Name: RCP Spine
Price range: $

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at Spaces at The Spine, and the way our venue operates day-to-day reflects our commitment to sustainable working and to reducing our impact on the environment.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) was the first royal college to receive Carbon Trust Standard, following a 30% reduction in total carbon footprint over three years.

Our building

Being a new build gave us the opportunity to prioritise sustainability from the design phase to construction, optimising our energy efficiency and incorporating natural and recycled materials. Sustainability features you will find at Spaces at The Spine include:

Smart building management system to regulate temperature and lighting – the system responds to external light conditions and saves energy by automatically turning lights off when rooms are not being used
Optimisation of space layout to ensure maximum exposure to natural light
Use of LED lighting, saving 50% of energy costs compared to traditional lighting
Filtered drinking water accessible within the entire building
Some of the flooring and wallpaper in our events spaces are made out of 95% recycled plastic bottles, and low VOC paints have been used throughout the building
All wood, including furniture, is sustainable hardwood

Our operations and suppliers

Spaces at The Spine works with caterer Company of Cooks (part of CH&Co. Group) to ensure our catering and food offering aligns with our sustainability goals. Recognising its commitment to operating in a socially responsible and sustainable way, Company of Cooks has been awarded three stars by the Sustainable Restaurant Association.

Recycling

We recycle waste where possible across all areas of our venue. Each of our event floors has dedicated recycling point to encourage all delegates to recycle.

Food Waste

We try to avoid food waste were possible and encourage correct delegate numbers to cater correctly. Any surplus ingredients are used to create dishes in our cafe, The Base,

Paper Waste

We aim to work digitally as much as possible to reduce paper waste, which is why we have digital wayfinding throughout the venue for delegates. We also have a range of digital screens available to use for note taking.

Accreditations and awards

The Spine meets or exceeds a number of sustainability measures, earning us an Outstanding ranking by BREEAM, the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for buildings, and a series of award wins since our opening.

In November 2021, our building won the Environment and Climate Award at the Innovation in Business Awards by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.

Spaces at The Spine received Gold in the Venue Sustainability Award at the Conference & Events Awards 2022. We were commended by judges for our continued commitment and impressive sustainability credentials, described as ‘a benchmark for others to measure themselves against’.

We also hold a number of green accreditations by industry-leading bodies, including IACC Green Star (Gold) and Greengage ECOsmart (Gold).