Anglican micro-enterprise scheme shines at Sustainable City Awards

Five Talents was presented with its green gong by Zac Goldsmith, editor of The Ecologist, at the City of London Corporation’s annual green awards at Mansion House. It’s scheme helps to fight poverty as well as support entrepreneurs in developing countries. 

Other winners included Chi Lowhub, the London-based wholesales delivery firm, for its low carbon deliveries scheme that runs on biodiesel and electricity, world leading construction group Skanska for its sustainable procurement on the new Barts and London Hospitals project, and Green Structures for its environmental construction and refurbishment work, particularly its zero carbon loft conversions. 
 
Vacherin, a contract catering company that operates within London, walked away with the Sustainable Food Award, a new category in the Sustainable City Awards, now in their eighth year.

Although staged by the authority for the Square Mile financial district, most of the awards are now open to businesses across the country to enter and, this year, Strattons, a small boutique hotel in Norfolk, was the recipient of the Resource Conservation prize.

The Environmental Management in SMEs award went to Studio E Architects (SEA), an architectural firm founded to promote sustainable principles in the design and construction of buildings. It was rewarded for its unique collaborative approach to ensure its buildings meet the needs of clients and users.

Max Fordham Consulting Engineers won the prize for Adapting to and Mitigating Climate Change for its award-winning work on energy-efficient systems for building services and the wider environment and the comprehensive steps the company had taken to manage and reduce its own carbon footprint.

“The winning organisations, which include global businesses and local firms were singled out for their sustainable excellence,” said Emma Bara, sustainability coordinator, City of London Corporation. “The awards given out this year prove that all organisations, whether large or small, can make important changes which are beneficial for the environment whilst also making business savings.”

In his keynote speech, Goldsmith said: “Despite the immensity of the environmental challenge, the truth is, almost everything that needs doing is already being done, somewhere. If ‘best practice’ today became the norm tomorrow, we’d be half way there already. The Sustainable City Awards proves not only that solutions exist, but that where they are adopted, companies invariably flourish as a result.” 

The Sustainable City Awards, which are run in partnership with 20 organisations, including livery companies, trade bodies, voluntary sector organisations and businesses, are one of the only six feeder schemes for the European Business Awards for the Environment – meaning that all category winners have the chance of international recognition for their sustainable efforts.

Past winners of the awards have included BSkyB, Metropolitan Police, Berkeley Group, but last year, like this year, there was a strong representation from the SME sector, including Beales Hotels, the London Borough of Bromley, One Planet Products and Opportunity International.