Weymouth and Portland National Sailing certified for Sustainable Event

by Cailah Leask on 18 Nov 2010 Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) has been certified by the British Standards Institute (BSI) for Sustainable Event Management ‘BS 8901’. The WPNSA has again led the way with this new award, being the first UK sailing venue to meet the standard. The certificate was presented to John Tweed, Chief Executive of the WPNSA, at the ‘2010 LOCOG Sustainability Conference’ by David Stubbs, Head of Sustainability at LOCOG.

Shaun McCarthy, Chair, Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, said ‘I have always regarded the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy as being an exemplar of joined up social, environmental and economic sustainability. I am delighted to see they are among the first venues to achieve BS8901 certification, my congratulations to the team for their great achievement.’

The Academy is now certified by British Standards under the new British Standard for sustainability specifically in the events industry. The WPNSA had to identify and understand the effects that the venue’s activities have on the environment, society and economy both within the Academy organisation and the wider economy. Measures then had to be implemented to ensure that best practice is always followed and that the world class sports facility continues to follow a sustainable event management system.

The Green Blue, a joint environmental initiative of the Royal Yachting Association and British Marine Federation, has been instrumental in working with the WPNSA over the last 6 months to achieve this sustainability standard. Dan Reading, Sustainability Officer, The Green Blue, added, ‘there was a lot of work involved engaging the various stakeholders and the team at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy rose to the challenge’.

The Academy now has a long line of awards within their management credentials. John Tweed, Chief Executive of the WPNSA, accepted the latest certificate, ‘the environment is a top priority for the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy and we promote an enduring balanced approach within all our event orientated activities. It is satisfying that our commitment to sustainable best practice has been recognised at an official British Standard level and we will now continue our work with The Green Blue to further develop our sustainable event management techniques’.

www.wpnsa.org.uk