The Roundhouse gives artists a platform to deliver career-defining performances as well as providing young people with an inspiring space to explore the creative arts so that they can go on to achieve any future they want.
Climate change presents one of the greatest collective challenges we have had to face. Human activities are altering the planet’s natural systems, throwing them into imbalance and endangering our lives and wellbeing as a result. Global frameworks including the Paris Climate Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aim to address this environmental crisis through limiting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting nature, and improving livelihoods.
Closer to home, the impacts of climate change are felt on a local level here in London through increased heat and rain and harmful air quality. In response, Camden Council has launched a Climate Action Plan calling on the district to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030. The Roundhouse is deeply rooted in Camden and is committed to creating a flourishing community for all who live here. As a prominent organisation we strive to create connections between our community and the global climate conversation, showcasing Camden as an exemplar of sustainability. The Roundhouse has aligned with Camden’s Climate Action Plan and aims to use its unique position and influence to push the boundaries of sustainability in all of our work to ensure a healthier future for our community and the rest of the world.
We recognise that we are in a climate emergency, and we seek to be an organisation which serves its community and the climate in a just and equitable way.
At the Roundhouse, we hold these values as core to our work:
We Drive Change
We want to be at the forefront of change, leading the way across all areas of our work. We strive to be a leader in sustainable performance, showcasing the power of creativity and entrepreneurship in creating social and environmental change. We strive to create a green model, inspiring other creative organisations and causing a multiplier effect on the environmental benefits we produce. We are dedicated to supporting young people to reach their full potential and create positive change.
We Celebrate Our Differences
We want everyone to believe in the difference that they can make and we are connected by the desire to make a positive change in the world through creativity. We celebrate the artists, young people, and staff at the Roundhouse who all offer a diversity of perspective towards our common purpose of addressing the climate crisis. We believe in the power of representation and creating an inclusive organisation to ensure the solutions for a shared future represent a diversity of possibilities.
We’re Accountable
We are transparent about our successes and our failings in our sustainability journey. We are honest about our starting point and what we hope to achieve with our ambitious climate goals. We carry a strong sense of justice in our work. Recognising that the effects of climate change and the benefits of climate solutions are felt differently by people from different backgrounds, we understand that it is not enough to just reduce our carbon emissions, but we must do so equitably.
Our values intersect with sustainability and we believe environmental progress is core to progress in all our areas of work. We see sustainability in the round, connected to all that we do and requiring a holistic approach to tackle. Our efforts are centered around three areas of focus that are integral to the Roundhouse and the impact we hope to achieve. These areas are Materiality, People, and Innovation.
Materiality
A key component of the Roundhouse’s environmental impact is our material environmental footprint. Our performance venue was converted from a former railway engine repair shed over 50 years ago and is a Grade II* listed building. It is important that we address the impact this space has, in addition to our offices. The Roundhouse is aligned with Camden’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2030 and we understand the importance of limiting our material footprint in order to create a healthy environment for our local community. We aim to measure and understand our building emissions, waste, water, material procurement, and production elements in order to reduce negative impacts and green our operations. We will work directly with our suppliers to drive the uptake of green goods and services.
People
The Roundhouse is deeply rooted in its local Camden community and seeks to create an open and inclusive space for all people. We see ourselves as the connector between our artists and seek to use this role towards amplifying a sustainable transition in the arts. A key component of this is our work with young people. We offer a range of creative projects for 11 to 30 year olds to encourage exploration in music, performing arts, and media. We strive to create a safe space for experimentation where people from all backgrounds can see one another and share ideas. Our programmes seek to empower and find commonalities while equipping people to understand world issues and to work towards a common purpose. The Roundhouse Youth Advisory Board (RYAB) is involved in our environmental work, providing vital insight into the wants and needs of the young people in our community. The Roundhouse takes pride in being a diverse and open space where justice and equity are centered.
Innovation
The Roundhouse seeks to create a more circular model of working through being innovative in how we limit our material impact, such as in the use of shipping containers for our office space. We have activated strong partnerships with local organisations. The Roundhouse works closely alongside Camden Council, Camden Clean Air Initiative, Camden Clean and Green, and others to create a meaningful change in the community. The Roundhouse’s influence reaches beyond London through the global music, theatre, and spoken word artists that take to our stage every day and the audiences that come from far and wide to see our performers. By creating more sustainable and equitable ways of working, the Roundhouse can influence these artists as they go on to perform around the world, acting as a template for what a sustainable music venue can look like. This has the potential to create a chain reaction, stimulating a creative ecology of venues striving to have meaningful environmental impacts. In addition, our new workspace seeks to support creative entrepreneurship and demonstrate how the creative intersects with the environment.
The Roundhouse has identified four key Sustainable Development Goals that we believe apply most closely to our three areas of focus. The seventeen goals laid out by the UN are interconnected and cannot be addressed in a silo, and we understand the need to consider the planet, people, and business in our environmental aims. These goals are our current focus, and as we progress on this journey we plan to assess what goals to direct our energy towards addressing.
SDG 4: Quality Education
The Roundhouse seeks to educate its staff, performers, audiences and young people on climate change and sustainable performance.
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
The Roundhouse is involved in its community, working in partnership to create a healthier and greener Camden.
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
As a performance venue, the Roundhouse aims to house sustainable productions and work with suppliers to green its supply chain.
SDG 13: Climate Action
The Roundhouse is committed to ensuring a just transition to net zero emissions by 2030 in part by switching to renewable solar energy.
The following policy lays out the Roundhouse’s commitments to sustainability as an organisation and as a pillar of influence in Camden, London, and the wider network of performance venues. Our internal Green Team is committed to driving our sustainability initiatives with close support from
staff across all areas of the organisation.
Scope of Impacts:
Environmental Aims:
This policy will act as a roadmap for the Roundhouse built around our three key environmental aims:
Environmental Objectives:
The following actionable objectives align to our environmental aims and will act as the backbone or our environmental action policy.
This policy is supported by a sustainability action plan and will be coordinated through the Estate and Green Teams.