Environmental principles

Environmental principles and sustainability

At Manchester Central Convention Complex, we are committed to managing our business activities in order to minimise our impact on the environment. Manchester Central Convention Complex is located in the heart of the city of Manchester and is a major contributor to the economy of the North West region.

Our environmental commitment extends to the business activities of key partners, so that we can work together to reduce waste and promote sustainability. We share our commitment with clients to encourage them to apply a high level of environmental awareness towards their events.

Manchester Central Convention Complex is currently undergoing a three phase redevelopment which has been assessed according to the BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). BREEAM is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings, which sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design. Against the BREEAM criteria, our redevelopment plans were assessed as “very good”.

Location, travel and transport advice

Manchester Central Convention Complex is located in the city centre, with over 2,500 hotel rooms situated within a five minute walk of the venue. That means that from arriving in Manchester, delegates attending events at the venue will not need to use their own cars for further journeys.

We have excellent public transport links to all major travel hubs, such as mainline railway stations and Manchester Airport. On all of our advertising and promotional material, we provide public transport information to assist visitors with travel planning.

On our website, we have links to www.walk-it.com, where visitors can create their own walking itineraries, to avoid using their car for travelling around the city. We also have a link to www.carsharegm.com to encourage both visitors and employees to explore car-sharing options.

Waste management

Our waste contractor Viridor separates the waste generated on-site and extracts recyclable material such as wood, plastic, glass and cardboard before taking it to landfill.

Our event management system is an online system, dealing with all enquiries, bookings, contracts and event planning. This reduces the necessity for bulky ‘paper’ files. All internal communications are primarily by email, to reduce the amount of paper we use.

Water saving

We have recently refurbished our public toilets and installed a waterless urinal system in the Central Hall gents’ toilets, a duo flush system in the toilet cisterns and self-stopping water taps. This will save approximately 20,000 metres³ of water per year. In other areas, we have installed water saving taps and a water management system.

Energy saving

The venue uses lighting sensors to switch off lights which are not required. We have installed low energy lighting in Central Hall, which means that during event build-ups and breakdowns there is no requirement to use the main lights. We are currently replacing our electricity meters with new meters which will be monitored by computer to help us to identify areas where we can cut down on electricity consumption.

We have installed time switches on the CO2 extractors for the underground car park. Previously, the extractors were running continuously.

New hand dryers installed in our toilets are Dyson Airblade™ hand driers; the Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer works in just 10 seconds and uses unheated air to dry hands. It uses up to 80% less electricity than warm air hand dryers.

Recycling

We recycle glass from our catering operation and also light bulbs. A cardboard recycling scheme is in place. Cooking oil used in the kitchens is recycled. A scheme for recycling printer cartridges is in place.

We have recently purchased approximately 2000 metres² of reusable carpet tiles, which clients have the option of using rather than purchase new carpet for every event.

All paper used within our offices is collected by a recycling specialist, committed to finding the best disposal route so that as much material as possible can be recovered and recycled.

Management systems

There are management systems in place to help reduce our use of utilities. For example, our security staff, maintenance and cleaning staff are tasked with switching off lighting, radiators, escalators and for checking storerooms.  Regular reminders are issued to staff to ensure that appliances are closed down at night and especially at extended close down periods.

Sustainability and local suppliers

Printed materials are produced on paper that is manufactured using woodpulp from well-managed forests, certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council. Most of our marketing activity is on-line or by e-marketing, thereby minimising the quantity of brochures and leaflets we need to produce.

We purchase only officer paper made from recycled materials. We have just started to donate some items such as shoulder bags, which are often left at the end of an event.  Some organisers give these bags away as promotional material; these are given to an organisation, which donates them to third world countries.

Our environmental commitment is shared by our key partners, so in our catering operations, we aim to operate to the highest possible environmental standards:

• All tea and coffee is Fair Trade.
• 80% of our fresh meat produce is from within the UK and 90% of our fresh seasonal produce is sourced from within the UK.
• Our aim is to supply all our UK sourced meat to Farm Assured standard. This ensures that animals are reared to independently audited standards of welfare and husbandry. In addition, all our meat processors are EU licensed, operate to the HACCP system of food safety management and are supplied through our nominated suppliers.
• To conserve fish stocks, we supply a range of sustainable alternatives that have been sourced from fisheries meeting the Marine Stewardship Council Standard, i.e. from a sustainable and well-managed marine resource.
• We avoid the use of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods and work closely with all our nominated suppliers to ensure that they avoid GM food.