Public Sector Sustainable Food Procurement Initiative - The Royal Parks
Case Study: The Royal ParksRegion: South East (London)
Organisation: Government Agency
Description: Since 2000 the Royal Parks have focused on improving both their sustainability and catering. The objectives of Laurent Trenga, the Catering Concessions Manager, who manages the catering contracts in the eight Royal Parks, are to introduce healthy eating menus, fairly traded ingredients, use of part-recycled disposable vessels and recycling schemes and to emphasise seasonal produce for all catering contracts.
The process of introducing sustainable and improved catering to The Royal Parks is not just about concessions serving the public. Fair trade tea and coffee are now being used in the Agency and plastic drink cups have been replaced with part-recycled disposable vessels. Plastic-bottled water has been phased out with the introduction of the drinking 'fountain', reducing waste and cost.
Much has been achieved with The Royal Parks' largest contractor, Park Café (part of Caper Green). Seasonality has been introduced into the main cafes, changing on a monthly basis to reflect availability. All hot drinks are organic and ethically sourced and part-recycled disposable vessels are now standard. Additionally a pilot cardboard recycling scheme is now in place at the catering operation in Kensington Gardens.
Benefits
- The standard of ingredients and cooking has improved - giving better value for visitors.
- The food offered is now a lot more appealing, which will have a positive long-term effect on sales and in reducing waste.
- The sheer volume of produce used in the eight Royal Parks means that the environmental and ecological standards set will have a wide-ranging impact on suppliers.
- The profile of catering in the Parks is rising and is starting to get positive press coverage.
New venture
A new restaurant, Inn the Park, opened in spring 2004 in St James's Park. The architects employed sustainable development principles of minimising the use of mechanical environmental control and employing alternative ecological construction techniques where possible.
Inn The Park is a contemporary British cafe set in St James's Park, the oldest of and, arguably, the jewel of London's Royal Parks. With such a beautiful and historic setting, Hopkins Architects set out to create a modern building that worked with the original intentions of Nash's 1828 designs and added thoughtfully to them, rather than imposing it on an unspoilt urban oasis. The result is a building that is distinctly modern yet completely in place.
Inn The Park works in a series of layers - reflecting the undulating topography of the park, the rich fabric of trees and planting but also the different ways the building has to function as a public place.
The building which features a green turf roof is constructed from PEFC certified Austrian larch from the Tauern region - chosen for its long life span and because it could be used without coating externally.
The highest component of embodied energy used in construction was cement. But this impact was reduced by using 50% Ground Grade blast furnace slag (GGBS) - a by-product from steel production. The concrete sealer is silicate based, with low VOC and minimum pollution impacts, made by a company called Keim that sponsors ecological design. The building paint is low VOC water based emulsion.
The internal wood sealer used is very environmentally preferable - organic tung (china) oil. External wood has not been sealed and will silver with age. The wood floor comprises pre-finished certified Junckers red oak and is oiled with Junckers modified soya oil. Budget and Health & Safety performance requirements meant that the kitchen floor is altro PVC flooring, rather than the tiles.
The kitchen lights are all high efficiency and high frequency fluorescents, and the restaurant lights are tungsten halogen due to dimming requirements for restaurant scene setting. The latest zero ODP (ozone depleting potential) insulates having very high insulating properties have been used.
Inn the Park will use organic and seasonal ingredients, drawn from sustainable and environmentally sound sources. All the Royal Parks' suppliers will have to pass an annual inspection. All cooking techniques will be energy efficient and the most ecologically sound packaging will be used, using recycled materials wherever possible. Information on the ingredients used will be publicly available, and presented in an educational, fun and original manner.
Recycling
Most of the catering operations throughout all the Royal Parks have a recycling scheme in place:
- Hyde Park (cardboard and glass):
- The Lido
- The tennis centre
- Regent's Park (cardboard and glass)
- The tennis centre
- Queen Mary garden café
- Boat House
- The Honest Sausage Broadwalk
- St James's Park (cardboard and glass)
- Inn the Park
- Kensington Gardens - all units recycle cardboard
- Richmond Parks - the glass at the house in Greenwich Tea House pavilion, and Pembroke Lodge
- Further recycling schemes will be introduced as contracts come up for renewal, and physical barriers are overcome.
Future developments
The Royal Parks aims to continually improve its performance in delivering
the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative.
Further information
ltrenga@royalparks.gsi.gov.uk
See also the Inn the Park and
the St James's
Park website.
Page published: 21 May 2004