19 March 2008
Capita Symonds was a Platinum Sponsor
of the Think 08 conference and exhibition at ExCel, London on 7-8
May.
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Think is the leading annual event on sustainability in the built
environment, with key speakers including Hilary Benn, Secretary of
State for Environment, Sir Howard Bernstein, Manchester City
Council and Herbert Girardet, World Future Council. This year’s
event attracted over 3,600 visitors over the two days.
With the built environment accounting for about 50% of the UK’s
carbon dioxide emissions it’s increasingly clear that we have to
change the way we design, construct and use buildings – and do so
fast. This means rethinking the whole process and taking a fresh
look at what we mean by, and how we achieve, a sustainable built
environment – from specifying low energy lighting to creating
places where people really want to live and work.
With the multidisciplinary range of services we provide to the
property and infrastructure sectors, Capita Symonds is very much
part of the sustainability debate and making a prominent
contribution to Think was a key objective for us in
2008.
Our ‘tree’ concept stand made a huge impact over the two days,
symbolising the diversity of our services and our shared approach
to sustainability in a truly innovative – and sustainable –
way.
Constructed from FSC-accredited plywood the stand will now be
recycled and we’ll be making a donation to Trees for Cities - an
independent charity working with local communities on tree-planting
and landscaping projects – to offset our carbon footprint at the
event.
The stand’s interactive zone generated well over 100 responses
to our survey questions ‘what would you change in your community to
help reduce carbon emissions?’ and ‘what one change can you make to
live your life more sustainably?’ The consensus view was that the
UK needed a more integrated public transport system, better public
education of sustainability issues and, perhaps surprisingly, many
people stating that they now grew their own vegetables.
At the conference, Head of Capita Architecture Rob Firth
presented a case study on the St Francis of Assisi Academy in
Liverpool as part of the session ‘Best in Class - Examples
of the UK's Finest Sustainable Projects’ and Capita
Symonds Executive Director John Southgate was a panellist on the
‘Zero Waste’ debate.
Capita Symonds also hosted three free seminars in the various
debating zones, with Neil Cartwright, Director Building Services
presenting on 'Future Proofing Low Carbon Designs for
Buildings: The Vital Role of Mechanical Venting', Capita
Symonds ‘next generation’ hosting a breakfast briefing on
‘Dynamic Careers in Sustainability featuring Successful
People, Projects and Performance’ and Rob Firth repeating
his St Francis of Assisi case study for the benefit of exhibition
attendees.
Think 08 gave Capita Symonds the opportunity to share its
experience and expertise in sustainable design and construction
with a large number of like-minded fellow consultants and
clients.
Watch our think video:
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