Reed Hall wins gold for Business Tourism

Following an accreditation grading visit on 13 July, Reed Hall has been awarded Gold under the Green Tourism Business Scheme.  The audit report, which is based on the performance of a business as a sustainable tourism operation, achieved a high score qualifying the grade II listed mansion for a gold award. The range of assessment areas include energy and water efficiency, waste management and biodiversity, with businesses who fulfill  the required standards being awarded Bronze, Silver, or Gold depending on their level of achievement.

Rob Court, Event Co-ordinator for Event Exeter and Site Environmental Coordinator for the GBTS project, said: “As this is the first time we’ve undertaken a Green Business Tourism assessment we were hoping to achieve the silver rating, so to hear that we’d been awarded Gold was fantastic news - we’re over the moon”.

Set in 300 acres of enchanting landscaped gardens at the University of Exeter, Reed Hall is already a popular venue for meetings and events as well as weddings and bed and breakfast.  With sustainability and environmental responsibility becoming increasingly high on the agenda for customers, this award will help to cement the already excellent reputation of the Italianate mansion.

The GTBS assessor commented: “The GOLD award is an excellent achievement for a first assessment and reflects the amount of work and preparation that has been put in by the team. There are high levels of environmental awareness as well as the added benefit of having a strong campus wide sustainability remit.  There is excellent use and promotion of
local food and drink, very good information on public transport, walking and cycling and attractive habitat management”.

This is the second green accolade for Reed Hall this year, as the Campus Services team at the University have recently been awarded the Environmental Management system ISO14001, as a result of their robust policies and procedures in environmental performance.

Reed Hall joins just a handful of other venues in the area who hold the Gold award and will continue to keep sustainability high on the agenda as they work towards the next GTBS assessment in 2014.