Ten Sustainable Venues For Your Next Event

Blog
5 minute read 17 Apr 2023
It’s important to choose the right venue to reduce the carbon footprint of an event — checking for a sustainability accreditation, where catering is sourced, waste management processes, and renewable energy usage. The good news is many amazing venues are championing sustainability and launching eco-friendly initiatives in London and beyond. Take a look at our top 10 sustainable venues to host your green event. 

1. Exclusive Collection

Perfect for an away day, these six hotels are based across the South of England offering adventurous country escapes and wellbeing retreats. Certified as a B Corp since 2021, Exclusive Collection is the UK’s first hotel group to become a B Corp. They work to utilise their 691 acres to improve biodiversity while promoting a zero waste to landfill policy through growing their own produce and redistributing leftover food from events to local projects. But we don’t need to tell you that because, like all B Corps, they publish an annual impact report to highlight the impact they are having across governance, workers, community, environment and customers.

2. Uncommon

Another B Corp certified venue option, Uncommon offers flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space with buildings across London including Uncommon Liverpool Street with its unique auditorium and rooftop terrace. And as they are a B Corp you can be sure you are picking a truly responsible venue when it comes to people and planet by reading their impact report. As part of their ongoing changes to drive for a better future, they have certified four of their buildings against the BREEAM Standard, reduced energy demand by 29%, and became a carbon negative business. 

3. 1 Hotels 

Based in a number of locations including Central Park in New York, Haitang Bay in China, 1 Hotels let nature lead the way. This means spaces designed to bring the outdoors in and initiatives such as sustainably sourced menus and energy tracking technologies. All of the hotels are LEED certified and all US properties are 100% carbon neutral with their newly launched hotel in Mayfair, London featuring 1,300 plants.

4. The Barbican Centre- Winner of Most Sustainable Venue in 2021

It’s no surprise that this hidden tropical oasis, home to over 1500 species of plants and trees in its conservatory, makes the list. Being a non-profit, the centre has community and sustainability at it’s core, implementing many initiatives for corporate social responsibility. Their coffee is 100% carbon neutral and they implement vegan and vegetarian options into their event catering. They also use 100% renewable electricity and filtration systems throughout their building and event spaces. The venue has also committed to becoming net zero by 2024, in line with City of London Corporation’s Climate Action Strategy.

5. Ham Yard Hotel 

Firmdale Hotel’s, Ham Yard Hotel, has a number of beautiful meeting rooms and event spaces, including a rooftop that hosts eco-friendly beehives and a kitchen garden which produce is used at the bar and in seasonal menus in their restaurant. The hotel is also BREEAM accredited.

6. Spaces at the Spine, Liverpool

Wellbeing and sustainability were an integral part of the space’s design and the building itself was designed to incorporate the WELL Standard concepts, making it one of the healthiest buildings in the UK. As a new build, they took the opportunity to incorporate sustainability throughout the venue which has led to a BREEAM certification and multiple sustainability awards. 

7. Searcy’s at the Gherkin 

This conference space is located in one of London’s most iconic skyscrapers. Not only does it boast stunning views of the city, but Searcy’s has multiple sustainability pledges such as only using responsibly sourced ingredients from local suppliers and starting to implement a carbon footprint calculator. The building itself uses sustainable innovations such as a natural cooling and insulation systems.

8. BMA House 

Seasonal in house caterers at BMA House source produce locally wherever possible to keep their food miles to a minimum, including their onsite herb garden. Through multiple initiatives to offer lower impact events they have reduced delegate carbon footprint by 69% in the past few years, reduced water usage by 5.4 million litres per year and have won multiple sustainability awards.

9. Kew Gardens

Kew is implementing multiple processes to become climate positive by 2030. There are of unique green spaces on offer, including a glasshouse home to 10,000 species of plants. As a charity, hosting an event at Kew means you are supporting their work to help sustain the biodiversity in the Gardens.

10. The Eden Project

This world famous project that transformed a quarry into a global garden, offers an event space amidst the rainforest. They are aiming to be beyond zero by 2030 and already use 100% renewable energy, work on regenerative projects and have locked 10 000 tonnes of carbon in their soil to grow plants. 

There are plenty more venues across the globe implementing green initiatives, at Broadsword we can help you plan a sustainable event from venue sourcing to calculating the carbon footprint. Get in touch to learn more about planning an eco-friendly event or our own sustainability initiatives.