What makes a venue sustainable?

The biggest thing that stands out for me when I am assessing a venue’s sustainability is transparency. I love it when one of the first things you see on a website is a section about sustainability. It isn’t a requirement of a website nor will it probably gain the most views, but it is something I always look at and take notice of because for me it shows they care. They’ve gone to the effort of consciously noting what it is they do well and where they’re working on improving.

Sustainability doesn’t have to mean huge capital investment of solar panels or state of the art water reuse systems, it can start small with the little things like offering handy bike parking, or substituting single use items with reusable options. When it comes to sustainability, it pays to care. You’re more likely to comment on a venue’s sustainable touches than the areas that are the same as everyone else's bog standard. On our honeymoon we stayed at a BnB which instead of offering individual tea bags, provided you with metal tea infusers and loose leaf tea. They could have provided individually wrapped tea bags like every other motel you ever stay at, but then I wouldn’t be writing about it would I. Instead I’m writing about the place that decided to do it differently than the norm and make you question, if they can do it, why can’t everyone else?

Another part of the sustainability puzzle is supporting local or fair trade producers. If part of your venue involves providing food, then this is a great place to swap out items for local or fair trade. I love to see venues supporting producers who value their workers and the environment. There are so many amazing people out there producing great food that we should be supporting.

Recently Kate celebrated her 30th birthday and hired Eliza’s Manor in Christchurch for a fabulous masquerade ball venue. The iconic Christchurch manor was built in 1861 and is a beautiful step back in time. Proving that sustainability is possible for a building of any age, the owners have ensured the manor has kept up with the times and made sustainable choices from top to bottom, whether you’re visiting for the day or staying in one of the rooms. Eliza’s manor has its own compost and worm farm to recycle all of the food waste from the restaurant, its own beehive to produce the most local honey possible, and collects waste oil for biofuel collection. They have their own EV charging station on-site, and use timer systems on their lighting and irrigation to improve efficiency of resources. The 162 year old building proves that any venue can make sustainable changes if they choose to do so.

Get in touch with us at RAD to learn more about venues making sustainable choices when planning your next event!

Millie

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