The Brighton Centre is committed to being a sustainable venue and improving the impact that we, and the events that we host, have on our local environment and the planet. We are working hard behind the scenes to look into ways to improve our carbon footprint.
There are many initiatives we have in place including:
We encourage our clients to use local suppliers where possible, as this goes alongside our desire to host events as sustainable as possible to help protect our environment and the world around us.
Please contact us for details about local suppliers.
Alongside our efforts, our contracted caterers, Seasoned, are always looking further into our food offerings onsite to ensure we are making available more vegan and local options, for example working with The Milk Shed, Direct Seafood and Brighton Gin - all local suppliers in our city.
They have the following initiatives in place:
Our 'Social Goodness Manifesto' has been designed to deliver more accessible, sustainable and ethical café, hospitality and events solutions. In order to streamline our existing 'social goodness' approach and to co-ordinate it more cohesively we have already committed to become a B Corp business. We have already embarked on our B Corp journey by engaging with experienced sustainability and accredited B Corp consultants, Twelve.
B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. In order to achieve certification, a company must:
We know that time is short and that we need to act fast but we also need to ensure any decisions or changes we make are the right ones, not only for us but also for our customers, clients and the environment. We will get there and welcome your co-operation.
As part of Brighton & Hove City Council and their commitment to being carbon neutral by 2030, we have a commitment to sustainability and to being a sustainable venue. So to help us on our way and guide us also, we have decided to commit to and are working towards 5 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
The five we have chosen to work towards are:
Brief summaries of all five, some initiatives and impacts are below:
We signpost our clients to Brighton & Hove Community Kitchen who offer cookery classes with top chefs, who give their time for free and all money made goes towards food which goes back to the vulnerable members of our community.
A conference we hosted recently, donated £500 to the charity which went towards Stanmer Wellbeing Gardens – a community space where people can find sanctuary and nurture well being through food growing, gardening, education and nature connected activities. Please see details below to read more:
We work with local homeless charities including Fareshare, which we donate excess food produce to avoid waste. Full details about all the F&B initiatives in place can be found towards the top of this page.
Our venue caterers are keen to keep to give our visitors healthy options to enable healthy choices to be made by all and to source locally produced food, to keep our local businesses in business and keep our carbon footprint to a minimum. We have introduced meat free Mondays and no longer offer beef in the venue.
As a venue we understand that conference & exhibitions can be highly sensory experiences. For anyone with sensory needs or just going through things it can be very overwhelming at times. That is why at the Brighton Centre we offer a dedicated quiet space with low lighting and soft furnishings for delegates or visitors that need to take some time out. Although this is not a compulsory space for conference organisers to use, we offer it as standard towards our commitment to well-being.
Not forgetting the importance of the health and wellbeing of our staff too. BHCC offers all staff the Cycle to Work Scheme, discounted membership at local gyms and the opportunity to enroll in 'Move For Change' a rewards system if you walk or cycle (or use public transport). Points earned can be redeemed for discounts and vouchers at local independent shops, or points can be donated to local charities.
As a council run venue, local government policy is at the heart of everything we do and ultimately as a commercially run venue we have a commitment to ensuring that all our conferences and exhibitions create a sustainable benefit to our city and community, therefore we continually look to signpost clients to various local business and suppliers, giving them the opportunity to give back.
In 2024 the economic impact created by conferences coming to our city was £54,000.000. This keeps our local businesses, hotels, restaurants and much more going strong and continues to keep local people in jobs and thrive.
The Brighton centre is the core of community activity and the recent refurbishment of The Wing, will keep this going, by offering a smaller, venue, enabling us to now host a whole range of local events, from 50 delegates up to 400.
As a venue we are continually looking at ways we can reduce over production and consumption. We have invested in portable and fixed digital screens to encourage our clients to go completely paperless. This digital technology has been welcomed by everyone.
Located right on Brighton seafront this was the most obvious choice for us. Our venue staff volunteer for beach cleans twice yearly sifting out any plastic and other rubbish which otherwise may disappear into the sea. We signpost delegates to this activity which for one particular client is a regular undertaking when they are in the city; and what with the massive plight across the globe to try and keep our beautiful oceans clear of human rubbish, many more are showing interest in this venture.
We do not sell any plastic bottles in the venue.
We are delighted to report the Local Government Association (LGA) have published our case study on the Brighton Centre team’s sustainable conference collaboration with conference organisers.
Watch the video about our nomination for the Brighton Centre’s collaboration with PraxisAuril, which was shortlisted for Sustainable Conference of the Year in the ABPCO Excellence Awards in December 2022
