Submitted by Grainne Kennedy on Mon, 2017-02-20 16:22
Times of change are often said to be the best times to develop new ‘green’ habits and changes don’t come much bigger than moving staff from eight different offices into one building. In January 2016 offices within the Unified Administration Service moved into their new home, the recently refurbished Greenwich House and just weeks later the building’s 'Green Impact' team was formed, as part of the University-wide Green Impact scheme.
The refurbishment of Greenwich House placed an emphasis on sustainability with the incorporation of LED lighting, extensive cycle parking and solar photovoltaics (PV). For the Green Impact team though, it was important that the day-to-day environmental impact be reduced further and that sustainability formed a part of the working culture.
Waste not, want not!
The Greenwich House Green Impact team wanted to try and improve recycling rates. After completing a number of waste audits to assess the situation, the team decided to reduce the number of individual waste bins, improved signage on the communal recycling and food waste bins, and set up collection points for batteries, electrical equipment, old pens, stamps and mobile phones (the final three are sent to charities to who earn money through recycling these products). The team also set up areas to share stationery, books and magazines; giving a second life to items that would have been disposed of. Recycled paper is used across the building and a recent awareness campaign (pictured) has managed to reduce the building’s paper consumption 15 percent!
Getting staff involved
Green Impact has brought all eight offices within the building together on numerous occasions to promote sustainability. A travel plan launch event had staff pedalling up a storm, with a bicycle operated juicer and Scalectrix set. Greenwich House staff have had many opportunities to show off their cooking skills with charity coffee and cake mornings, and the Thermal Thursday event drew attention to the importance of dressing appropriately for the weather, as well as showcasing a number of impressive woolly jumpers! The team are once again bringing staff together, this time for a food drive that will deliver food to local families.
The team use a number of channels to communicate their initiatives to all 400 staff. Information is shared through the building’s newsletter, the Greenwich House website, on noticeboards and via information screens in reception.
The future
The team received the Bronze Green Impact award in 2016 and motivated by their success, they have set out to complete the criteria for both the Silver and Gold awards in 2017. Given what has been achieved in just a year there is no doubt that the Green Impact team have what it takes to make Greenwich House a truly sustainable place to work.