On Thursday 7th November almost 40 individuals representing community buildings & businesses and village halls from across Berkshire came together to look at ways in which they might improve their buildingse to become greener and environmentally friendly.

The conference immediately followed CCB’s 2019 AGM and guests were welcomed by the chance to grab a refreshment before Jacky Akam, from Thatcham & Newbury zero waste and plastic free group, kicked things off with her talk on what Village Halls can do to reduce their environmental impact.

There followed presentations and discussion driven by Kate Meads, our Community Buildings Advisor, on funding opportunities to support a greener vision as well as an environmental audit tool. We were also lucky enough to have Mike from Utility Aid focusing on Reducing Energy costs, Steve from Stanhope Wilkinson Associates looking at Environmental Impact & Sustainability and Anton from Heatsave examining Energy Management Systems.

Delegates then were invited to use the network opportunity to discuss ideas and options further whilst enjoying a yummy home made lunch (thanks Kate)

CCB would like to thank Englefield Charitable Trust and West Berkshire Adult Community Learning team for supporting this exciting and new training opportunity. Feedback from the conference was excellent with one delegate commenting: “I really enjoyed the very practical ideas for making environmental improvements. The audit tool Kate produced will be very useful and we will use it to make improvements in our community building.”