The Venues Collection Commit to Green Tourism ‘Green Meetings’ Standard
The Venues Collection is showing its commitment to creating sustainable meetings by signing each of its seven conference and training venues to the Green Tourism ‘Green Meetings’ Standard.
The Standard uses a strict three-pillar sustainability criteria which focuses on people, places and planet and is examined by an independent assessor. Each of the people, places and planet goals are assessed by five different factors including focuses on areas such as food, health & wellbeing, carbon, waste and water consumption. Each of the seven venues has started their journey to achieving the Standard.
Jo Austin, Sales Director of The Venues Collection and mia board member, said: “We are passionate about sustainability and totally dedicated to ensuring that our venues are as sustainably run as possible - from the food and drinks we serve and minimising food waste, to the meetings and events that are created within our venues. Independent and impartial accreditation offers our customers the easiest and most thorough way to check that our venues meet their sustainability standards. As the mia’s sustainability lead, I am excited to see this Standard being adopted throughout the industry and I encourage every venue to adopt it. Sustainability is a constantly evolving journey, and the Green Meetings Standard gives each of our venues a road map to follow to ensure they are continually improving and developing their offer and exceeding clients’ needs and expectations.
“This accreditation demonstrates our venues’ commitment to sustainability, and enables event professionals to book with confidence and be assured that our venues are as environmentally friendly as possible, and a greener choice for their events.”
Kerrin MacPhie, Chief Executive of the mia, said: “As we emerge from the pandemic and enter a new era of business meetings and events where sustainability is becoming of increasing importance to event planners and booking agencies, we’re delighted that The Venues Collection, alongside other member venues, are pledging their commitment to adopt and further evolve their green credentials.
“The standard, which has been integrated into the mia’s AIM Secure accreditation, enables our members to easily identify and measure sustainable practices as well as have access to invaluable sector guidance, resources and webinars and cover areas such as energy, water and waste through to catering, procurement and travel, as well as awareness, communication and community involvement.”
The venues within the Collection have already been awarded Venue Directory’s Green Accreditation, and this move further builds on the recent announcement of The Venues Collection’s Meetings for Change Day Delegate Rate and 24-hour Rate. These advancements all sit under the Group’s Future First Charter, a framework to shape and deliver the Group’s social purpose initiatives and targets. The Charter is built around three key pillars; People Pledge, Food Focus and Enriching Environments and has been adopted by all head office staff and venue teams.
The Venues Collection is the residential venue business of Compass Group UK & Ireland and has seven event and training sites across the South West, South East, and East & West Midlands.
