Premier Award 2001
Presented at The Lincoln Centre, London on 29th January 2002 by Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
EDEN PROJECT
Bodelva, Cornwall
The creation of a living theatre for the public and for the scientific community to enhance the study of plants and their ecosystems - and their relationship with man. Three climatic zones - two covered, one open - feature plants from all over the world. These and the visitor centre are located within a 15Ha, 60m deep china clay pit.
The Millennium project highlights a unique partnership formed to build a world class visitor attraction and science institute, committed to the local regeneration of the economy of Cornwall, and the provision of a major tourism attraction. The aim of the Eden Project is to educate and to encourage best practice in the environment and conservation, with both a local and global impact.
www.edenproject.com
Back to 2001 Winners
Premier Award 2001
Presented at The Lincoln Centre, London on 29th January 2002 by Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
WESSEX WATER
NEW OPERATIONS CENTRE, Bath
This is an outstanding building project which incorporates best practice in community and stakeholder involvement. Approximately 10,000m2 of office development has been created on a brownfield site on the outskirts of Bath, with construction completed in July 2000. The buildings comprise three parallel office wings which are restricted to two stories high, to minimise impact on the landscape and neighbouring community.
The new Operations Centre houses 580 staff and comprises training and meeting rooms, public areas, a restaurant and an education centre for local schools and the community. The project demonstrates how a commercial building can be environmentally sustainable in its design, construction and operation, creating a good working environment, an enjoyable environment for staff and visitors, and excellent involvement of the local community.
www.wessexwater.co.uk
Back to 2001 Winners
Premier Award 2001
Presented at The Lincoln Centre, London on 29th January 2002 by Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
POOL HOUSE HOTEL
Poolewe, Wester Ross
Pool House Hotel is a family-owned and run business which has developed a relatively run-down establishment into an internationally-renowned 5-star hotel. It aims to remain one of the most environmentally friendly hotels in Scotland - it currently holds the Scottish Tourist Board's Gold Award in the Green Tourism Scheme with a score of 99%. Despite being very small and extremely remote, the hotel attracts low impact tourists, and, although operating at the top end of the luxury market, Pool House Hotel proves that quality need not equate with wastefulness, and that being 'green' does not impair a guest's enjoyment of his or her stay.
The hotel has recently won the 'Vibes' award as the greenest small company in the north of Scotland and it has in the pipeline a range of new developments which will add to its reputation, including grey water recycling, use of solar panels, a local 'green holiday' package and expansion with a particular focus on the disabled. Furthermore, the hotel demonstrates a major contribution to the life - and sustainability - of the local community which much impressed the BCE Assessors.
www.poolhousehotel.com
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Premier Award 2001
Presented at The Lincoln Centre, London on 29th January 2002 by Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
DIAGEO
WATER OF LIFE, London
'Water of Life' is the Diageo Foundation's international environmental and humanitarian support programme. Projects carried out under the programme are concerned with promoting conservation and biodiversity and the encouragement of sustainable practices and technologies.Projects have practical, educational and research objectives and are always carried out in a genuine partnership between the local Diageo company and another appropriate body. Water of Life takes water as its main theme and so dealing with the affects of water pollution throughout the world has become a specialist concern of the programme. Over 70 projects have so far been taken on, in five continents and costing over £1m. Specific projects used to exemplify the programme with the Islay project and a micro-hydro electric project in Peru.
The Islay initiative has given practical help to develop alternative energy sources and to assist the island's Development Company in its regeneration efforts. The Peruvian initiative was in partnership with UK charity Intermediate Technology and involved supporting a training programme to promote a more extended use of micro-hydro energy based on generators which can provide electricity for the agricultural, industrial and domestic needs of villages - a small stream can generate 50kW of power - sufficient for a village of 80 households.
www.diageo.com
Back to 2001 Winners
Premier Award 2001
Presented at The Lincoln Centre, London on 29th January 2002 by Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
THE CO-OPERATIVE BANK, Manchester
INTEGRATED APPROACH TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
The Bank's Ecological Mission Statement seeks, among other things, to reduce the company's reliance on finite resources and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions for which the Bank was responsible. The Bank's commitment to these challenges has been very public and this award is for both the high profile demonstration of commitment to the environment and for the achievements themselves. Between 1997 and 2000 the Bank reduced its energy consumption by 9.4%, and moved to renewal energy sources, albeit at a premium of over 6%. It can therefore demonstrate net CO2 emissions have fallen from 8K tonnes to 5.4K tonnes - a 29% decrease per customer account. Over the same period, the Bank's car fleet has reduced distance travelled by 19%; it is replacing its air conditioning systems to eliminate use of CFC-based gases; it has run a Greenlease asset finance product to assist businesses seeking an affordable method of acquiring environmental technologies; in 2000 it launched a green low-cost flexible mortgage, incorporating a Home Energy Rating and investments in forests as 'carbon sinks' to sequestrate CO2 - currently offsetting 1835 tonnes CO2 on behalf of its mortgage customers. Since 1998 the Co-operative Bank has been recognised as a world leader in social and environmental reporting; the various specific initiatives demonstrate that the ethical and ecological commitments are real.
www.co-operativebank.co.uk
Back to 2001 Winners
Premier Award 2001
Presented at The Lincoln Centre, London on 29th January 2002 by Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE PROGRAMME FOR INDUSTRY
The title of the entry from the Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI) was 'Reconciling profitability and sustainable development : a global business network'. CPI is the premier provider of professional and executive development in sustainable development, pioneering learning processes to establish the business care for sustainable development for senior executives, mid-career managers and others whose functional specialism is not environmentally related. It has thus created a network of over 500 executives from some 350 organisations, including representatives from the developing world and from NGOs. The ethos of CPI is that it is individuals and organisational values that will sustain sustainable development rather than just the collection of financial data. Seminars, inter-organisational projects and networking activities make up the Programme. CPI set up HRH The Prince of Wales' Business & The Environment Programme in 1994, expanding it into Europe in 1997 and the USA in 2001. The Programme for Industry has as its stated objectives:
- To be a leading international provider of sustainability education for current and future business leaders
- To build on our strengths to pioneer new models of personal and organisational learning for a sustainable economy and
- To work with companies and other organisations to demonstrate the power of embedding sustainability literacy throughout an organisation.
www.cpi.cam.ac.uk
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