Environmental Policy - Camden Art Centre

We use cookies to make our website work more efficiently, to provide you with more personalised services or advertising to you, and to analyse traffic on our website. For more information on how we use cookies and how to manage cookies, please read here, otherwise select ‘Accept and close’.

Camden Art Centre has an excellent track record on reducing carbon emissions, and increasing our environmental sustainability remains a key operational goal.

We participate in Julie’s Bicycle ‘Creative Green’ environmental certification scheme specifically designed for the creative sector, and were winner of ‘Best Museum and Art Gallery’ in the Creative Green Awards 2017.

 

We aim to be a beacon of good practice, to limit our pollution and waste, save energy and practise recycling. All visitors and staff should feel able to engage with our environmental programme, in the same way they do with our exhibition and education programmes, and with just as much integrity. Our environmental policy and action plan lay out a clear structure for maintaining and building upon this good practice, and responsibility for environmental performance is held by the Gallery Manager.

 

We welcome all input from visitors and invite members of the public to engage in our policy. Should you have any suggestions or questions regarding our environmental policy at Camden Art Centre, please contact info@camdenartcentre.org.

Our environmental impact

  • Reducing our Co2 in 2019/20 from 107 tonnes to 58 tonnes, with particular reduction on gas, water and business travel.
  •  Our zero to waste policy saved 17 tonnes of Co2 in 2019/20, with a recycling rate of 77%.
  • We introduced food recycling within 2019 for staff and café food waste, totalling 3.75 tonnes of anaerobic digestion and reducing our overall waste production.
  • Our photovoltaic solar panels on Gallery One roof offset the equivalent of 165 trees.
  • We continue to benefit from our rainwater harvesting tanks in our garden to help reduce our water usage and supply water to our garden.
  • Our audience surveys showed that in 2019/20 only 8% of visitors travelled by car, with the majority travelling by train, walking, bus and cycling
  • We seek to programme work which raises awareness of our environment and the natural world, and to recycle as much material as possible used in the fabrication of our exhibitions.
  • Our learning programmes benefit from utilising our garden space and connecting participants with our environment.
  • Since 2016 we have procured green energy electricity, through a company which generates 100% of its electricity from renewable sources
  • We have made efficiency upgrades to our Building Management System to reduce our energy consumption and prolong the life of mechanical plant work. This includes upgrading building sensors to ensure plant equipment operates ‘on-demand’ for increased efficiency.
  • We’ve expanded LED lighting installation throughout the building.
  • Our café partners Cantine also have a strong environmental focus and are committed to reducing their waste and carbon foot print. Their dishes are predominantly vegan and vegetarian, they sparingly serve meat and fish and their kitchen is fully electric and uses 100% renewable energy.
  • Created a new trail in the garden to help our younger visitors engaging with the natural environment.
  • Strengthening links with Julie’s Bicycle and Camden Climate Change Alliance to align with best practise in the sector.
  • Review funding options for improving environmental performance, such as heat recovery system to harness waste heat energy from our ceramics studio kilns and supply hot water/heating to the building.
  • Continue to reduce waste production and energy consumption in real terms for gas, water and electricity.
  • Review the environmental impact of different types of exhibition.
  • Further embed environmental impact reduction into our refreshed business plans and procurement policies from 2021.