Manchester: Sustainable meetings capital

Manchester City Council has set the city the lofty ambition of becoming the greenest in the UK by 2010, and it was this that helped spur local event agency Organise This into forming environmental initiative Positive Impact, to ensure that the region's meetings sector too was doing its bit.

In October 2005, the Organise This team spent time in Boston with the event planners responsible for making that year's Republican and Democratic conferences environmentally friendly. Inspired, the agency saw the Labour Party Conference, which took place in Manchester last September, as an ideal opportunity to bring a similar message to the UK.

To highlight sustainability opportunities in the local events industry, the agency set up a meeting to thrash out how this might be best achieved.

Attendees included environmental groups such as the Carbon Neutral Company, Groundworks, Sustainability Northwest, Manchester is My Planet and Envirowise.

Representatives from venues and statutory bodies including Manchester City Council and the North West Regional Development Agency attended and, from this meeting, the concept of Positive Impact was formed.

The first initiative was a series of educational events covering energy consumption, waste management, community involvement and sustainable transport, which ran last summer, supported by contributions from Organise This and agency Creative Concern. As well as the original attendees, these events attracted delegates from the likes of Manchester United, Bridgewater Hall, G-Mex, Enworks and event agency With. Speakers came from organisations including the Institute of Environmental Managers and Assessors (IEMA), Imex, Hospitable Climates, Groundworks and Manchester City Council.

"Rather than create a manifesto, what we are trying to do is help educate everyone involved in the event industry as to the possibilities and opportunities to create sustainable events," says Organise This director and Positive Impact mainstay Fiona Pelham. "We want to inform everyone as to the various accreditations available, whether it be going carbon-neutral or signing up to C&IT's Campaign For Change."

After the success of the first meetings, a volunteer board has been set up. As well as Pelham, it includes representatives from the city council, Creative Concern, Manchester United and environmental experts. And while the project is still in its early stages, its impact has already been felt. Both the IEMA and MPI have agreed to follow the guidelines outlined at the Positive Impact sessions when they hold their conferences in 2007 and 2008.

Elsewhere, agency With worked with the North West Development Agency to launch its Climate Change Action Plan last October. "With is committed to raising awareness of sustainability to clients and delegates," says event producer Amy Paterson. "We attended a number of Positive Impact events to find ways we could further this, which we implemented when we worked with the development agency. Everything from the venue to the badges was selected on grounds of sustainability and the City of Manchester Stadium was also chosen for its green credentials, exemplified by its plans to build a turbine onsite to provide the venue's electricity.

"Waste was reduced where possible, badges recycled, green bins available and real cutlery and crockery were used in place of throwaway items. We encouraged delegates to use public transport and offset emissions generated by delegates' transport by planting trees at a forest through Community Forests North West. Sustainability is a hot issue. Our clients are increasingly looking for evidence that event agencies are being sustainable."

The city council has done its part by launching its Green your event guide last November to help hotels, event organisers and venues take practical steps to reduce the environmental footprint of events held in the city.

It has emerged as a powerful backer of Positive Impact. "Manchester is an internationally renowned C&I destination and the sector has a big role to play in achieving our aim to become Britain's greenest city," says Manchester City Council green city project manager Jennifer Green. "This is why producing our guide and working with organisations like Positive Impact is so important."

Looking ahead, Positive Impact has lined up a second education series, with fortnightly sessions running from 22 February to 19 April. Open to venues, planners and suppliers the sessions run from 9am to 12pm and topics to be covered include procurement, food, community involvement, accreditation and industry trends. Tickets are £45, including a donation to a community project and a tree planting initiative. Venues being lined up to host the events include Old Trafford, G-Mex, Bridgewater Hall and Radisson Edwardian.

Visit www.positiveimpactmcr.com

DON'T MISS ...

Start your exploration of the city by visiting an icon. The statue of Sir Matt Busby oversees the redevelopment of the south east of the city from his perch at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium.

Football remains the opium of the masses for Manchester's 2.6 million urban residents, but on non-match days, the cultural life of nearby Salford Quays, home to the Lowry Museum and the Imperial War Museum North, is now a major draw.

Moving back towards the centre, the financial district gives way to the spruced-up Piccadilly area, where hotels such as the Malmaison and restaurants like the Establishment are bringing a frisson of chic to the area around the station. While the Gay Village and Chinatown attract party-animal hedonists and foodies in equal numbers, it's the Northern Quarter that is now the most vibrant downtown area. Formerly a run-down zone, it's alive with record shops, fashion outlets and cool hangouts, such as the Night and Day Cafe and the Dry Bar.

But if all that urban chic gets too much, Tatton Park, a stately property, set in 1,000 acres of beautiful parkland, is just 20 minutes from Manchester by car. Every July, it hosts the RHS Flower Show, one of only three the society stages outside of the south east of England.

Alternatively, the Irwell Sculpture Trail, stretching for 30 miles along well marked footpaths from Salford Quays to the Pennines is the largest public art scheme in the UK, and features 28 large-scale artworks by regional, national and international artists in a unique rural setting.