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City centre businesses championing sustainability

News story
Monday 1 Aug 2022

From eco-friendly builds to electric vans there are lots of different ways city centre businesses are doing their bit to protect and restore our planet. Businesses can calculate their emissions over the past year using the Sustainable Business Network carbon calculator and use the information to explore where they can begin to reduce their emissions. It’s free to use and available here.

If your business is working on a sustainability project, we'd love to hear about what you are doing. Tell us what you're up to here

How city centre businesses are supporting sustainability:


The Crowne Plaza Auckland
Tim Pollock, Area General Manager, IHG Hotels & Resorts New Zealand, said he was “thrilled to reopen their doors with a renewed focus on sustainability.” Their initiatives include a bedding partnership to support at-risk communities, paperless check-ins and electric car partnerships. Read more here.
View from a Galway Room at The Hotel Britomart, out to the Waitematā Harbour. Image: The Hotel Britomart

The Hotel Britomart
Named New Zealand’s Best Luxury Hotel and Best Restaurant at the 2022 Lion’s Hospitality Awards for Excellence, The Hotel Britomart has also gained a reputation for being ecologically friendly. From construction to the ethos of its award-winning restaurant kingi they’ve made sustainability a key focus. Hotel Britomart has a 5 Green Star Design and Build rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council, and has recently released its inaugural sustainability report, which you can read here.
MC Central Internal Planting

MC Centre (formerly Meredith Connell)
Spread across 5500sq m and two levels, the MC Centre features award-winning interior design that supports both employee wellbeing and sustainability. At the heart of the MC Centre is the 1600 live plant interior garden. Inspired by the Waitakere Ranges, it won the overall Diamond Award for Best in Show at the 2021 International Plant scaping awards. Further to its lush greenery, MC is the first office in New Zealand and the first law firm in the entire Asia-Pacific region with a 6 Green Star rating and WELL v2 precertification from the International WELL Building Institute. 

Precinct Properties
Precinct Properties is the first property owner in New Zealand to sign up for the World Green Building Council Net Zero Carbon Buildings commitment. Decarbonising the built environment is at the heart of this commitment. Those who sign up for it are committing to act, inspire others to act and remove barriers to implementation.  Precinct Properties New Zealand has committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions for all buildings under their direct operational control and maximise reductions of embodied carbon reductions by 2030. More information is available here.

Sanford and Sons Fishmonger
In a New Zealand first, the van that Sanford and Sons Fishmonger uses to deliver its local fresh orders has an electric motor and chiller. This combination means that these deliveries have the lowest possible carbon footprint.

There are plenty of other businesses that are doing great things to be eco-friendly.

Like Mojo, Williams Eatery and Good Karma Coffee take part in the Again Again initiative which champions reusable steel coffee cups. While rooftop bee houses are popular amongst hotels such as Rydges, Sofitel and Grand Millennium. More information about the different ways and businesses championing sustainability can be found here.


Find out about city centre community initiatives to help reduce waste and encourage sustainability here