainable venues and asked them about their sustainability practices. We hope you enjoy!
Oceandiva:
Launching this Autumn, Oceandiva London is the UK’s most unique sustainable events venue. Spanning across three decks, Oceandiva London is the first CO2-neutral vessel that gives you the ability to host sensational events on the Thames. With sustainability at its core, Oceandiva London is committed to leading the industry in minimising the impact its activities have by utilising advanced technology and environmental practises.
Oceandiva boasts state of the art design with the latest marine technology featuring noise-reducing electric engines, and superior soundproofing.
The ship will be catered by leading London caterers, Moving Venue, Smart Group’s own catering brand. Their chefs use local and seasonal produce throughout their menus, and their chefs will continue to reduce food miles wherever possible and ensure their clients are making educated and informed decisions on their menu choices.
Working with industry body isla, Oceandiva London are able to leverage technology to determine where any carbon emission reductions can be made across the lifecycle of an event. This truly sets them apart as a leading venue, as by tracking and measuring right from the planning stage through to event execution, Oceandiva London are able to reduce their carbon footprint for every event held onboard.
30 Euston Square:
In the heart of central London and with excellent transport links to the rest of the UK, this Grade II listed building has committed to a number of sustainability pledges since opening its doors. The unique building integrates a grand Edwardian façade and original Greek Revival architecture with contemporary facilities and services
For years, the venue has invested in technology to ensure their facilities is able to accommodate their client’s own environmental pledges by holding quality remote meeting whilst reducing their organisation carbon footprint. More recently, 30 Euston Square has invested on a comprehensive hybrid solution to ensure large events can also lower their impact on the environment.
Searcys also incorporates in its induction the ’10 Green Behaviours’ training to help 30 Euston Square staff understand how their daily tasks’ impact on the organisation and environment. The venue’s cyclist facilities have also been increased to meet the demand of our clients and staff members. We use the improved facilities to promote, together with other green initiatives throughout the year a reduction on people’s carbon footprint.
30 Euston Square has removed all plastic from staff breakout areas and has recycling stations on all floor to ensure minimal waste goes to landfill. Following a 2019 review, when plastic straws were removed from their café altogether and 87% of all remaining packaging comes from a recyclable origin or is recyclable, compostable or biodegradable. A current review is underway to remove as much as possible the need for disposable items through a differentiated service style.
Other material actions include:
- Removing plastic and disposable water bottles from event spaces and bedrooms and replacing with re-usable in-house water bottles.
- Harvesting rainwater for use in toilets.
- Ensuring all F-gasses in the refrigeration equipment have been replaced with less harmful gasses.
- Installing light sensors on 90% of the building to ensure not electricity is wasted.
The building management is also exploring a number of future initiatives, including waterless urinals, solar panels with Salix funding, and the installation of other energy efficiency technologies.
The View (The Royal College of Surgeons):
Not only are they transforming the building into a bright and modern space to suit all needs for fantastic events and gatherings, The View are also working hard to future-proof the space and become more sustainable. During the redesign, the team of architects and engineers applied the innovative methodology to the workings of the building.
As a result of these initiatives, The View are delighted to announce that we’re on track for BREEAM Excellence Certification.
Innovative methodology includes:
- 111 solar power panels installed across the building
- Sensor controlled lights in each space help contribute towards energy efficiency
- 100% timber used on site FSC-accredited to ensure it meets the highest environmental and social standards of forestry are met
- 98.5% of total waste is recycled with a recycling point of every office floor
- No waste goes to landfill. Waste is separated into general, recyclable (card/metal/plastic), food and glass, batteries and print toners.
Food and drinks sustainability:
Searcys’ principles of sourcing and preparing food sustainably are followed through in the menus and style of service. In-keeping with Searcys sustainability pledges, they source the best ingredients available, working closely with British farmers and local producers. The company uses UK-reared fresh meat, flour milled in England, free-range eggs and milk from Red Tractor-certified farms. In addition, all tea and coffee is Fairtrade or Direct Impact-sourced, with coffee beans coming from family-run farms in South America.
- Table water is bottled on site to reduce carbon emissions in transporting bottles
- Only top quality, sustainable produce is used in all recipes. using only British eggs, meat and poultry
- Searcys’ is proud to hold the top three star accreditation from SRA
- Only use pole and line-caught tuna is sourced, which is a sustainable fishing method used to catch tuna, one fish at a time
- Their tea is ethically and responsibly sourced, while coffee comes from an organic cooperative of smallholders in Peru and from family-run estates in Guatemala and Columbia
The Barbican:
The Barbican recognises the impact that their operations and activities can have on not just the environment but also people and they are committed to reducing these impacts by setting and achieving clearly defined objectives and targets to achieve continual improvement.
Due to the nature and scale of the Barbican they recognise that they have a leadership role to play in both the meetings and events sectors and are therefore develop systems with the ambition of being recognised as exemplars of best practice in CSR.
The Barbican has an opportunity to demonstrate best practice to millions visiting the centre every year, whether it is for the arts or conferences. They see it as their duty to demonstrate best practice when it comes to sustainability and the environment. The work is ongoing and all encompassing, allowing them to continually demonstrate success.
Amongst other areas, the Barbican is committed to:
*Meeting and exceeding the requirements of all relevant environmental legislation, regulations and other compliance obligations.
*Promoting sustainable procurement and efficient use of materials and resources including energy, water, materials and other resources.
*Avoiding waste where possible and increasing reuse and recycling rates.
*Promoting environmental awareness among our employees, audiences, visiting organisations and those working on our behalf and encouraging them to work in a responsible manner.
*Communicating our environmental and sustainability commitments and practices to all relevant parties.
*Encouraging the use of sustainable forms of transport.
*Exploring ways of increasing biodiversity in our estate.
Kings Place:
The Board and team of Kings Place are resolutely committed to actively minimising our impact on the environment and responding to the climate emergency. They aim to be a leader in the cultural sector for environmental practice and actively promote environmental awareness to their audiences, artists, performers, collaborators and stakeholders. As an organisation and as individuals we are continually looking at how they can further reduce their carbon footprint, energy consumption, waste and consumption of one-use plastic.
Kings Place are fortunate to reside in a BREEAM certified building that was built with strong environmental principles at its heart. This includes:
- Proximity to one of the largest public transport hubs in Europe, reducing the need to visitors and audiences to use cars
- Secure bicycle parking for all staff
- A displacement ventilation system which cools the building using outside air reducing usage of air conditioning
- High standards of thermal insulation minimising heat loss through the fabric of the building
- Efficient use of energy through good daylight penetration, motion activated lighting and an advanced transition programme to LED lighting throughout the building
- Triple glass wall façade on the south and west aspects, dramatically reducing solar heat gain
- Efficient use of water through low capacity cisterns, flow control in toilets and showers, leak detectors and harvesting of rainwater for irrigation
- A ‘green’ roof with solar panels, and bio-ecology enhancing features including: a bug hotel, bird and bat boxes and plant boxes
- The building is managed by Savills who have achieved ISO14001 accreditation for environmental building management
- A zero to landfill waste management system with a recycling rate of over 75%
- Kings Place uses energy from certified renewable sources
They are very proud of their most recent achievements in sustainable practice which include:
- Converting all of their lighting in our largest auditorium, Hall One, to LED lighting, reducing energy consumption in the room by approximately 90%
- Migrated many IT applications to cloud-based platforms reducing reliance on high energy-consuming servers and server room air-conditioning units
- They have stopped providing artists and performers with bottled water and provide, tap filled, re-usable bottles instead
- Replacing all one-use plastic cups used at the concert bar with re-usable cups
- Actively asking audience members to bring re-usable water and coffee cups with them when they attend performances through pre-concert emails and on tickets
- Using pin code activated copier and print machines to minimise paper and toner use
- Removing under-desk bins, encouraging all staff to make active decisions about how they manage their waste
- Offering e-ticketing for all performances reducing paper, print and postage
They have made substantial progress towards reducing the carbon impact of Kings Place and becoming more sustainable. However, the scale of the environmental crisis means they have to scrutinize, even further, every part of the way they operate and relentlessly strive for continual improvement.
Their mission is to continue to work towards alignment with the Paris Agreement and ultimately to achieve carbon neutrality in the shortest possible timeframe (an organisation achieves net zero carbon emissions by balancing carbon emissions with carbon removal and eliminating carbon altogether).
Each year Kings Place create a prioritised action plan that incrementally advances our position towards carbon neutrality. Key objectives for 2020 are:
- To use their Nature Unwrapped series of performances, throughout 2020, as a platform for leading environmental awareness through music, words and art
- To become an influential voice in the cultural sector for leading change and a collective response to the climate crisis
- To research and prepare for the conversion of lights in Hall Two and staff offices by the end of 2021
- To devise and publish an annual statement of energy, waste and travel
- To ensure they are actively influencing the behaviours of audiences, delegates, corporate clients and artists through effective environmental communication
- To achieve Julie’s Bicycle ‘Creative Green’ certification for sustainable practice
