The Business Design Centre Strides Towards Sustainability

Our EventLAB 2019 host venue, the Business Design Centre is taking major steps toward sustainability. As the whole world becomes more attentive to the importance of being environmentally friendly, the Business Design Centre is showing others how it's done by taking a series of industry-leading steps.

Earlier this year we looked at tackling sustainability at events, a topic not exclusive to the industry by any means. We have since had many great discussions with contractors and organisers alike about the approaches to take in minimising their impact on the environment whilst maximising the message to their stakeholders.

The quest is clear; make the processes obvious and simple to have the best effect and we are pleased to say further changes have been rolling through the venue accordingly. Looking across some of the key areas, the team this month are exploring how our improvements are helping – here are some of the top takeaways…

Simplifying the message at the point of collection has reduced the contamination of waste through the event space. Providing more facilities throughout the building makes the chance of waste thrown away incorrectly less likely and creating a wider range of labelling based on the waste we are collecting has improved the separation at source.

Conference Manager, Charlotte Barker who also sits on the BDC sustainability team took the lead on improving signage,

We’ve created a wider breakdown on the signage guests see when disposing of waste around the venue. It is proving to be more efficient and we find that general waste is definitely being used less for that which should otherwise be recycled. Venues should be supporting events in this way, taking the lead on ensuring that when onsite their guests have easy access to dispose of their waste appropriately.

In the kitchen, event-catering packages are commonplace but we are now having advanced conversations at much earlier stages in the process with clients keen to take their menus to the next level.

Onsite caterers here at the BDC, the Good Eating Company (GEC) are speaking to event managers about locally acquired, organically produced lunch options that can be traced back to their source. They are also keen to support plastic-free service, with many breakfast items for example served in reusables.

GEC General Manager, Liam Keating has been working with his team of chefs to create menu options that meet these ever growing needs,

We are creating solutions ready for events at the venue to show them how they can make changes that improve their overall environmental impact. We have already established relationships with great local suppliers and are in the process of eliminating single use plastics. A plastic free catering service has been run at the venue on recent events and it’s great to be able to show that this is not only possible but not hard to achieve.

Other suppliers in the venue have been excited to come forward with what they are doing too, in particular Onward Display, our on-site graphic designers and printers who are helping to create stands that are not only reusable but can be printed on recycled and recyclable materials. Their new range of products are PVC free meaning there is nothing harmful in their production and they are fully recyclable.

Organisers and event planners throughout the calendar of shows at the venue have welcomed our sustainable practices with those working on the events seeing a marked change.

Conference Executive, Lowri Jones, has seen this trend,

Events are definitely starting to think even more about sustainability and how their event could have less impact on the environment. Organisers are therefore increasingly keen to implement as many aspects as we can cater for and in turn, the BDC have introduced many more initiatives events can utilise with us. EventLAB will be hosted here later this year and I look forward to working with HireSpace on sustainable initiatives and ideas for this in the run-up to the event in October.

We are also pleased to report that water points have been extended across the venue so if you're attending an event at the venue, don't forget to bring a refillable bottle as this can be topped up free of charge with cold filtered water throughout the day. It is also beneficial to bring reusable hot drinks cup, as discounts are available at onsite restaurant, Jack’s.

You can find out more and make an enquiry at the Business Design Centre here.

And, find out more about EventLAB 2019 and how you can attend, click here.