Bruntwood Announces Headline Sponsorship of Greater Manchester Green Summit

Bruntwood has announced its headline sponsorship of the Greater Manchester Green Summit. 

The event, which is now in its fifth year, will bring together residents, businesses, policy makers and community groups to look at how the city region can accelerate action against its five-year environment plan. It will take place on Monday 17 October at The Lowry, Salford Quays. 

Bruntwood has committed its support, sponsoring the summit and hosting a number of fringe events in partnership with SSE Energy Solutions, that will seek to further explore the themes of the day’s sessions. It is the first year that such events have taken place, and it is hoped that they will allow participants to share knowledge and network further. 

The summit was established in 2018 by Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham. This year, it will feature interactive sessions based around key themes including the natural environment, transport, low carbon, sustainable consumption & production and sustainable lifestyles, with speakers, exhibitors and delegates coming together to consider how we can all better collaborate on innovative solutions.

Discussions between participants will also touch upon the key challenges facing the region from implementing new policy and embracing future innovations to industry adaptation at pace and individual lifestyle changes, all of which will be vital as we push to deliver a carbon neutral Greater Manchester by 2038.  

This year, there is a renewed  focus on engaging young people around climate change. This will see a youth-specific event held during the Green Summit, opened by the Mayor and hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University.

In 2018, Bruntwood became the first commercial property developer to sign up to the World Green Building Council’s (WGBC) Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, part of the WGBC Advancing Net Zero programme, establishing itself as a sustainability leader within the industry. 

Bruntwood built on this at COP26 where it was one of the founding signatories to the WGBC’s revised Net Zero Carbon buildings commitment which mandates that organisations take into account the whole life carbon impacts of any new buildings and major redevelopments in their 2030 targets.

As part of these commitments, Bruntwood has pledged to operate at net zero carbon in all of the areas under its direct control by 2030, with specific targets for emissions, energy usage, green spaces and biodiversity, sustainable materials, transportation, waste and water. It is also currently in the planning stages to develop Ev0, the UK’s lowest carbon new build workspace. 

Alex Edwards, Sustainability Director at Bruntwood, said: “Sustainability is at the heart of all our work at Bruntwood. We know that our mission to create thriving cities will not be possible without businesses and communities across the region coming together to address the many challenges that face us in achieving Greater Manchester’s net zero goals. We all have our part to play in making this happen, but events such as these are crucial in allowing us to share knowledge and best practice, to hopefully turbocharge our combined efforts to reach these goals. 

“Property plays a huge role in this challenge as one of the biggest emitters of carbon, which is why we remain committed to driving change within the industry and the wider business community. We look forward to the conversations that we will have during the event and the positive change it will bring for our city region.”

Councillor Martyn Cox, GMCA lead for the Green City Region, Waste and Recycling, said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Bruntwood as one of our headline sponsors for the Green Summit this year.

“The Green Summit plays a key role in fostering the leadership and collective responsibility that is helping establish Manchester as the UK’s leading green city. The support shown by Bruntwood and our other partners is essential to making this happen, allowing us to bring together more of the city-region’s businesses, policy makers and communities to collaborate on making Greater Manchester not just a greener place but a fairer and more affordable one too.”

Register for your free place at the Greater Manchester Green Summit here.

Find out more about sustainability at Bruntwood here.