Freedom Leisure, one of the UK’s leading charitable not-for-profit leisure trusts that manages over 120 leisure centres and cultural venues across England and Wales, has been chosen as a finalist in two categories in the upcoming Energy Awards 2024 which take place at a gala event in London in July.
These prestigious national awards which are now in their 15th year, recognise and celebrate the excellence, innovation and ambitions of the people and businesses that have shown their dedication and commitment to delivering on their environmental and sustainability commitments over the past 12 months.
Freedom Leisure has been shortlisted in the ‘Energy Campaign of the Year’ and the organisation’s Group Environmental and Sustainability Manager, Angela Brown (pictured), has been nominated in the ‘Energy Champion of the Year’ category. Both accolades are testament to the strategic focus the not-for-profit leisure trust has had on reducing its carbon footprint since the appointment of Angela back in 2021.
The submission for ‘Energy Champion of the Year Award’ centred around Freedom Leisure’s implementation of a new strategic approach, led by Angela, to reduce the organisation’s carbon emissions and deliver on a number of energy saving initiatives to reduce energy consumption.
Angela’s drive and determination ensured the buy in from her colleagues and in turn, the customers at their local leisure centres to ‘do their bit’ to ensure real tangible results were achieved. To date, these initiatives have led to the savings of over 7,500,000 kWh of gas and electricity. This saving could provide enough energy to power and heat seven (7) medium-sized swimming pool centres for one year.
Ivan Horsfall Turner, Freedom Leisure’s Chief Executive Officer commented; “We are delighted to have been selected as a finalist in two categories. We have championed impactful energy saving initiatives across our portfolio of centres for a number of years now and thanks to Angela there has been a real cultural shift across Freedom Leisure and environmental sustainability and energy consumption is now firmly embedded into the daily lives, routines and work flows of all our colleagues.”
“This amount of saving on electricity and gas over a twelve-month period doesn’t come easily,” says Angela Brown, Group Environmental & Sustainability Manager for Freedom Leisure who attributes a significant portion of the success story to the involvement and commitment of everyone involved.
“We have strived to engage with every single colleague, customer and stakeholder to ensure they are on board, both from an environmental perspective but also to ensure the sustainability of our much-loved leisure centres. We have effectively fostered a culture of awareness, transforming operational practices and behaviours to ensure mindful use of energy and resources.”
The winners will be announced at The Energy Awards 2024 which take place in London on 3rd July 2024.
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