MICEBOOK - POWER 50 GREEN CHAMPIONS COVER 1 - Flipbook - Page 9
Page 9
Cressida Prout
Dale Parmenter
David Connell
Group Event Director, Bray Leino
Events
CEO, DRPG
Operations Director, Exclusive
Collection
When Bray Leino Events set its sights on
industry leadership in sustainable event
delivery, Cressida saw an opportunity to
drive positive change in the industry. In
the last year, she has spearheaded a
comprehensive restructuring of the way
Bray Leino Events approaches live event
projects; a complete review and update
of policies and procedures; and a
cultural embedding of sustainability
practices and ideas.
Using data that the agency had been
collecting since 2019, Cressida collaborated with agency senior leaders to author
a Carbon Reduction Plan, which ties Bray
Leino to a 90% reduction across all
business and client operations – with the
remainder offset – to reach Net Zero by
2050. The agency is projected to meet a
50% reduction by 2029, based on a cut of
at least 7.2% every year.
In 2022, Cressida managed Bray Leino’s
induction to isla and the implementation
of isla’s TRACE live event carbon measurement and benchmarking platform. The
agency has implemented a partnership
approach across its preferred supplier list
to ensure that the businesses on it share
the same commitment to sustainability –
providing free education and training
materials to help them level up. It also
now offers to review clients’ sustainability
policies and priorities and makes
ambitious suggestions for sustainability
around each event.
Cressida took the agency’s sustainability
playbook and supercharged it so it could
be applied to any live event project,
ensuring a consistent approach across a
wide range of projects - using the ‘basic’,
‘better’, ‘best’ isla Proseed principles to
improve factors like energy use, water
consumption, travel/transport, and
production.
She leads the sustainability working
group and champions sustainability at
board level and across all teams.
Sustainability 101 training is now mandatory across the agency, and more training
is in the pipeline, with Cressida currently
working with a consultancy to devise a
programme of ongoing learning.
Dale created DRPG in 1980, and from the
outset believed that businesses should
play a positive role in the community,
supporting local charities and creating
community-based awareness
programmes. The culture of ‘anything’s
possible’ came very early on, with a
determination to get things done and
make a difference.
When he started DRPG’s sustainability
journey 15 years ago, he didn’t want it to
be a tick-box exercise but wanted to make
a real difference and deliver tangible and
measurable actions. Some of the key
achievements include zero-waste to
landfill, eradicating single-use plastics
from the agency’s buildings, producing
100% renewable energy at its HQ and
being the world’s first creative agency to
achieve ISO 20121 and ISO 14001
certifications.
Aligned with the 17 UN SDGs, Dale’s most
significant and unique advancement has
been the adoption of the ‘Triple Bottom
Line’ or ‘People, Planet and Profit’. Looking
at sustainability as an all-encompassing
umbrella over the business really allows
the team to focus on creating a
sustainable future with the 3Ps becoming
its roadmap and business plan.
In 2019, Dale developed the idea of a CSR
Charter to affirm DRPG’s commitment to
contributing to a more sustainable future
that benefits people and communities. He
also formed an in-house sustainability
team, made up of volunteers from various
departments within the business, which is
responsible for championing and driving
forward the agency’s sustainability
agenda.
In the last 12 months, DRPG has been
involved with 56 CSR projects totalling
over £170,000 for charitable causes
including £30,000 for the Worcester Breast
Unit. Thanks to Dale’s sustainable vision,
DRPG was given the Queen’s Award for
Enterprise: Sustainable Development this
year, the only agency of its kind to achieve
this, and has won a further eight awards
surrounding economic social governance.
As the UK's first hotel brand to achieve B
Corp in 2021, David is educating and
involving people, partners and clients in
what B Corp means and the significant
commitment Exclusive Collection has
taken. His Power 50 entry focused specifically on one of the group’s property’s,
South Lodge, but as operations director,
David has been at the fore of driving B
Corp accreditation across the entire
business.
Initiatives include removing all direct
purchase single use plastic by the end of
2023, using LandApp to remove carbon
dioxide from the estate, a zero-waste
direct landfill policy with a target of 95%
waste to be recycled, and reducing use of
fossil fuel by favouring biomass and
renewable energy. Most significantly,
Exclusive has amended its Articles of
Incorporation at Companies House
meaning it must show changes, gains,
and plans around its business practices.
Sustainability is the number one focus at
South Lodge, and this responsibility
permeates every department and drives
every decision. For capital expenditure
decisions, the property will only invest in
considered, sustainable solutions, for
example, it is developing eco-lodges with
low ecological footprints.
Food is a huge area of focus – menus are
seasonal and sourced locally through
Sussex’s artisans, growers, and suppliers,
Botanica’s Wasted Burger uses up the
pulp from the morning’s juices and is now
a signature dish of The Spa, and food
waste that cannot be repurposed goes to
a Rocket Composter which then feeds the
grounds and gardens. OLIO take useable
surplus food and shares it with the local
community, and for events, South Lodge
has implemented Klimato which carbon
labels menus to educate clients and
encourage more environmentally friendly
choices.
In collaboration with neighbouring
Ridgeview, South Lodge has planted 19,500
vines to form a vineyard which will reap
huge rewards while supporting the hotel’s
objective to increase carbon sequestration.
