The Business Design Centre (BDC) scooped two prizes at the inaugural Giant Green Awards organised by Islington Council. The first was picked up in the Waste Minimisation category and the second was as the overall winners of the Large Companies category.

The gala ceremony, held at the HAC recently celebrated the commitment of Islington businesses to environmental responsibility.

"We were up against extremely tough competition,” said the BDC’s chief operating officer Graham Stephenson. “To win in both categories is a great achievement and highlights our ongoing commitment to recycling and development of environmental initiatives. We have consistently acted in an environmentally responsible manner, by improving and implementing effective recycling and sustainable schemes, together with increasing awareness of such issues among our key stakeholders, including; organisers, exhibitors, visitors, tenants, contractors and staff."

Green targets featured strongly in the BDC's core corporate objectives and an
Environmental Committee was formed, made up of senior management and members of staff from every department whose role it was to set out specific environmentally led objectives.

The numerous practical initiatives introduced saw many environmental benefits,
including:
– £1.3 million roof replacement, which allows more natural light into the building enabling the BDC to reduce lighting and gives better insulation so less heating is required.
– A change in the way stock panel is constructed for events to reduce the use of timber, saving 20,000 linear metres of batten a year.
– Eco-kettles provided to all 120 offices within the venue.
– All toilets have been fitted with Dyson Airblade hand driers resulting in energy usage in this area being reduced by 81%.
– Recycling 60% waste from skips (approximately 170 tonnes this year) rather than sending it all to landfill.

The company is also involved with community projects, such as working with the
Children's Scrap Project, which collects our usable waste and distributes it to local schools to use in their art projects. Additionally, the BDC is also a member of Islington Climate Change Partnership run by Islington Council, which is working to reduce the London borough’s carbon footprint by 15% by 2010.