2011 Business South Bank Sustainability Award won by Mater Health Services
Mater Health Services wins 2011 Sustainability Award
The Mater Hospital has taken out the 2011 Business South Bank (BSB) Sustainability Award due to its comprehensive approach to water, energy and waste management across all of its activities.
Ieuan Hyde, Chief Marketing Officer, Mater Health Services, commented that the ‘Mater is delighted to have been honoured by Business South Bank with this award. It acknowledges an ongoing organisation-wide commitment to sustainable business practices and a genuine understanding about Mater’s responsibilities as a provider of exceptional care.’
The Business South Bank Sustainability Committee commented that Mater Health Services not only demonstrated strong achievements across all criteria, but also provided an exemplar of what can be successfully achieved when change moves through an organisation from Board to staff level.
Some of the key initiatives that the Mater Hospital has put in place include:
- A program to encourage staff to turn off lights, computers and air conditioning at the end of the day which was audited and saw an increase in saving energy
- Growing vegetables and herbs at the Sisters of Mercy convent and Ancillary cafes
- Encouraging staff to use videoconferencing rather than travel to other sites for meetings to reduce carbon emissions.
Special mention should also go to other BSB members including ABC Queensland, Arts Queensland, Australian Institute of Architects, Bees Nees, Emporium Hotel, Ensight, Flowers of the World, Hyder Consulting, Mantra South Bank, South Bank Corporation and Spotless, who all implemented initiatives in their workplace which took BSB a step closer to achieving its goal of being Australia’s most sustainable business precinct.
Sustainability Subcommittee
The Subcomittee's role is to investigate, review and recommend policy to the BSB board on matters relating to sustainability in the South Bank precinct.
Barton Green
Director - Three Plus (Chair)
Angela Loucaides
Marketing Manager - Emporium Hotel
Brett Frampton
Contract Manager - Spotless
Brett Sharman
Project Manager, Sustainability -Griffith University
Christopher Hill
Sustainability Manager - Mater Health Services
Ian Agnew
Archicentre
Ian Chalmers
Facilities Manager - Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
John Kotzas
CEO - Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Mal Draper
Operations & Asset Manager - South Bank Corporation
Measuring Australia’s Most Sustainable Business Precinct
The carbon footprint of the South Bank precinct will be audited following an initiative of Business South Bank.
To further its goal of becoming Australia’s most sustainable business precinct, Business South Bank established a Sustainability Committee in 2008 to help foster discussion and action on sustainability.
Over the past two years, the Sustainability Committee and Business South Bank have collected and shared information on sustainable business practices with BSB members, encouraged and celebrated sustainability initiatives through a precinct sustainability award, and grown a network of industry experts through linkages with active sustainability practitioners and educators.
The next crucial stage in Business South Bank’s activity is to initiate a sustainability audit of the precinct, and to capture the sustainability initiatives (and results) which have been implemented by BSB members.
This will be the first step in the precinct’s collective response to designing a culture of sustainable activity. Business South Bank members are encouraged to take part in the audit.