Archive for October, 2007
Mayfair Cavendish & ICO Conference Centres: Possibly London’s greenest, most socially responsible venues.
October 30th, 2007
A recent article in Conference News (Oct 07) lauds one of our competitors green credentials. These are all initiatives we introduced some years ago i.e. amongst other things:
Catering Supplies
- We use locally sourced mineral water, in fully recycled bottles
- Every endeavour is made to source food locally, certainly all-catering supplies purchased under fair trade principals as per our understanding of the FINE definition.
- We are about to introduce a composting service for all surplus catering products
Conference Supplies
- A range of initiatives has been introduced to minimise waste in this respect, i.e. getting rid of paper coasters, using linen tablecloths and napkins, reusable delegate packs etc.
- Where practicable all items are made from recycled materials i.e. coasters and pencils
- All stationary items are produced to ISO 14001 standards.
- All energy supplied 100% green and so not subject to climate levy
- We have introduced some of the most advanced air conditioning plant in the UK, with in excess of 80% of the energy used being recovered.
- Wherever possible items are recycled, we have regular pick up of all the major recyclable items.
Social Responsibility
- Through our partnership with the International Coffee Organisation we pay up to 33% of our profits to a body actively promoting better conditions for coffee producers in the developing world while promoting sustainability.
- We offer an active programme of training and work opportunities to local people.
- We offer discounts of up to 66% to various charities.
Ongoing
- We will be fully carbon neutral by Christmas 2007
 If anyone has any suggestions as to further practical steps we can take please do email me on dermot@mayfaircavendish.com
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The Client is Always Right
October 29th, 2007
The eternal dilemma, when to say no. Someone here recently greeted a speaker, only to be meet with a stream of complaints, all of them on issues wholly outside her control. What on earth do we think we are doing laying up the room boardroom when for his particular use ‘island’ was the only way. This despite the fact his office had requested a boardroom layout etc etc. He then went on how there lighting was wholly unsuitable, made him feel suicidal etc. Never not once have I heard any complaint about lighting at the ICO, not once. Maybe he had a point, it was the way the thing was put across that presented the problem, bullying!
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What should we do? I guess we did the right thing we ‘Sucked it all up and swallowed’. In 14 years we have never told the client enough is enough and he should leave, maybe that day will come. In the meantime the client has re-booked the event for next year, you never can tell.
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Trials and Tribulations
October 26th, 2007
The battle is on; the end is not yet in sight. We are now running at just short of full capacity. Today is a case in point, breakfast meeting followed by a full day discussing fraud in the public sector and finishing with an evening event for an advertising company. Sometimes working in this industry it feels that you are something akin to a marathon runner with three big events a year, one leading up to Easter, then another in the early summer, a finally the Big One in the Autumn. At the moment it is more like any number of daily sprints, just keeping up with the clients and the turnarounds. We love it?
The BATLE OF GREEN goes on. We are still trying to find someone who will compost our kitchen waste. The first company Envirowise in the form of the London Environmental Centre www.groundworkebslondon.co.uk  recommended went bust. They have now come up with a number of alternatives, I called one this morning, who having dained to pick up the phone after no less than 25 rings suggested that as they couldn’t arrange more than a monthly pick up I might want to install a wormery in our kitchen. I shudder to think what the Health inspector would make of it. Maybe we could go one step further and install straw toilets for the delegates. These a minor trials and tribulations will not stop us in our quest to become the ‘greenest’ venue in London.
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Even Greener
October 18th, 2007
The tidal wave of ‘Green’ events continues, on Monday it’s 200 odd government officials talking about ‘The Countdown to Zero Carbon’. Were doing our best to keep abreast of things, today we signed up with a firm who will compost all our kitchen waste. This is a logistical nightmare; hopefully the end justifies the means.
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On a related note we are still trying to think of a way where we can move beyond of our zero carbon pledge to offset all the carbon created by our delegates. The devil is in the detail, on any day 250 or so delegates, all getting here who knows how etc etc
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GOING GREEN
October 16th, 2007
After many years of lonely battle it seems that finally our credentials as London’s greenest conference venue have finally been recognised. We are inundated with green conferences, and happy to be so. For the next two days we have Green Power Conferences and 150 of their delegates talking about the Carbon Markets. In addition to this yesterday we had a government sponsored event entitled the Low Carbon Vehicle and tomorrow we will be hosting an event for the Ethical Trading Company.
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To say I feel vindicated drastically understates the case. For years we have battled cynical colleagues and suppliers as we bought in an ever growing list of green initiatives. Starting with recycled pencils we moved onto to all our stationary being ISO 14001 compliant, ethically traded food and now our campaign to gain the coveted Green Mark environmental kite mark. By Christmas 2007 we hope to be London’s first 100% carbon neutral conference venue.  For two years all this happened and our clients were completely indifferent. Now suddenly the small trickle of green events has become a flood, were loving it thank you.
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Cloudy Skies
October 15th, 2007
The GOOD news is that we are getting lots of enquiries from lots of publishing companies. The BAD news is their foot warriors, the ever-growing legions of salesmen who attempt to bamboozle our miniscule advertising budget away from us. They all sound convincing, they all have products which A) sound very similar B) sound fantastic. Which to go for we never know. The end result is that we either just advertise in the same old places again and again, or we go with the salesmen who sounds the nicest.
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