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Venue

A key part of any event is using the right venue. Your choice of venue can have a significant impact on the event’s sustainability performance, so considering your options can make a big difference.

Luckily, there are plenty of options available both within the University and further afield. Visit the University's venues list, or book a room here. 

Things to consider

  • Venue facilities
  • Audience and requirements
  • Equipment and appliances
  • Heat and power
  • Waste management
  • Accessibility

What impacts could your venue choice have on the environment?

Whether it is the carbon footprint from heating, lighting, electricity and travel, or waste from catering and merchandise, considering how your venue choice could impact the environment will help you to consider better options.

Review your options

Online events: Think about whether your event will really benefit from taking place in person and whether the event needs a venue at all. If you can negate the need for a venue, you also negate the need for heating, lighting, electricity, travel and catering.

Outdoor events: Hosting an event during the daytime can be a great opportunity to make the most of natural light, reducing the energy demand from lighting, and making the most of green spaces. The university and its suppliers have temporary structures, such as gazebos and teepees, for outdoor events. If using temporary structures, don’t forget to consider whether heating would be required, as a portable heating system is unlikely to offer the efficiency of those available in buildings.

Indoor events (on campus): Think about how many people will be attending, the types of activities present, and the type and size of space required to accommodate them.

The University has buildings which are certified to BREEAM excellent standard. These properties are estimated to produce 32% less carbon emissions than the average building.

Indoor events (off campus): consider a venue which has achieved certification with green building standard such as; BREEAM, WELL, Passivhaus or more general certifications for their operations, such as ISO 14001.

Communicate 

Highlighting the sustainable credentials of a venue recognises the efforts of the organisation to achieve its sustainability ambitions, as well as encouraging stakeholders to consider their own impact.

Data and feedback

Asking for feedback on the sustainability of an event, and specifically the venue, will identify areas of best practice and areas of improvement.

Top tip! Your choice of venue not only has an impact on the environment, but it also impacts people. At the University of Liverpool, we strive to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for staff, students, external partners, and the public. Find out more about what we do here. Some things to consider:

  • Communicate: Ask attendees before the event whether they require any adjustments for the event. This gives people the opportunity to let you know if they need additional support or facilities.
  • Lighting and temperature: At the start of the event, check in with the group by asking if people are happy with the lighting and temperature in the room. This may be easier to do with smaller events. If lighting and temperature is not adjustable in your room, consider booking a separate room where you can change it, to give people a break from harsh lighting and temperatures.
  • Sound: At the start of the event, make attendees aware if there may be loud noises and flashing images. This may be good to do prior to the event so that guests can get in touch if they require further information.
  • Wellbeing breaks: Schedule wellbeing/comfort breaks throughout your event, particularly for events that go on for more than an
  • Additional spaces: Provide additional spaces for prayer, breastfeeding, and quiet zones, particularly for longer events and conferences. Due to lack of space, these things will be taken into consideration depending on demand, and therefore, it is recommended that event organisers ask guests prior to the event if they will require these facilities.
  • Hearing loop system: A hearing loop system broadcasts the audio from the event to people that using hearing aids. The University has a list of rooms that have hearing loops here. For larger events, might consider organising for a certified sign language interpreter attend your event and translate for people who are hard of hearing.
  • Fire safety: In the event of a fire, ensure the venue has a fully functioning refuse point and evacuation chair available for wheelchair users.

Examples: 

The Spine

The Spine has been host to many University conferences, meetings and evening events. With a range of spaces to choose from, it’s a great option for an alternative venue to university buildings. When the Spine was being built, sustainability was considered throughout all aspects of the process. The Spine’s sustainability features include:

  • Smart building management system to regulate temperature and lighting. The system responds to external lighting conditions and saves energy by automatically turning lights off when rooms are not being used.
  • Optimisation of space layout to ensure maximum exposure to natural light.
  • Use of LED lighting, saving 50% of energy costs compared to traditional lighting.
  • Filtered drinking water accessible within the entire
  • BREEAM Excellent standard.
  • Sustainable Catering by the Spine’s caterers CH&Co.

Centre for Sustainable Business launch event

The Centre for Sustainable Business launch event took place on the 18th October 2022. The event, focusing on the theme ‘Reimagining Business’, was hosted to launch the Centre for Sustainable Business and to connect the University to businesses, policy makers and consumer organisations to better understand the challenges that are faced when working towards a sustainability.

Organisers of the event ensured that the venue had sustainable credentials by opting for the BREEAM accredited Central Teaching Hub (CTH). The CTH is also DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliant and gets lots of natural light during the daytime.

The event was hybrid and was therefore available online via zoom so that people could attend remotely.

Can hybrid academic events really be as good as ‘real life’ events?

The HSS Sustainability Working group secured funding to run a pilot project that aimed to identify whether hybrid academic events could be as valuable as in-person events. The pilot considered the benefits of hybrid events, including financial, environmental, resource and user experience.

The research into large conferences found that hybrid delivery of events increased overall registration numbers. Experiences were rated highly with 98% of all attendees saying they would attend a hybrid event again.

Six events were included in the project. The event, From Nile to the Mersey: Studying the Rosetta Stone in Liverpool, was the most well attended with 162 in-person attendees and 187 online attendees. By running the event as a hybrid event, hosts were able to invite people from further afield, including attendees and guest speakers with an international profile. This added to the success of the event, attracting more people to attend. Ultimately, the hybrid style made the event more inclusive, giving staff and partners the chance to experience a high-quality event that ordinarily, they may not be able to attend.

There are some additional things to consider to maximise the success of a hybrid event:

  • When planning your hybrid event, consider the format of the event, so that you might use the correct equipment for the online aspect of the event. If your hybrid event is free to attend and only requires basic AV support, you can contact the University AV team via this form to discuss whether they can provide the AV support needed. Alternatively, for larger events, and those that you are charging people to attend, or events that require more a more technical solution, an external events company may be more suitable. The AV team will advise if this is the case.
  • Factor in additional time (up to 3 hours before the event), cost and additional staff help that may be required for the use of equipment needed for the online aspect of the event, as well as a staff member to host the online platform.
  • Reach out to other departments and faculties to find out if they own the equipment you need rather than buying or renting equipment from an external company.
  • Consider all eventualities and plan for any technical issues to ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible.