Finding a HOME for our Embodied Carbon Event

At Curtins, we’re no stranger to a thought leadership event, and these have been part of our founder, Bill Curtin’s legacy to share and exchange knowledge for many years. Since we were able to open event doors post-Covid, our in-person gatherings have welcomed around 1000 guests in total. With the evolving breadth and frequency of these, we recognise the impact and influence we can have on inclusivity by making EDI a driver for our event planning.

On 12th June, we set up in Manchester for an event to 130 people on Embodied Carbon Reduction, and the choice for the venue: HOME Theatre.

There, Jon Moister and Niamh McCloskey (both Curtins) plus special guest from Capital&Centric, Martin Crews presented their expertise on how to deliver lower embodied carbon projects, whilst harnessing the UK’s extraordinary existing buildings.

A long time before we were pouring locally roasted coffee and heading into one of HOME’s immersive theatres, though, we met with the team there to carry out an assessment of the venue against our ESG checklist. How did it stack up for accessibility requirements? Are there ample public transport options? Do they, like Curtins, pay the National Living Wage as a minimum? Are there suitable audio and visual provisions to support those with limited hearing or sight? Plus, other areas that helped us understand how our event would impact the environment, local community, EDI and the wider construction industry.  

We were delighted to find that so many of these considerations, amongst others, were more than covered in this trendy Arts Council Space.

If anyone has attended one of our events in recent years (and we hope that you have) you may have picked up on slight adaptations to the language we use to describe our locations. “HOME is a 5 minute walk or wheel from Deansgate”, as an example of inclusive language for wheelchair, as well as bicycle, users. We also tend to opt for morning events, and this one was intentionally arranged to start after school drop-off, as a consideration to those with children and other caring responsibilities.

We’re endlessly learning and adapting our approach to inclusivity, and by working with organisations like This is Purpose and ENEI we hope to continue to ensure our events and the venues we choose are welcoming, fit for purpose and positively impactful.

For more information on how we assess our events for equity, diversity and inclusion, or to share any recommendations, please drop me an email to kate.clegg@curtins.com

Thank you.