Classon House: Working Together Towards Sustainability

Classon House is a 4 storey modern office building which extends to 75,000 square feet located in Dundrum Business Park Dublin 14. The building is owned by Corum Origin and managed by Ian Bourke and his team from Knight Frank.

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Why start on this sustainability journey?

The journey has been ongoing for the last number of months on this site since Knight Frank decided to try a different approach to waste management on behalf of their tenants to offer a greener way to handle their waste. Before engaging with The City Bin Co. there were a number of different waste contractors onsite. Knight Frank, having worked with John Farrell of The City Bin Co. during Earth Day 2021, wanted to explore the possibilities of creating awareness in-house of a better way to recycle.

Some of these initiatives for change were…

  • Using one waste provider.
  • Agreeing to a town hall meeting for all keyholders to discuss how they handle waste and how it could be improved.
  • Introducing organic bins
  • Increasing the number of recycling bins.
  • Introducing glass bins.
  • The town hall meeting was effectively the Green Team as there was a representative from all businesses onsite.
  • The Green Team have worked not only on the colour coding of bins internally for the communal bins but has started to use the recycling option in a real way.

Who was involved in setting up & driving the project?

A representative from all keyholders
1. Cartrawler
2. Webbiz Redacre
3. MBSL Accountants
4. John West
5. JB Barry Engineers
6. Varming Engineers
7. Corum Origin Classon House (building owner)
8. Knight Frank Classon House

What was done & by whom?

The town hall meeting was arranged by Pardeep Singh Gill (Building Manager Knight Frank) under the direction of Ian Bourke Knight Frank (Property and Asset Manager).

The results?

  • All cardboard and plastic generated on-site are 100% recycled.
  • As food bins are now in play food/organic waste collections are up 200% on last year.
  • The setting up of the Green Team now has a purpose and the key recycling messages are shared at every opportunity with new and existing team members.
  • All waste being diverted from landfill.
  • Recycling initiatives are discussed when the team meets as to how and why they do what they do. More recycling bins are to be put in this month and general waste bins are to be removed.

What next?

  • No black sacks allowed in bins by Earth Day.
  • To share the learning of recycling with the Green team for the end of Q2 this year and compare the significant changes on last year.
  • WEEE waste facility set up for all tenants.
  • Internal walk-through of each key holder by end of May 2022 to confirm the best use of messaging for internal bins.

Holland & Barrett: Doing good for you…and for the planet

Holland & Barrett Distribution Centre is located in Dublin Airport Logistics Park. It uses its 66,000 sq. feet to stock and distribute all shop items across its 83 stores in The Republic of Ireland.

Award

Why start on this sustainability journey?

The journey has been ongoing for the last 6 months and has been consistent in its expectations across learning excellence and Innovation both within stores and the warehouse. The project lead within Holland and Barrett is Sarah Durkan, the EHS compliance officer for ROI and NI. Sarah has also taken the lead with the Holland and Barrett Green Team.

A number of months ago having changed waste contractors to The City Bin Co. Holland and Barrett wanted to examine a greener way of handling waste. Before engaging with The City Bin Co. all waste was simply being treated as landfill.

Holland and Barrett recognised that habits needed to change to make it greener and more sustainable. A lot of initiatives have been successful in the short amount of time since the project commenced.

Some of these initiatives for change were…

  • No general waste bins on site. A selection of bins are now installed – organic for food, glass for glass, a designated timber only skip for timber and our unique FELfor light industrial waste that is source segregated at a recycling facility.
  • Cardboard and Plastic balers are now installed and all of the specific waste types are baled accordingly and collected free of charge.
  • Colour coded bins are now installed in the canteen area for all staff to segregate food waste from recycling. Lunch boxes are used by staff and this has dramatically reduced the amount of tinfoil going into bins.
  • The Green team have added to the Induction manual for new employees the expectations that Holland and Barrett have for the way individuals new staff members are responsible for their own recycling.
  • The Green Team have introduced recycling information around the new bins onsite.
  • Another key initiative here is that when teams do meet recycling is always discussed where appropriate. A key feature in this has been the ordering of new labelling for recycling receptacles at the end of each storage line.

Who was involved in setting up & driving the project?

The project lead is Sarah Durkan.

The results?

  • All cardboard and plastic generated on-site are 100% recycled.
  • Food/organic waste collections are up 100% on 2021.
  • The setting up of the Green Team now has a purpose and the key recycling messages are shared at every opportunity with new and existing team members
  • All timber onsite is now being source segregated. This new recycling stream is again up 100% on last year
  • All waste is diverted from landfill.

What next?

  • The canteen to use only biodegradable materials by end of 2022.
  • To share the learning of recycling with all stores in the ROI by end of 2022
  • A quarterly review in conjunction with The City Bin Co. team.
  • Supplying the employees with their own water and food containers to reduce all non-recycling food coverings by end of 2022.