Introduction
The Business Village came on board as a project management client in January 2022 for their Net Zero Accelerator project in partnership with Barnsley Council, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and UK Government.
This an exclusive project to help 36 businesses in the SME sector to begin their journey to a net zero footprint to help make an impact on the environment and sustainability, as part of the Net Zero 2045 campaign in the Borough.
The Business Village is Barnsley’s largest provider of managed workspace whose vision through the Net Zero Accelerator is to be the home of Net Zero for all the businesses enrolled and the Borough as a whole.
The aim as stated by Adrian Waite, Chief Executive of The Business Village:
“We wanted to provide businesses with an understanding of the importance of Net Zero and how this will positively impact their businesses and growth potential, their employees, their community, and the wider global environment.”
The Business Village believed in their vision so much they were one of the 36 businesses enrolled onto the program to help them understand their own carbon footprint, which was not only beneficial for them, but also the 126 businesses they accommodate at their two sites in the Borough..
The Net Zero Accelerator was first introduced to us by Kevin Steel, Business Development Manager at The Business Village who was project lead at The Business Village.
Kevin kindly put our business forward to look after the marketing and event campaigns for the Accelerator. This involved many other tenant businesses on site working with Ask Zoe to achieve the main aims and objectives of the Accelerator.
Our involvement and impact
Our involvement included social media management by Purple Genie, video and photography by Internet Marketing Platinum and design and graphics by Ginger Fox.
As The Business Village identified the opportunity of supporting several customers on site not just through the Net Zero Accelerator but by project delivery and it allowed us to represent the local business community on a regional level through the delivery of the Net Zero Accelerator.
Ultimately it was about supporting each other, showcasing the talent we have within The Business Village and the collaboration opportunities we have, which ultimately made a tremendous impact across the Borough of Barnsley.
Additional goals
Additional goals for the project were:
1. Profit Generation
2. Brand Awareness
3. Showcasing Our Talent
4. Productivity
5. Raising The Profile
6. Innovation
7. Efficiency
Outcome
Additional opportunities that developed from the project:
The Net Zero Barnsley Roadshow; which was about taking the information about Net Zero Accelerator on tour in the local area. This created more awareness for the project and the Borough. Plus, it allowed us to identify key businesses in the local area that we could help even more with future webinars that became available as part of the project.
The Net Zero Room at The Business Village. Identified an opportunity to bring the businesses as part of Net Zero together, as the key question that followed their support was the question of ‘What Next?’
The Net Zero room allows them to do this, by offering a space where they can continue work on their Net Zero objectives away from the pressures of everyday responsibilities in their business.
This is a pleasure to see, as not only did they achieve their desired aims and objectives, but were able to achieve the following outputs as a whole:
38 Innovation Plans
16 Decarbonation Plans – with estimated CO2e reductions of 11,067 tonnes by September 2023
43 businesses were supported across the program
Estimated CO2e reduction of 41,560 tonnes by 2025
These were achieved by helping each business understand its current carbon emission position, identify with them what actions they could take to move towards Net Zero, and, crucially, support them directly as they start to implement these activities, so creating the greatest likelihood of success.
Following completion of the project, Kevin Steel told us that is it clear to see how collaboration reaps benefits when it came to the Net Zero Accelerator and gave us the following quote in reference to our services regarding events, marketing, and co–ordination of the project.
“Outsourcing events and marketing to AskZoe was a vital part of this project, it allowed us to focus on the delivery of The Net Zero project, helping us to embed our vision as the Home of Net Zero in Barnsley and across South Yorkshire effectively and efficiently”
Additional benefits
Including these additional benefits that were achieved as part of the Net Zero Accelerator project team; as stated by Helen Keller “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Six case studies & five video case studies;
760 hours of coaching support (126 days);
13 Energy Audits
£2.2mill CAPEX – £725k potential savings per annum
3.12 years payback
905 tonnes of CO2e savings per annum
33 Baseline emission diagnostic reports
3.5% Scope One; 13% Scope Two; 83.5% Scope Three
Targeted B2B social media, with more than 150 individual posts on Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in, and Instagram.
Intense program of paid-for B2B advertising on Google AdWords, Facebook, and Linked-in generating more than 3,500 specific clicks through to the Net Zero webpages.
A strong program of legacy PR to generate news and opinion featured in local and regional press.