Tag: sustainability

Out of the Office: Katie McNeill

Posted on by Cat_Admin

Focusing on sustainability can often be confused with lower quality experiences or less scope for creativity, but that couldn’t be further from the truth according to Katie.

Alongside sitting on the sustainability focus group here at BeaconHouse Events, outside of the office Katie also operates Townhouse Upholstery, a business dedicated to bringing life back to much-loved pieces of furniture, saving them from landfill and passing their stories onto the next generation.

We spoke to Katie about how she balances creativity with sustainable practices, and how having open conversations about sustainability inspires innovation and ideas at BeaconHouse Events.

How did you come to start your business?

Townhouse Upholstery was launched seven years ago. I started it because I wanted a creative outlet and upholstery seemed like a bit of a dying art which was a real shame. I was looking to get a piece of furniture updated and it didn’t prove easy to find someone who would do it to the level that I wanted; with style and creativity so ultimately I started an evening course to learn how to create what I was looking for and loved it. From there I was keen to see how I could develop to turn my hand to any piece, so I enrolled in a course in Manchester that offered flexible learning and allowed me to translate something I enjoyed into a business.

Have you seen a shift in public mentality towards being more conscious about the life cycle of the products we own?

Absolutely, people are much more aware of what is possible these days but reimagining a piece of furniture isn’t always the most cost-effective method in the short-term. People are still drawn to lower-cost pieces like IKEA because they are more affordable and it is fit for purpose a lot of the time, but if possible it is certainly worth investing in higher-quality pieces because they will last forever and ultimately save you time and money in the long-run.  You can be creative with how you adjust and give new life to these pieces as your taste changes or they need updating, rather than just throwing them away.

It’s heartening to see that more people are making conscious choices when it comes to ‘fast furniture’ and being more aware of how easily we dispose of things as a society when that doesn’t have to be the case. As far as possible, the products that I use during the upholstery process are sustainable materials so every part of the process is having a positive effect on our planet.

How have you brought your learnings from Townhouse Upholstery back to the office?

We have a sustainability focus group here at BeaconHouse Events that I really enjoy being part of. How far we can go with sustainable ideas for clients is always a balancing act against budget, but we work together as a team to understand what is realistic and still put creativity at the heart of what we are delivering, while still keeping that sustainable vision front and centre. My learnings outside of BeaconHouse has made me aware of the life cycle of materials or graphics that we use on-site and we try, where possible, to not date items so they can be reused or repurposed for future events.

As well as being great for the planet, looking after older pieces of furniture protects the stories that come with them too. I remember working on one particular piece that had belonged to a client’s granny, they remembered sitting with her and using the piece and it was so much more than the physical object that we were restoring – it was making sure that those memories stayed in the family even after she had passed. I quite often find hidden objects inside older pieces of furniture – things like old coins or jewellery, I’m always fascinated with the stories that come with every commission and how we can incorporate them into the finished work. The events industry incorporates a lot of storytelling and how to creatively bring ideas together, so there is much more crossover than you would initially imagine.

How have you developed your understanding of what sustainability means in practice?

This time last year I joined a sustainability events course to really understand where our sector is going, share ideas, and learn from other experts in the industry about what’s possible. I enjoyed learning more about how small, conscious choices can make a big difference – that’s something that I think we deliver consistently as an agency and is a strength across the whole team, which is led by Sarah’s drive and vision for a greener future for the industry. It’s really made me take time to step back and consider things like whether we need that swag bag, branded pens or plastic giveaways, or if that is just the easy route because it has always been done. Instead, we focus on what is going to have a positive impact on the delegates and help our client achieve their strategic ambitions. By examining where we can make considered changes, we can often free up budgets to create an even more meaningful experience, which is also positive for people and the planet.

By being more informed, interested, and staying ahead of trends in the industry we can guide and influence our clients when it comes to the topic of sustainability which can often seem too big to tackle.

How does the internal sustainability group help to keep you moving forward as a business?

With so many projects going on at once within BeaconHouse it can be difficult to know what colleagues are working on and where they have had success. The internal focus group allows us to share information, positively challenge each other, and share ideas and learning so we don’t stand still. We meet monthly which means we can action ideas quickly and efficiently. We evaluate each event through our carbon tracking platform TRACE when it is complete, and with so many client projects overlapping we can often use the learning from one to directly impact the planning of another by sharing that information in a timely way and talking through what we think went well.

Finally, what would you say to people who think making sustainable choices is about stripping things away?

What I’ve found in upholstery and at BeaconHouse is that sustainability is creative, exciting, and forward-thinking – it’s not about saying no to things and stripping things away from the experience.

Making sustainable choices doesn’t mean being boring or not pushing boundaries, exactly the opposite, it gives us more freedom to innovate, to be story-led, and to create new experiences, rather than relying on what has always been done. It doesn’t have to be telling people to stop doing something, or taking things away – it’s about creating something new and positive for the future, and I think that’s exciting.

Sustainability doesn’t mean lower-quality experiences, it is about saying yes to creativity and being curious about what is possible.

 

BIM For Good, Bad and Ugly?

Posted on by Sophie_Admin

We’ve been working with Space Group to deliver a three-day event, kicking off with an education day for 200 local students, a celebratory awards evening sandwiched between two days of conference for 400 international delegates. Safe to say events provide so many positive outputs, collaboration, knowledge sharing and inspiration, but large-scale conferences have, and continue to cause a negative impact on the environment.

BIM Show Live, has been no different, but we’re committed to turning the ugly truth, and bad practice into good for all. It started with the theme set out back in 2019, the conference wanted to focus on ‘BIM for Good’, and the goodness should show through every inch of the event.

First stop our suppliers, we’ve worked with a handful of trusty suppliers who all make the magic that is BIM Show Live. Our sustainably sourced lanyards provided by a UK company have agreed to carbon offset their transport from China following our ‘ask to suppliers’ to offer a sustainable solution for the demands of our order. We’re using a sustainable badge solution we sourced for the 2019 conference, (here at BHE HQ sustainability has been a concern for quite some time). Meetings with PR and social teams are conducted remotely over Zoom. The award trophies have transformed from high shine metal to sustainable wood – they’ll still have that heavy aspirational look and feel! Perhaps the most controversial element to mess with is catering. We’ve chosen to cater the full event as vegetarian or vegan food and use locally sourced ingredients only. A bold move perhaps, but we’re confident in our caterer’s quality, and we’re sure the audience won’t miss the meat with the tasty treats on offer. Consideration has been made at every step, even the vegan sausage rolls (spoiler alert), are in recyclable packaging.

In the biggest shake up, we’re printing less, delegates will not be handed a printed programme. Delegates will peruse the schedule of the day on the event app, can message other delegates and set up alerts for sessions they don’t want to miss (i.e. all of them). Speakers have been sourced being mindful of travel requirements, and we’re lucky to have such talent coming from the region speaking; our day one keynote Nic Palmarini is located walking distance from the venue.  The delegate communications will encourage our delegates to bring their re-usable cups and bottles for their caffeine and hydration hits.

So why are we asking delegates how they are travelling to the event? We want to benchmark the carbon footprint of BIM Show Live 2020 as the first year in a new sustainability drive, so we’re not ignorant to the fact that our delegates travel from across the globe and we have to include this in our plans. BIM Show Live 2.0, aka BIM Show Live 2021 will be leaner, greener, and more as we work towards a better future. We’re ditching the bad and the ugly and we’re going good, one step at a time, as much as we can. Join us.

 

Making BeaconHouse Events a little greener…

Posted on by Sophie_Admin

There are plenty of small, simple things you do to conserve energy and run a greener office. From eco-friendly cleaning products to turning down the thermostat, we’ve been taking our top hacks for reducing our office carbon footprint and trying to improve our impact across the venues we host events at. Work continues within the team to find more sustainable solutions across the board, so we’ll be adding to our measures throughout 2019 and beyond.

Sustainability swaps we are taking are

Standby to OFF

We are all aware that standby isn’t great for the environment, but it’s also not the best for our wallets either – each year, UK households waste £227 million from appliances left on standby. So, we turn off all our appliances at the plug when not in use.

Single Use to Reusable

The lure of single-use plastic for quick food service is common but we’ve been asking venues to either ensure our delegates are served with crockery, or if required recyclable trays. We also ensure our pre-event delegate communications encourage bringing reusable cups/water bottles that can be filled up (and rinsed) at stations around the event

Meat to Veggie

Meat-free meals have a far smaller carbon footprint than meat, and the desire to eat closer to a plant-based diet is growing, so the venues we’ve worked with have been providing some exceptional veggie and vegan menus. When there is an expectation of a meat/fish course, we’ve been turning to game, wild fish, and poultry for feasts with a lower carbon footprint.

National to Local

We are spoilt in Newcastle for choice of suppliers, from eco-friendly printers Northern Print to a wealth of local food suppliers championing great produce (Hexhamshire Organics, Belly of the Beast), we don’t have to stretch out of the region and transport cargo across the world.

Taxis to Tours

Our events often include multi-site usage, and we’ve been championing informative and fun (we promise) walking tours to get delegates across cities to other venues. We can’t always promise the weather will be fine, but it’s a great extra networking and social activity for delegates visiting the city.

Programmes to Apps

Where possible, we’ve been reducing the production of any print, and moving programmes online with interactive apps, where delegates can organise the sessions they will attend, chat with delegates pre-event and keep up to date on the latest information.

Commercial Bins to a SINGLE Bin Bag

With our client Space Group, we’ve made a big (or rather small) commitment. To take a two-day conference with exhibition and awards ceremony, BIM Show Live, and reduce the waste from filling commercial bins to fill one, single, standard, the type you’d have at home, black, bin bag. Which means we are looking at every element of the event, ensuring we are reducing at every step from launch to delivery.

We’ll keep you updated on progress!

Lean Green Event Machine

Posted on by Sophie_Admin

But we really went green last month in London with The Planet Mark when delivering their inaugural awards.. and now there is no turning back.

The Planet Mark have green blood. Every single decision they make is thought through carefully and the impact on our environment considered. If it doesn’t fit their ethos, values and purpose, they don’t do it.We have learnt many valuable lessons over the past few months, and here are just a few of them:

  • We carefully selected a venue with a robust environmental policy- step forward – Sadler’s Wells 
  • We banned single-use plastic at the event, before it was named 2018 word of the year!
  • Printing was kept to a minimum and was only produced on fully recycled stock
  • We didn’t produce any one use branding items instead sponsors brought the banners they already owned
  • All catering was vegetarian and vegan (did you know that the way most animals are reared for meat consumption isn’t sustainable?)
  • The trophies were made from sustainably sourced wood shipped to the UK from carefully managed forests in the US by boat.
  • Essential taxis for a few VIPs were booked with Green Tomato cars…
  • Our team even walked 30mins from our train station arrival point to the theatre. No taxis for us.. not even the green tomato variety.

I could go on.

The resounding message that Sir Tim Smit shared with us through his inspiring keynote, was that we are simply custodians of our children’s future. We must nurture it and protect it for them. It’s our duty.

Steve Malkin, the CEO and founder of The Planet Mark gave a rousing account of his own early recognition of the need to make a difference in his time on the planet. The certification they award to their holders, backed by the quite renowned Eden Project, is meaningful and not easy to obtain and retain.

The Planet Mark provide a detailed certification process for businesses to aim for. No stone is left unturned. They are even turning to social value measurement to ensure the certified holders do good for society, not just for the planet.

The green and sustainable movement is here to stay, and is growing in strength and impact. It’s not just a few environmentalists who are adopting this way to live, work and do business as it may have been a mere 20 years before, it is now a movement of many. The few there at the start of this revolution are leading the way and inspiring others to come with them.

We are certainly inspired and we will continue to ensure that our events do good. It’s our children’s future we are all responsible for after all.

To find out more about The Planet Mark certification programme visit their website.