I caught the 08:12 from Clapham Junction this morning on my way to the LGA Conference in Bournemouth. It was my good fortune to run into Sue Riddlestone and two of her colleagues from Bio-Regional - who are based at BedZed in Hackbridge – on the platform and we got talking about the challenges to creating a zero carbon community.Bio-Regional are Sutton Council's partner on the Sustainable Suburb project in Hackbridge. They have been doing an excellent job carrying our home energy audits to help local people to identify ways to save energy. The audits are a little different to what you might expect, being based on the principles of One Planet Living.
Anyway, Sue and her colleagues were off to B&Q's Southampton HQ to continue their excellent work on the development of what is already a substantial range of One Planet Living products.
Having worked for Sainsbury's for almost 20 years, during the time they owned Homebase, I have to say that I'm impressed by B&Q's business acumen and by how seriously they take their Corporate Social Responsibility. They have committed to reducing their carbon footprint by 90%. Other major retailers would be well advised to follow their lead - they'd have better control over their energy costs, a healthier and happier workforce and be in consumers’ good books.
The train came in on time and we went our separate ways. It's always refreshing to talk to Sue and we have agreed to meet up soon.
BioRegional One Planet Living
http://www.bioregional.com/programme_projects/opl_prog/opl_programme.htm
Sutton's Sustainable Suburbhttp://www.bioregional.com/media_centre/press_releases/117_Hackbridge_Week_Launches.doc
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