Name: St Marks Stays
Description: Inspired Days & Bespoke Stays for pet-friendly, group accommodation in Cumbria
Date certified: 23 January 2020
Key issues addressed: Energy use for lighting & heating, emissions from guests’ travel, waste & recycling.
Feedback: “The Green Small Business approach gives us a structure to work with and aim for, rather than feeling the task of being green feeling too big to achieve and beyond our finances. Our customers will appreciate the changes we are making by being able to show the certification and it will attract like minded collaborators into our business. It was a very straight forward process and we are so glad we invested in this.”
Name: right2work
Description: A Community Interest Company (CIC) offering a diverse range of work, learning and opportunities for people across Cumbria & Lancashire. With a dedicated staff team that work with over 200 people each year, they began more than two decades ago and over that time have supported over 2,000 people into training or work.
Date certified: 22 January 2020
Key issues addressed: Energy use for lighting & heating, sourcing of ingredients, waste and recycling.
“A truly inspirational and deeply green organisation, demonstrating their commitment to go even more deeply green!”
Name: Shed 1 Gin Distillery
Description: Award-winning gin distillery on the edge of the English Lake District
Date certified: November 2019
Key issues addressed: Sourcing of ingredients; Packaging; Water & energy use; Company administration
“It was great to get some affirmation for our efforts up to this point. What we found useful was the extra research that Green Small Business did for us and pointing us in the right direction. I feel if I need some advice in the future, I can get in touch with them and discuss.”
Name: Chatham House – The Royal Institute of International Affairs
Business Description: World-leading policy institute with a mission to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world.
Key issues addressed: Vehicle emissions (including air travel), building energy use, hospitality & catering, influence.
“Our Green Small Business EMS allows us to more clearly demonstrate as an organisation that we adequately address the environmental impact that we have, help us formalise more clearly our environmental credentials as well as demonstrate to our members / stakeholders / suppliers that we are serious about this important area.”
Name: Amaze Property / Boathouse Design Studio
Business Description: Owners and operators of the stunning Boathouse Design Studio, a Grade II listed building right next to Teddington Lock Footbridge, London.
Key issues addressed: Energy use, waste, vehicle emissions
“Green Small Business provides us with an incentive to go greener and is a good promotional tool, setting us apart from other co-working spaces.”
Name: Abbey Office Solutions
Description: An office and business solutions provider, based in Totton and near Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
Date certified: October 2019
Key issues addressed: Energy use; Paper use; Office waste; Packaging; Vehicle emissions; Company Administration.
“We developed the EMS ourselves using the Green Small Business Making it Easy Pack. The pack was very clear and easy to use. We needed this to know where to start.
Green Small Business certification will show our customers that we care about our environmental impact and that we have been certified by a reputable company.
We were looking for a way to make us stand out from our competitors on the environmental side of things but found that the ISO14001 route too costly and time consuming. A lot of the detail was irrelevant to our size of business. Green Small Business has given us an ideal platform to develop our EMS system that is relevant to us. It was a quick and straightforward process and Green Small Business were a great help in advising me on some of the sections. I would definitely recommend Green Small Business.”
Business Name: Outerspace
Business Description: Creating stunning and meaningful landscape architecture. Creating spaces that balance the needs of people and biodiversity.
Key Issues Addressed by Green Small Business: Energy use, company administration, specification of materials for clients.
“Thank you so much for the policy and environmental action plan. They are great and show an understanding of our business and the realities of running a business. The process was very good. In the space of a 40 minute phone call we went through all key aspects of the business. It will work as a great way of keeping us in check with our own environmental plans and a way of letting clients know about our plans and aims.”
Business Name: Miller Clear Architects
Business Description: A small design-led architectural practice, specialising in residential and mixed-use projects. They have a passion for providing practical, inspiring solutions which are as ‘green’ as possible.
Key issues addressed: Advice to clients, specification of materials, energy use.
“Tim put together an easy to manage action plan that breaks down the different aspects of our business practice into manageable and achievable targets. We can concentrate on achieving small things, such as choosing the right kind of recycled paper, whilst maintaining our overall ambition of running an ethical green business. The action plan is a fantastic way for small businesses with limited resources to achieve an ambitious green business plan that has an integrity rooted in establishing key green and ethical principles”.
Name: Properly Partners Ltd
Business Description: Estate Agency
Key issues addressed: Vehicle emissions, office supplies, waste
“I am hopeful that being associated with Green Small Business will lead to extra credibility and recognition within our industry and from clients. I am also pleased that we can contribute to sustainability and hopefully can inspire others within our industry to follow suit, as it certainly isn’t prominent at the moment.”
Business Name: wave
Business Description: Wave is a design co-operative working in print and digital media. They work with people who do inspirational, positive things.
Key issues addressed: Advice to clients, energy use, paper use.
“The policy and action plan have been very useful. The Green Small Business logo is now proudly on our website”.
Business Description: Creators of all things cake whose aim is to bring you great products using the best ingredients.
Key issues addressed: Sourcing of ingredients, packaging, packaging waste and energy use.
“We decided to do it because it’s a good thing for the business. Hopefully it will save on costs and we want to be doing something to contribute to helping the environment – we want to make sure we are doing as much as we can. It looks at energy use and things like that to see where we can make savings. The process is really simple and straightforward and a good starting point for businesses to make changes in how we do things. It’s been really convenient and the initial work really doesn’t take much time. Time is really precious and this didn’t take up much of our time. It’s given us a prompt to look into these things like heat systems further. The report also highlights the good things businesses are already doing – there is no criticism and it is a very supportive document for the business.”
Name: Lamabuild
Business Description: A family run construction company, carrying out building and refurbishment London-wide and working with private and commercial clients and with design-led architectural practices.
Key issues addressed: Sourcing of materials, waste & recycling, advice to clients
“It’s really important that we are aware, and are seen to be aware of what we are doing and want to do to ‘Green’ our business. Eco matters are at the forefront of most responsible people’s minds so it can only improve our reputation with architects and clients.”
Name: Cova Security Gates
Business Description: UK-based manufacturer of Perimeter Security Equipment.
Key issues addressed: Energy use, waste, resource use
“We were delighted to get our certification sorted so quickly. It brings environmental awareness and forces the company and our staff to be more conscious of their and the company’s impact on the environment.”
Business Name: Southcombe Brothers Ltd
Business Description: Supplying, designing and making gloves since 1847
Key issues addressed: Energy use, transport, raw materials.
“We think it will give confidence to our customers and potential customers that we take our responsibilities to the environment seriously and that Green Small Business has given us a chance to demonstrate this without going down more cumbersome and resource-heavy routes more suited to larger companies”.