Eastgate, Basildon wins award

British Land’s Eastgate shopping centre in Basildon has been awarded a prestigious Green Apple Award 2007 for environmental best practice for the third year running.

The Eastgate Centre Management team was awarded the National Green Champion award – overall winner in the retail & wholesale category – in recognition of their ‘Going green can really help business stay out of the red’ project.
The award was presented by leading botanist and TV personality Dr David Bellamy OBE, at a luncheon at the House of Commons hosted by the Rt.Hon. Patricia Hewitt, MP.

The Green Apple Awards were launched in 2000 and have since become a prestigious annual event and one of the major award schemes recognising and rewarding environmental best practice and endeavour in the retail and construction industry.

Results of the Green Apple Awards 2007 – Retail & Wholesale category:
National overall category winner: Eastgate, Basildon
Gold: Manchester Arndale
Silver: Tesco Plc
Bronze: Festival Place, Basingstoke.

This is the latest environmental accolade for Eastgate, the centre has already been awarded the South Essex District, Essex Countywide Business, and National Green Heroes 2007 Environment Awards.
Victoria McKenzie, Director for British Land comments:

“We are delighted to be a leading light in the prestigious line-up of winners at this year’s Green Apple Awards. Eastgate is a shining example of how to successfully implement sustainable initiatives within shopping centres. I would like to congratulate our Eastgate centre management team for their continued commitment to sustainability and environmental issues.”

Hans Wustefeld, general manager for Eastgate commented:
“It is extremely gratifying to win this coveted award. Eastgate’s commitment to improving the environment is shared by all who work at the centre and each year we raise the green bar higher in pursuit of new challenges.

In addition, we feel that it is our privileged responsibility to convince our millions of visitors that everyone can make a beneficial difference to the environment.”

The Eastgate centre is a leading partner in environmental matters, assisting the local council, schools, businesses and other groups with environmental projects to make the town a greener place to work, live and shop.
Eastgate is setting the benchmark for environmental excellence in the shopping centre industry. Energy efficient measures at the centre include low energy lamps, automatic heating and lighting controls, low energy hand driers and low flush WC’s, plus a rainwater harvesting system.

The awards were organised by The Green Organisation, an independent, non-political, non-profit organisation that recognises, rewards and promotes environmental best practice around the world. Their supporters include the Environment Agency, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and various other professional bodies.

The stylish new washroom facilities at Eastgate are designed to save energy and water consumption, and have reduced overall water use by up to 70 percent.

As part of its ongoing environmental programme, Eastgate will plant 400 trees this year to offset the carbon emissions created by the centre’s festive Christmas decorations.