Case Study

Edinburgh International Conference Cen

The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) is owned by the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC). The EICC offers pre event planning, event and exhibition space, security services, a business and media centre and webcast facilities.  Since the EICC opened in September 1995 over 2000 events have taken place at the facilities producing over 1.5 million delegate days and a positive economic impact of £200 million. The EICC employs 61 full time staff. 
EICC conducted a sustainability review, with support from the Business Environment Partnership (BEP). The review identified a wide range of opportunities for the EICC to improve its social and economic performance through: improved employee relations, increased community participation and improved supplier policy and practice. Key environmental impacts were tackled by: addressing climate change (through site energy use and travel plans), monitoring materials use and waste management. 
The EICC has already introduced a number of good working practices as part of its aim to be a "centre of excellence and a benchmark for the service industry".  This involves the adoption of the EFQM Business Excellence Model that employs the ISO14001 environmental management system and Investors in People employee development system. 
Since the review, the EICC has achieved even greater results: 
Green Tourism Business Scheme 
(GTBS) - Gold Award since 2002 
Business Environmental Excellence 
- Gold Award 
Achieved 44% reduction in 
packaging waste and reduction in 
general waste from 85.36 ton to 
48.4 ton per annum. 
The EICC has also established the Sustainable Events Programme, which actively manages the impact of each event.  The programme benefits from an extremely high level of participation from staff.  Staff involvement is encouraged through the Teams of Excellence scheme, which rewards staff for innovative ideas which reduce waste, save energy and improve the environmental performance of EICC. The programme extends the current ISO 14001 accredited environmental management system and addresses a wider range of social, economic and environmental impacts.