How the lessons learned from a concerted Marks & Spencer sustainability drive that was established, and subsequently enthusiastically championed by, the retailer’s then CEO and chairman, Sir Stuart Rose, could be translated to an NHS under fierce pressure to cut its own carbon footprint, was the subject of a morning keynote session at November’s Healthcare Estates 2011 conference in Manchester.
The session also saw the official launch of a new online portal, established jointly by BRE and the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which will enable NHS Trusts to share experience, and obtain valuable advice and guidance, to assist them in their efforts to be ‘greener’. HEJ editor Jonathan Baillie reports.
The opening speaker in this session, Niall Trafford, is Chief Operating Officer and director of sustainable development at the BRE, but before joining the research-based consultancy, testing, and training organisation, for the built environment in January 2009, he was Marks & Spencer’s store design and specification executive. The M&S role saw him lead a large multi-disciplinary team charged with transforming the store environment across 400 Marks & Spencer UK high street retail outlets, and also, as part of the famous ‘Plan A’ initiative, (via which Marks and Spencer set out to become the world’s ‘greenest’ retailer), head a team that ‘developed an approach to sustainable retailing in the built environment’, partnering with BRE. Marks & Spencer had, he explained, launched its Plan A in January 2007, initially setting out 100 commitments to achieve over a five-year period. It has subsequently extended the ‘Plan’ to 180 commitments to achieve by 2015. The dedicated Plan A website explains: “Through Plan A we are working with our customers and our suppliers to combat climate change, reduce waste, use sustainable raw materials, trade ethically, and help our customers to lead healthier lifestyles.” In a presentation entitled ‘The importance of leadership when delivering sustainability’, which immediately preceded the launch of the new UCLH/ BRE/NHS Sustainability Portal, Niall Trafford began by elaborating on the background to both Marks & Spencer’s Plan A, and the new online healthcare Portal. At his presentation’s heart was how some of the main lessons learned on improving sustainability across a large retail group might be effectively deployed in the public healthcare sphere.
Learning from other sectors
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