Why is The Crystal such a great events space?
The first point that many clients are struck by is the wonderful glass building and the natural lighting available as a result. The Crystal is such an inspiring building with all the sustainability aspects in place such as water treatment facilities, solar panels, natural ventilation, ground source heat pumps, electric vehicle chargers, etc making it one of the world’s most sustainable buildings.
Hand in hand with having such a sustainable building, it was important for us to achieve certification in IS20121 which is the Event Sustainability Management Standard so that our operations dovetail and we can be known truly as one of the world’s most sustainable event venues. We have also been certified in ISO18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Management Standard) and ISO14001 (Environmental Management Standard) as well as achieving gold level from Green Tourism and awarded the accreditation of VisitEngland Quality Assured Visitor Attraction.
Important factors that contribute to why The Crystal is a fantastic event space is that we have state of the art AV, provide sustainable food and beverage choices (where majority of our products are locally sourced and if they are not locally sourced they are provided to our sustainable standards), have a dynamic team in place who walk the talk in sustainability plus they are on hand to meet all needs of clients, flexibility in meeting spaces and work well, involving our local community.
Why is it important that London has a space that’s specifically devoted to sustainability events?
As mentioned above we consider ourselves as part of one to the world’s most sustainable event venues, so not just London, and strive to achieve the highest standards when delivering events and meetings. To be part of the regeneration project of the Royal Docks area is extremely important, with this part of London having undergone a massive transformation in the last few years (now a Green Enterprise District of London). The Crystal is proud to have a niche sustainable event building in the area and continually improve in leading the way on hosting sustainable events.
All delegates visiting The Crystal for meetings/events also have the opportunity to gain access into our Exhibition on Urban Sustainability with many clients having a synergy with various or all parts of our Exhibition. Many also feedback/comment on how inspirational the Future Life theatre piece is as this shows a projection of life in London, New York and Copenhagen in 2050.
Of the events that have been held there so far, which particularly impressed you or had a higher profile?
It has to be the Tesla event with Tesla being a company that has the future at the forefront of their ideas and which received an important amount of global coverage. The Crystal also formed a wonderful partnership for the future with Tesla as there is a charging station on site for their electric vehicles. Some of the other fantastic events in the last 9 months have been with Unilever’s Change Leaders Conference, World Water Summit for The Economist, Comit and Fiatech Annual IT Conference, Julias Baer Next Generation Summit, First Group Conference and Deloitte’s European TMC Client Conference.
From a venue perspective though, seeing all the planning coming together and the teamwork required makes all events impressive, but particularly that it is done safely and sustainably.
We consistently come together to provide the highest standard of service possible and collectively work through all challenges thrown at us with our efforts rewarded by the smiles of satisfaction on the variety of people across all meetings/events that walk through our doors.
Content on this page is paid for and provided by The Crystal, sponsor of the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards 2015 and the business futures hub.
