04 September 2024

The Venues Collection Achieves Significant Milestones in Future First Charter Goals for 2024

The Venues Collection Achieves Significant Milestones in Future First Charter Goals for 2024

Eastwood Hall, part of The Venues Collection is proud to announce that it has already achieved many of its ambitious 2024 Future First Charter goals, demonstrating the Group’s strong commitment to sustainability and environmental leadership.

Highlights of Achievements:

Reduced the Impact of Facilities:

• Zero Waste to Landfill: This goal has been achieved as all waste produced is either recycled, composted, or sent to energy recovery, ensuring zero waste goes to landfill.
• Energy Monitoring and Reduction: The Group has successfully installed energy monitoring systems on all five sites, with the last two installations completed this year. Tailored energy reduction strategies are now in place for each site.
• Water Saving Measures: This goal has been achieved with 640,000 litres of water saved per year across five venues. This has been achieved with the installation of low-flow showerheads during room refurbishments and regular maintenance.
• Waste Recycling: The Group has achieved the goal of recycling over 50% of overall waste last year and are on track to increase this to 60% this year.
• CO2 Emissions Reduction: The Venues Collection is on track to achieve the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by over 500 tonnes by the end of the year by installing energy efficient technology.
• Renewable Energy Generation: All of the electricity coming into venues is now from renewable sources. The venues are also on track to generate over 1 million kWh of renewable electricity, including 540,000 kWh from combined heat and power (CHP) systems. The additional energy from solar panels will be enough to drive an electric vehicle from the UK to Australia and back 26 times.

Supported Natural Eco-systems:

• Static Aerated Compost System: The Group has already exceeded this target with the creation of static aerated compost systems at two venues (Sedgebrook Hall and Eastwood Hall) and will have rolled this out to all venues by the end of the year (the target was one venue)
• Solar Electric Vehicle Charging: As the first hotel group in the UK, The Venues Collection is proud to be installing solar electric vehicle charging points at all venues this year.
• Wildlife Support: Maintenance of native hedgerows and woodlands, as well as the creation of wildflower and meadow grass areas, continues to support local wildlife at all  venues. For example, at Milton Hill Hotel there are areas left to wild flowers, with mowed paths for delegates to walk through and enjoy, whilst at Sedgebrook Hall and Eastwood Hall there are areas by the hotels left for wild flowers. Kents Hill Park has an area of woodland that is maintained but left to natural woodland.
• Biodiversity Initiatives: All venues are equipped with bat boxes, bird boxes, and insect hotels. There are beehives at three venues and even a Barn owl at Milton Hill Hotel to promote biodiversity.
• Sustainable Farming Education: The Venues Collection supports their sister company, Levy UK, with their Bio Hub Farm initiative, which educates current and future chefs and farmers on sustainable farming practices.
• Eco-friendly Travel: The team encourage the use of environmentally friendly transportation methods for travel to and from venues. All sites have bike racks and shower facilities for staff and delegates who wish to cycle. 

“Our dedication to environmental sustainability is evident through the significant progress we have made towards our 2024 goals,” said Joanne Barratt, Managing Director of The Venues Collection. “These achievements underscore our commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our venues and the events we host. A venue has a significant role to play in ensuring events are as sustainable as possible; organisers choose TVC venues because they can be sure we are doing everything we can to help them to create more sustainable events.”

The Future First Charter is a framework designed to shape and deliver the Group’s social purpose initiatives and targets. With a focus on People Pledge, Food Focus, and Enriching Environments, The Venues Collection continues to lead the way in sustainable hospitality practices.

The Venue Collection’s sustainable credentials also include attaining the ‘silver’ level in the Green Tourism ‘Green Meetings’ Standard, the world’s largest sustainable certification program and achieving Venue Directory’s Green Accreditation. The Group was also the first to introduce carbon labelling on all menus (June 2022) and has a commitment to reach Climate Net Zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030.

For more information about The Venues Collection and our Future First Charter goals, please visit https://www.thevenuescollection.co.uk/future-first-charter