30.03.2015

Sustainable Retail on Regent Street with The Crown Estate


The Crown Estate holds almost the entire freehold to London’s iconic Regent Street, where approximately 20,000 employees work within grade II listed buildings. Already pioneering sustainability, The Crown Estate has become the first to bring bees into the West End, and is currently setting up rooftop allotments.

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24.03.2015

Set the Wheels in Motion- What’s it really like to drive an EV?

Thirty practitioners from member organisations headed over to the Green Britain Centre in Norfolk earlier this month to attend our Set the Wheels in Motion event. The topic was all things sustainable transport and travel planning, with EV myth-busting and test driving in the afternoon. Some interesting questions were raised about what it’s actually like to drive an EV. Here’s a summary of the answers given by our expert panel.

Sustainable transport, Electric Vehicles/ EV charging
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10.02.2015

Chatsworth: Bringing stewardship into the 21st Century

Luke Sherlock is Sustainability Manager for the Devonshire Group, which includes Chatsworth House and Bolton Abbey. We catch up with him to find out how, at the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire, the team are drawing on centuries of tradition to tackle the social and environmental challenges faced over the century to come.

Renewable energy, Energy Efficiency
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26.01.2015

Spring Site Visits and Events

We’ve got a busy year ahead, with plenty of site visits and events already booked in for the spring. These include an exploration of all things sustainable transport, and the chance for members to get the inside scoop on ESOS. If you haven’t already booked on one of RSPB’s bioenergy to biomass site visits then there’s still time, with several more demos taking place in early February.

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16.01.2015

Harnessing the Elements with YHA

Castles, cabins, barns and shepherd huts: Network member, the Youth Hostel Association, has a diverse array of buildings across UK cities and beauty spots. We catch up with Andy Rimmer, part of YHA’s SHEQ Team, to find out how they’re making hundreds of sites Fit for the Future.

Renewable energy
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18.12.2014

Retrofit and Royals: A Behind the Scenes Tour of the Charterhouse

Fit for the Future Network members recently headed to the historic Charterhouse for a tour of their retrofit and energy efficiency work. Forum for the Future masters scholar, Emmanuelle Hopkinson, reports back.

Eenergy efficiency: heritage retrofit
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19.11.2014

Nature Reserves – Power Stations of the Future?

Core Network members, the RSPB, are soon to host a ‘biomass to bioenergy’ project demonstration in Kent. We catch up with the charity’s Bioenergy Project Manager, Sally Mills, to find out more about the project and what it means for wider habitat conservation across the UK.

Renewable energy, Biomass
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06.11.2014

Sharing Knowledge: National Trust Building Design Guides

The National Trust is one of the founding members of the Network, and is keen to share lessons learnt on its sustainability journey so far. We catch up with Natasha Rozanski, the Trust’s Building & Project Design Guide Assistant, to find out all about their building design guides and how they can be of use to other Network members.

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13.10.2014

Wanted: Sustainable Energy Trailblazers

The 2015 Ashden Awards are now open for entries: you’ve got until Tuesday, 4th of November to apply. We catch up with their PR and Digital Media Manager, Julia Hawkins, to find out what the Ashden team are looking for this year and how winners will be rewarded.

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10.10.2014

Targeting Excellence at the University of Oxford

The Network team were delighted to welcome the University of Oxford on board this summer. The hundreds of buildings in their estate include historic gems like the Bodleian Library and the Ashmolean Museum as well as a theatre designed by Sir Christopher Wren. We catch up with Tom Heel, their Sustainable Building Officer, to find out how the Network has been of use so far in helping to make these buildings Fit for the Future.

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