AUTUMN | FEATURE decarbonising our estate ,” she says . “ It is really important we illustrate that we are doing as much as we can to get our own house in order , so we ’ re credible when we ’ re talking to the player community and guests about sustainability .
“ The decarbonisation of the Wimbledon estate is happening behind the scenes , so we need to give the site an obvious environmentally friendly feel to encourage guests to take positive steps themselves . We are lucky that Wimbledon has a ‘ tennis in an English garden feel ’, through which we can hopefully enable people to feel a close connection to nature . With that in mind , and to encourage biodiversity , we have the living wall on the side of No . 1 Court and a wildflower planting program .”
She says that one of the ongoing priorities within the AELTC ’ s sustainability mission is to eliminate the use of gas in its operations : “ To take out the gas from cooking , heating and hot water involves a major investment . When we put the roof on No . 1 Court we upgraded the kitchens and the suites and took out the gas , next on the hit list is Centre Court .
“ As part of our plans for Wimbledon Park across the road , we ’ ve put in a planning application for ground source heat pumps over there , so that will enable us to reduce and then ultimately eliminate dependency on gas ,” says Park .
This year ’ s Championship also saw AELTC put a mains electricity connection in Wimbledon Park so that many of the temporary structures were powered by its renewable electricity supplier . Where generators were used , they were powered by HVO biofuel .
Another key step ahead of this year ’ s event was calculating the carbon weighting of all dishes available on menus . As a result , guests were presented with a choice of
“ It was about enabling the players to be role models for a re-use culture .”
dishes that were labelled with high , medium , or low carbon weightings .
Park says the aim of the exercise was not only to provide visitors with the details to help them make more informed choices but to enable the AELTC to get a clear picture of the level of emissions resulting from the entire food and drink offering at Wimbledon .
The site is well serviced by public transport , and 80 % of Wimbledon guests arrive using it , but the AELTC is making a concerted effort via pre-event comms to encourage more people to use it or to cycle to the Championships . An additional bicycle parking area was set up this year , bringing the total to three .
“ There were more bicycles in the bicycle parking areas this year ,” says Park . “ We had pop-up bike service guys , and that worked really well . We are looking at how we can make the bicycle parking more visible and appealing to encourage more people
to come to the event using their own two legs or two wheels .”
Park says that the aspect of her role that excites her most is the opportunity to engage with players and the wider sporting community to help influence more sustainable behaviour : “ There is a lot of challenging work to be done but there is a very strong feeling here that it is important to use the influence of a sports organisation and an event like Wimbledon to encourage change .
“ People are not going to follow what the sustainability manager at Wimbledon does , but they might follow what their favourite player does .”
39