GROSVENOR SHOPPING NORTHAMPTON RECOGNISED

Grosvenor Shopping Northampton has been recognised in three categories of an annual award that rewards and promotes sustainable practices and environmental work.

The Green Apple Environment Awards has awarded the centre for its work to save water, recycling and for a biodiversity project and it will find out in November if it has been awarded bronze, silver or gold accreditation for its work in each of the categories.

Jason Gregg, Centre Director at Evolve Estates, part of M Core, the national commercial property and investment company that owns and manages the centre, said: “We’re thrilled that our three campaigns have been recognised by the prestigious Green Apple Environment Awards. Our teams work hard to make a difference at a local level that can help to make an impact on a much wider scale. It’s testament to the hard work and imagination of our staff who want to enhance our local environment and make the centre greener in its everyday work.”

For water efficiency, Grosvenor Shopping Northampton highlighted its “save a flush” campaign to reduce the amount of water per toilet flush by using cistern displacement devices (CDDs). This has helped to save about 340,000 litres of water and £1,011 annually. It also saves the equivalent of 2,395 people’s daily water usage.

In the waste management category, the shopping centre demonstrated how its newly introduced recycling hubs around the centre and back-of-house areas have become instrumental in fostering a culture of sustainability. There are four main collection points on the upper mall at the back of the house, used by all the retailers, and this has streamlined the waste disposal process and improved the efficiency of its back-of-house cleaning teams. On the lower mall, it has installed five collection points for both retailers and visitors.

The centre has also developed an exclusive retailers’ waste programme, which educates retailers about best practice in waste management and recycling, and has eliminated the use of black sacks, which has led to an increase in its recycling rates, reducing waste disposal costs and the carbon footprint associated with transport of waste.

The centre has also been awarded for its asset sustainability plan, which aims to boost urban biodiversity by providing habitats for nesting birds and pollinators.

Working with site teams, charities and the community, it has installed three living wall planters with bee-friendly pollinators, trailing and climbing flowers, bird boxes and bug hotels. For this scheme, Grosvenor Shopping Northampton donated bird boxes and paint to Spectrum Northants, a local charity that supports adults experiencing or recovering from mental or emotional distress, who helped to decorate them. Plans are already in place to develop this further by creating a small garden area and perhaps beehives.

The Green Apple Environment Awards presentations, which are run by The Green Organisation – an independent, international, non-political, non-profit environment group, take place on November 20 at the House of Lords in November.