Greenlands have Solar Photovoltaics (PV) in the new accommodation block.
We are currently exploring the potential for an innovative water source heat pump at our Greenlands campus. This would transfer heat from the river Thames into the buildings, reducing the need for oil fired boilers. It’s an exciting project but complicated due to many planning, heritage and environmental considerations.
The wild garden was once part of a large apple orchard which stretched from Paddock House to Ferry Cottage beyond the fence.
A single apple tree still stands in the garden and hosts some of our next box visitors. Watch for activity during the spring nesting season!
Some wildflower planting has been done in the garden in the past but nature has now taken over and a variety of species can now be seen.
Greenlands introduced a Bee Hotel which has been installed on the wall behind Berry Brook House as you walk towards the West Car Park.
Man-made bee hotels can provide nesting sites to start the next generation of bees. Cavity nesting bees are particularly good at pollinating many of our crops such as apples, pears and cherries, and also many of the beautiful wild flowers we find in the spring time. Solitary bees are particularly docile, as they don’t make honey, and so have nothing to defend. The bee hotel has been built by Robin Dean, a visiting Research Fellow at the University, and a commercial supplier of bees
Venue Henley extends the sustainability policy into all areas of the business including our internal and external marketing.
We are making concerted efforts to reduce paper usage throughout the business and have produced digital brochures and web based materials to replace previously paper based products. We use our websites to encourage customers to read materials online rather than printing.
Where we are still required to produce printed materials, these are designed and produced in a carbon neutral environment and printed on FSC certified stock.
We hold a 3* Food Made Good rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. Find out more by visiting the University’s Sustainability pages here;
https://www.hospitalityuor.co.uk/sustainability/
• Low energy lights and fittings, movement sensors where appropriate and replacing halogen with LED lighting to reduce energy usage.
• All heating boilers across site are fuelled by Kerosene instead of Gas Oil – a cleaner, more efficient & cheaper fuel.
• Cooking equipment has power down facility.
• Dedicated Hot Water boiler for summer use which is cheaper and more efficient than runningall boilers.
• A reduction in energy requirements have been achieved by installing a new walk-in fridge and two rational combination ovens.
• Ongoing Supply Chain review in place to establish supplier’s environmental credentials.
• We only use Fair-trade coffee and beverages. Our Barista coffee service at Greenlands is highly rated by our customers and clients.
• Installation & provision of new coffee serveries. Every coffee is 100% certified and helps to maintain the highest environmental and conservation standard, protecting the land where the coffee is grown.
• Our new coffee supplier have also collaborated with Project Waterfall on our Botanical Coffee collection which means 10% of profits from each bag sold will help bring clean water to coffee-farming communities worldwide.
• Airblade hand dryers are used in restrooms replacing hand towels and less efficient dryers.
• Towels are reused as requested by our clients. Low energy lights and fittings, movement sensors where appropriate and replacing halogen with LED lighting to reduce energy usage.
• Thermostatic radiator valves replace static valves enabling more efficient local control.
• Household have reduced the collection of the compactor from two to four weeks. This reduces cost and transport miles.
• There are Nespresso (certified B Corp) machines in all our bedrooms with recyclable pods.
• Since 1st September 2022, our sanitary waste & vending machine supplier Select, now refill our air fresheners. Select utilizes electric vehicles and they are located in Reading, therefore saving on mileage and reducing our carbon footprint.
• We have removed all unnecessary paper from bedrooms and now provide a tent card which has a QR code to scan to offer access to our digital format of our Welcome to Henley Booklet, link to our Website & Menu’s.
• To reduce plastic waste, we no longer provide small bottles of shampoo or shower gel and we no longer provide bars of soap. This has all been replaced with wall mounted 300ml refillable bottles that provide shampoo, shower gel and hand soap.
• In order to reduce the amount of unnecessary linen that is provided to our laundry supplier, pillow bags are now in use in all our bedrooms which means that all double bedrooms regardless of occupancy have 2 pillows on the bed instead of our previous 4 and now the 2 spare pillows are in zipped up pillow bags in the wardrobes.
• We have changed to use reusable tumblers in the bedrooms to save on the use of single use plastic.
• Stationery has been removed from all rooms. This is available upon request and we use all eco stationary and recycled paper is used in all copiers and printers.
• In 2018 we removed the majority of paper cups in our conference rooms and replaced with glasses. We enhanced our provision with bottled water that is produced and replenished from in-house water dispensers.
• Virtual servers are replacing existing hardware, consolidating maintenance and power requirements to one central server.
• Upgraded energy efficient air conditioning in the server room.
• Follow me lighting has been installed across the Main building on campus, which saves on electricity usage.
• Power out software automatically puts unused PC’s, peripherals, copier and printers into standby and turning off outside working hours.
• All new computers are either EPEAT gold or silver star items. This means that they reach high standards of environmental performance.
• Heating/Cooling for our Conference Rooms are centrally controlled via a BMS system. Main Building heating system has now been updated to incorporate zonal control.
• Desk Top printers have been removed across the site and replaced with centralised MFD’s which are controlled via the Canon Uniflow management system.