Convention Centre Leads with Environmental Action

Wellington Convention Centre has embraced environmental sustainability by becoming the first conference and events venue in New Zealand to achieve the ISO 14001 series of environmental standards.


ISO 14001 is the world's most widely adopted environmental management system says Wellington Convention Centre General Manager Neville Brown.

"Wellington Convention Centre is taking a leading position among convention and performing arts venues in New Zealand by incorporating this series of environmental standards and the supporting audit programme that comes with it. The audit will help us to go about things the right way," he says.

Pursuing ISO 14001 has resulted in the Wellington Convention Centre significantly expanding its existing environmental practices and Mr Brown says energy minimisation is an example of this.

"Beyond operational practices like using energy-efficient lighting and appliances - we are taking a very systematic approach to reducing energy use. We train staff on energy-minimising practices, set targets for energy reductions and carefully measure our performance against these targets. This will also help us to understand our carbon footprint."

The centre hopes to address transport issues by providing more parking for motorcycles and bicycles; reduce waste by recycling all of its food waste and replacing all takeaway food packaging with 100 percent biodegradable products; increase energy efficiency through using low-energy lighting and modifying heat schedules and educating all staff on sustainability issues and practices.

This environmental initiative was mostly in response to interest shown on the issue by clients. Specifically, clients "were increasingly asking what we were doing to improve our environmental performance. We took the issue seriously, and it seemed that an external environmental accreditation was the way to go," says Mr Brown.

He recalls a prominent New Zealand rock group recently enquiring about the environmental performance of the venue. "I gather they were impressed with our response."

ISO 14001 is administered by the International Organisation for Standardisation and is in use by more than 90,000 organisations in 127 countries.

Wellington Convention Centre is also the only convention venue in New Zealand to gain a five-star rating from Qualmark – New Zealand tourism's official mark of quality - and to achieve the ISO 9000 standard which addresses general management practices.

Related Links
Wellington Convention Centre
Sustainable Building Guidelines