The operational, challenges posed by the drive towards sustainability – as well as the opportunities it presents – to operators of leisure venues and attractions will be the focus of the fourth TiLEzone London seminar, which takes place at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden Piazza, this month.
Titled ‘Sustainable Design & Technologies – The Challenges & Opportunities Offered to Leisure Venues & Attractions’, the 2009 edition of the TiLEzone London will present a packed one-day programme of presentations, debate and analysis from some of the industry’s most influential figures.
“When it comes to sustainability issues, venue operators, owners and suppliers are becoming more interested and thirsty for knowledge for their businesses, ” comments Richard Curtis of Andrich International, TiLEzone’s organiser. “As an industry, it is up to us to respond to this by making our attractions more sustainable in the way that they use energy, dispose of waste, and impact on the environment generally. We have designed the fourth TiLEzone London programme specifically to tackle these issues and to show delegates how the attractions of tomorrow can benefit financially, operationally and in terms of positive PR, as well as morally from being green.” Also, the drive to adopt sustainable technologies and approaches is likely to increase with governments, notably the new US administration, identifying sustainable technologies and products as a means of helping get out of the current recession.
The star attraction is Dr Jim Sweitzer who has advised museums, planetariums and universities from San Francisco to Turin on the creation, content and delivery of science education.
He is a member of The Climate Project, trained by former US Vice President Al Gore in January 2007 and is a strong advocate for raising awareness about global warming and its solution.
Among the speakers at TiLEzone are Robert Simpson, founder director of Electrosonic, who will be asking if venue technology can save both energy and money; Philips Lighting’s John Aston, who will present an overview of sustainable lighting in the leisure and entertainment industry; and Dan Howarth, technical design manager, KCA London, who will present a series of case studies to show how spaces can be transformed into message-rich environments by employing sustainable design solutions. Robert Casamento, director Ernst & Young will present an economic outlook of rising energy costs, exploring the long-term view of declining non-renewable resources versus renewable resources. Doug King, who has provided the environmental design for many “ground-breaking” buildings, will examine a range of energy conservation issues and will highlight strategies for new and refurbished leisure venues.
This seminar will be chaired by Blair Parkin, managing director, Visual Acuity, which acted as a key technology consultant to the world’s largest ‘green’ visitor attraction, California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, which opened its doors to huge acclaim last year. The Operational Impact session aims to create a wider awareness of sustainability issues to improve the bottom line. Presentations from the Sustainable Research Group at the Building Research Establishment, the Centre for Construction Innovation Northwest and the Soil Association will address sustainable building standards (BREEAM), the criteria for obtaining funding and potential efficiencies from sourcing food locally.
TiLEzone 2009 will be held on Wednesday 25 March 2009 at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden – itself a notable example of how sustainability can be applied to an attraction. Exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities are still available. A full programme can be found at tileweb.org.
This will be the fourth TiLEzone London, which is organised with and supported by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), RH Architects, Total Immersion and Visual Acuity. TiLE has been running annual conferences, networking opportunities and special events for professionals in the leisure venues business since 1991, in France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Singapore, as well as the UK.
See Also: TiLEzone to show it pays to be green in the leisure business
