Touchwood Shopping Centre in Solihull wins prestigious eco award

Solihull shopping centre beats hundreds of nominations to be presented with award at the Houses of Parliament

By Fionnuala Bourke

Published 27th Nov 2021, 16:45 BST

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Touchwood Solihull is celebrating after winning a prestigious accolade for Environmental Best Practice at the International Green Apple Awards 2021.

The centre beat off strong competition from more than 500 other nominations. Representatives from the Touchwood team were presented with their trophy and certificate at a glittering presentation ceremony at the Houses of Parliament.

Touchwood was recognised for high achievement in a host of sustainable projects including full accreditation for ISO 14001:2015 & ISO 50001:2018.

It also reduced CO2 emissions in 2019 and 2020 by 53% and 59% respectively, compared to the baseline output of 2014.

2021 also saw Touchwood named as the first shopping centre in the UK to be awarded a 2-star Fitwel accreditation, additionally achieving the highest Fitwel Healthy Building score of any retail environment globally.

Touchwood recently celebrated its 20th anniversary as it bucked the high street trend of shop closures with a boom in visitors and trade.

Touchwood Solihull's General Manager Tony Elvin and Lynsey Riley, Projects and Compliance Manager proudly display their Green Apple Trophy

Touchwood Solihull's General Manager Tony Elvin and Lynsey Riley, Projects and Compliance Manager proudly display their Green Apple Trophy

What has Touchwood said about the award in its own words?

Tony Elvin, General Manager, comments: “To be recognised in this way is a fantastic achievement and we are incredibly proud to have won such a prominent award.

“Reducing our impact on the environment is something we are passionate about and we’re constantly looking at developing and implementing new projects to help us achieve this.

“Winning this Green Apple award was a true team effort and I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Touchwood for getting behind the initiative and making this win possible but special thanks must also go to our Projects and Compliance Manager Lynsey Riley for leading on this Project.”

Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull has seen an 80% increase in shoppers since before the pandemic

Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull has seen an 80% increase in shoppers since before the pandemic

What are the Green Apple Environment Awards about?

The Green Apple Environment Awards, are an annual international campaign run by The Green Organisation to recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world.

The Fitwel standard provides a tailored set of strategies for retail, and commercial properties with the aim of improving occupier engagement and overall user experience.

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