Live entertainment venue Bristol Beacon has appointed specialist city-based sustainability agency Hope Solutions as its partner to help make it the UK’s first carbon neutral concert hall by 2030.
Bristol Beacon, pictured, which was previously called Colston Hall, will work with Hope Solutions to develop its ambitious sustainability plan. 
The 154-year-old venue has also been working closely with Sydney Opera House, which became the first arts venue in the world to achieve carbon neutral status in 2018, as well as building contractor Willmott Dixon, which is working on the Beacon’s current £107m transformation of its performance spaces and cellars and itself became the first in its industry to achieve carbon neutrality in 2012.
Hope Solutions, one of the leading sustainability consultancies for the live event and entertainment industry, will help Bristol Beacon design what it is calling an inspiring ‘carbon neutral roadmap’.
The agency has 30-plus years of specialist experience working with arts, events, sports and corporate clients to improve sustainability and reduce their environmental impacts, including Glastonbury Festival, Taste of London, Frieze Art Fair and Live Nation.
It will undertake significant consultation with the Beacon’s audiences, staff and partners, to inform the priorities and scope of activity and ensure the roadmap reflects their views and ideas.
The plan will align with a number of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in relation to quality inclusive education (goal 4), work on sustainable cities and communities (goal 11) and climate action (goal 13).
It also aims to make the venue a vehicle for inspiring others to take action around the climate emergency. 
Bristol Beacon chief executive Louise Mitchell, pictured, said: “At this stage in our transformation, we are in a prime position to put environmental and sustainability targets centre stage.
“Our target is ambitious but realistic, based on how we, as an organisation, and our key partners, are embracing sustainability.
“We have been at the heart of Bristol’s arts and cultural scene for over 150 years, and we take our commitment to the Bristol community and our role in the city very seriously.
“This extends beyond the delivery of our performance and education programmes with our responsibility to make a difference and lead the way in how our sector can reduce its environmental impact.”
“Hope Solutions has an impressive track record in driving environmental change in the arts and events space and we’re excited to be working with them.”
Hope Solutions founder and director Luke Howell added: “We have been pioneering improvements in sustainability and helping to reduce environmental impact in the arts and events for over 30 years.
“In that time, we have achieved some amazing results for our clients, including a 95%-plus recycling rate at events, a 90% reduction in energy use, a 40% reduction in fuel use and 100% of waste diverted from landfill.
“We are thrilled to be appointed to support Bristol Beacon on its journey to become carbon neutral. Having worked in Bristol for many years, to be working with this incredible and iconic venue that is at the heart of Bristol’s art and cultural offering is a fantastic opportunity.”
Bristol Beacon’s foyer, which opened in 2009, was built with sustainability in mind and the current transformation, which is currently mid-way through, has also been designed to be as sustainable as possible.
Among these are:
- Achieving BREAM ‘very good’ status
- Using of LED lighting throughout the building, saving an estimated 114,240 kW of energy, amounting to 51 tonnes of CO2 each year
- Installing photovoltaic panels that will generate 26,000 kWs of energy, saving 11 tonnes of CO2
- Recycling much of the material removed as part of the transformation, including reusing timber floors and panels, and ensuring none has gone to landfill.
Bristol Beacon made its commitment to be carbon neutral in 2019, two years after it announced its intention to change the name from Colston Hall, which took effect last September following three years of consultation with local communities and partners.
Despite the venue’s proud heritage of attracting some of the biggest names in entertainment over the past century and a half – from The Beatles, Bowie and Bob Dylan to Louis Armstrong and Rachmaninoff – it has for many years lagged behind its counterparts in other cities.
It was the only major UK concert venue not to have been redeveloped in recent times before the current transformation programme started. Prior to that there had been no major refurbishment of the venue for 60 years.
Bristol Beacon photo by Dominika Scheibinger
