When four-time Olympic gold medal-winning sailor Sir Ben Ainslie set out three years ago to bring the coveted America’s Cup sailing trophy back to Britain, he needed a base from which to orchestrate his high tech challenge.
After an accelerated design, construction and fit-out programme, this weekend sees his Land Rover BAR team use its new facility as a base for racing in the Solent leg of the America’s Cup World Series.
Completed late last year, the new building features a mass of measures designed to minimise energy and water consumption and generate renewable energy, which has helped it achieve a coveted BREEAM excellent award. This includes:
- A bespoke building management system to monitor 15 different points across the building, including energy and water consumption, and renewable energy generation.
- 9m2 of artificial reef and oyster cages were installed with support from Base Supplier MDL to encourage an increased population of oysters in the Solent region.
- Total quantity of operational waste from the team base was reduced by 52% between Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 during 2015.
- Since moving to the team base, 100% of electricity is from renewable sources, 21% of which was generated by the team’s Low Carbon PV panels saving 201 tonnes of CO2e.
Image via Shaun Roster
“The impact that this has had on our operations is clear in this report, and while there is still plenty of work to do, we know that this is a huge step forward in the sustainability of our business,” adds Ainslie.
The team’s sustainability report “Raising the Bar” was published in June based on work led by Dr Susie Tomson, the team’s sustainability manager and supported by the team’s Exclusive Sustainability Partner 11th Hour Racing.
“The achievements made by the team are largely due to its leadership in this important area,” explains Tomson, pointing out that Ainslie personally embraced the idea of embedded sustainability into the America’s Cup challenge.
“Ben recognised the potential to deliver more than just a sailing team and use the platform to really drive positive change for the better, raising the profile of environmental, social and economic sustainability in sport,” she adds.
Tomson founded Earth to Ocean in 2009 which joined the construction-based PCSG in 2014 and has worked as a sustainability consultant at the top of the sporting scene delivering programmes for a number of high profile clients including the London 2012 Olympics and the Ryder Cup golf tournament.
The link between sport and sustainability has, she says, never been so crucial. Earlier this month she travelled to Houston, USA to take part in the Green Sport Alliance annual conference which focused on the challenge of delivering sustainability into 21st century global sporting events, venues, leagues and team.
Dr Susie Tomson
“At Land Rover BAR we have built the team base to BREEAM ‘excellent’ with the aspiration that this acts as the framework for our operations – when people visit, they can tell the building is different – it is all about design, technology and innovation which delivers sustainability on so many fronts,” she says.
“Our activities range from raising awareness of ocean health and ocean plastics, improving biodiversity and looking for end-of-life solutions to composite materials – we keep challenging all aspects of our industry and operations to identify better solutions.”
The BREEAM certification for the base underlines the team’s focus on placing sustainability at the heart of its challenge for the oldest competition in sport. From the start, Ainslie understood that it was the vital element in developing a truly world-beating team formula.
And it is a fitting way to mark the 25th anniversary of the BREEAM scheme which over the last quarter of a century has evolved and grown to reflect advances in science, technology, policy and business.
“We want to win the America’s Cup, build a sustainable long-term business and do it with respect for all the principles of sustainable operation,” explains Ainslie.
