Crafting a greener event future
From sourcing locally grown produce for catering to minimising single-use plastics, we’re dedicated to weaving sustainability into every aspect of our events.
That’s why we provide the following as standard, so you can relax knowing you don’t have to pay more for your principles:
- We encourage delegates to travel responsibly to the University. Our campus boasts accessible and major public transport routes i.e., over 1,800 bike racks and safe low-traffic cycle lanes, electric car charging stations, multiple bus routes, and the new University Station.
- We work closely with the Food Fellows team, the University’s food and drink caterers, who provide local, sustainable, and seasonal food that is healthy for our customers and planet. This summer we’re looking to launch a Green Conference Catering Package serving low-carbon dishes helping you to make easier sustainable choices. It also means you can calculate the carbon-cost of your event.
- Annually, we’re segregating 75 tonnes of food kitchen waste via an anaerobic digester to generate clean electricity, and recycle used coffee grounds into energy logs, whilst as standard adopting the reduce, reuse, and recycle method to minimise any waste generated by events held on our campus. Single-use plastic has been removed and all water is served in glass bottles, eliminating plastic bottles.
- We’re proud to boast over 26 acres of green space, and cultural, historical landmarks such as the Lapworth Museum of Geology, Barber Institute of Fine Art and Winterbourne House and Garden. This offers the perfect opportunity for delegates to unwind between meetings and immerse themselves in what the University has to offer.
- We encourage paperless events and are able to provide hybrid events across event spaces, so not everyone has to travel to campus. This includes tech at our city centre venue, The Exchange where meeting rooms are equipped with integrated Owl Systems enabling smart connection with Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
- Not only do we care about delivering greener events, but we’re also proud to boast one of the largest Green Impact teams within the University, helping to make our office environment and practices more sustainable. Members of our Green Impact team have implemented plenty of positive change, such as encouraging staff to participate in wellbeing walks.
We ‘re actively engaging with delivering events that minimise environmental impact, that support University of Birmingham’s 2030 Strategic Framework to deliver on net zero emissions by 2045 (Scope 3).
We’re now working towards the Green Tourism accreditation for greener meetings across our three venues: The Great Hall, The Bramall, and The Exchange. This accreditation will enable us to follow a toolkit of actions to help us improve our current sustainable practices, and allow event organisers to easily calculate their carbon emissions with accredited venues.
Get in touch with the Conferences and Events team to discuss how we can support you make the green pledge.
