Although meetings are often small-scale, they can have a significant environmental footprint, and if you're looking to reduce this, you'll need a venue that aligns with your sustainability goals.
To help you meet your green match, we've put together a list of venues that are making the grade when it comes to sustainability. Check them out below to find the perfect, sustainable solution for your event!
1 Wimpole Street
Renewable Energy
Hybrid-Ready
Low Waste
1 Wimpole Street has a well-earned reputation as a gold-standard meeting venue, but it’s also setting the standard in sustainability. As well as having a recycling programme that covers all areas of waste, the venue uses 100% renewable energy and has low energy light bulbs and a Building Management System to regulate and monitor temperature and energy usage.
With in-house virtual and hybrid event tech and a knowledgeable team, the venue is well-equipped to encourage video conferencing and streaming of meetings so that remote delegates can participate without having to travel long distances. Where notepads are required for meetings, 1 Wimpole Street provide FSC-certified paper and encourages less to be used.
Location: Marylebone
Capacity: 300 standing
CCT Venues Smithfield
Food Sustainability Policy
Upcycling Emphasis
Low Waste
CCT Venues have a clear mission to become a leader in the meetings industry when it comes to operating in an environmentally friendly way. Their venues have been winning green awards since 2008 and it’s not hard to see why with initiatives such as refurbishing furniture rather than replacing it, having motion-sensitive lighting, donating unneeded electronics to charities, and removing all single-use plastic from service areas at its Smithfield location.
The venue also has a food sustainability policy, as well as measures to reduce food waste - any unused food is composted or turned into biofuel! They have also implemented a Sustainable Purchasing Policy, which gives preference to environmentally-sound products and requires all suppliers to fill out a questionnaire on their sustainability measures before contracting them. And last but by no means least, they plant a protected tree for every event run in their venues - from small seeds grow a whole wood's worth of good, after all!
Location: Smithfield
Capacity: 72 boardroom
Wallacespace Spitalfields
Low Waste
Energy Saving
Hybrid-Ready
Local Ingredients
Wallacespace’s meeting venues are bright and quirky, which matches their attitude to making green choices. Lots of their furniture is upcycled, second-hand, or made by their talented team, giving their meeting spaces a totally unique and interesting aesthetic. Their ‘Wallywood’ initiative has seen around 1420 trees planted across the English countryside, while they use surplus ‘wonky’ veg in their catering, stopping these from going to waste.
And they’re even greener behind the scenes. None of their waste goes to landfill - if can’t be recycled, it’s taken to a waste-to-energy facility where remnants are burnt, producing electricity and heat which is used to power homes. Rooms have their own air-conditioning to save on heating and cooling the whole venue, and lights are energy efficient - it’s enough to make other venues green with envy!
Location: Spitalfields
Capacity: 30 boardroom (or 200 theatre for larger meetings)
30 Euston Square
Energy Saving
Water Saving
Local Ingredients
As well as being a top choice for sophisticated meetings, 30 Euston Square is on a sustainability crusade, educating its staff on sustainability at the venue through special training schemes, and implementing solutions like rainwater harvesting for use in toilets. The venue’s catering team also use ingredients sourced locally - so locally, in fact, that it includes their own herb garden on their roof top terrace - and converts reclaimed cooking oil to biodiesel.
The venue is also looking to the future and planning the installation of solar panels and waterless urinals, as well as - and this has got us really intrigued - exploring the possibility of installing grass roofs. We thought their sleek meeting spaces and roof terrace were enough of a selling point, but these plans have got us excited for a green future for meetings!
Location: Euston
Capacity: 40 boardroom
12 Hay Hill
Energy Saving
Low Waste
Local Ingredients
12 Hay Hill offers an exclusive and upmarket venue for meetings, with a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere and excellent commitments to reducing its carbon footprint. They have a building management system to regulate temperature and save energy, and many of the lights in the event spaces are sensor-operated.
All food is seasonal and British-sourced, and meals are always cooked to order to reduce waste. All of the suppliers used in-house are traceable and required to use no single-use plastic in their product packaging - after all, it's about working together to meet our goals!
Location: Mayfair
Capacity: 20 boardroom
Met your match in one of these green havens? Get in touch to book your space today and make sure your event meets your sustainability goals.
For more advice on planning sustainable events, check out our Sustainability Hub, where you'll find plenty more guidance on keeping your event footprint to a minimum. Still on the lookout for the perfect setting for your event? Check out our other green venues below.
Author
Jessamy Cowie
Jessamy channels her passion for sustainability and cultural events into shining a spotlight on innovation and inspiration in the events world, and heading up Hire Space's sustainability committee.
