Mike SarnaHead of Interpretation & Design

Building Greener Exhibitions

Presentation outline

• Stay with me (a little boring but important) - our approach

• Case studies – The Deep Sea, Butterflies, Darwin Centre

• Some practical tips that you can implement tomorrow• How you can overcome some of the pitfalls and

barriers and just get on with it

Sustainability at NHM

• Aspiration to be the most sustainable museum in the UK

• The first museum in the UK to receive ISO 14001 accreditation

• Implementation of an environmental management system

• £3m invested in new Combined Heat and Power (CHP) increasing fuel efficiency to 80%

• Invest to Save reduced our carbon emissions by 10%

• BMS upgrades to gallery controls• Borehole – grey water reuse• LED feature lighting• 4,000 light fittings – 400 tonnes of

carbon savings in a year

PEG Going Green approach (3 year goals)

• Year one – develop more sustainable approaches to doing our work, introduce a new culture, track our existing efforts and expand on successes

• Year two – implementing new and more innovative initiatives and engaging the community in the work that we are doing

• Year three – refining our work and communicating achievement

Sustainable Design and Construction• Minimize negative impacts on

the natural environment• Optimize long-term costs of

operating and maintaining exhibitions

• Optimize the quality of the indoor environment

• Educate our community to the benefits of utilization and extend awareness that could improve the local environment

WPY Image

Environmentally friendly features- LED light panels- Aluminium structures- AV Hardware- Low VOC materials

2009 Wildlife Photographer

of the year

2010 Wildlife Photographer

of the year

The Deep Sea2010

Darwin Centre2011

Wall systems

Interactives

Seating

LED Light panels

AV

Wall systems

Interactives

AV

Seating

Casework

Wall systems

Interactives

LED Light panels

AV

Casework

Seating

AV

Storage

Storage

What made it to the tip?

• Graphics• Fabric wall covering• Central whale fall feature (some non-recycled

elements)

Suggestions for approach

• Planning and embedding into the process (audit)• Scoping a legacy• Absorbing costs (storage)

Natural History Museum

Environmentally preferable materials and fabrication

IntroductionIn working towards continual improvements in the sustainability

of the Museum’s exhibitions and public offer, and in line with

Museum's Environmental Policy, design and fabrication should

demonstrate consideration of environmental impacts. 

Environmentally preferable products will be purchased whenever

they offer value for money and preference will be given to

designs that incorporate, or provide alternative options, for:

Energy efficient lighting and technology

The use of recycled material

The use of environmentally preferable material

The use of sustainably sourced material

The use of material, and its packaging, that can be reused,

recycled, or taken back by supplier for remanufacturing.

Specific Environmental Preferences

•It is the responsibility of designers to ensure that they do not

specify or procure materials that are banned under EU and UK

Legislation and British Standards. The following list gives some

examples of the materials that should be included, but is not

exclusive:Asbestos or materials containing asbestos;

Vermiculite insulation materials (unless established as asbestos

free);Lead or materials containing Lead;

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s); and

Timber preservatives – Dieldrine, Lindane, Creosote (UK Banned),

Pentochlorophenol (PCP) (severely restricted with EC Directive.).

The following materials should be avoided on environmental

grounds as they present such a risk to the environment that they

should be controlled by application of a project wide standard:

SUSTAINABILITY – DC2 PUBLIC OFFER

Aspects able to be implemented under Project Management

Toner Stevenson, November 2007

Additional information from meeting held 20 November, 2007 with Lisa Miall and Glynnan Barham.

The following rationale was discussed to ensure NHM policy is implemented. Interpretation stra

tegy to be added by

Mike Sarna.

ASSESSMENT OF BRIEFS AND TENDERS

Environmental policy will be followed throughout the project and on specific situ

ations, such as tendering (this is

already occurring). T

he Museums environment policy is included as part of every tender package. The DC2 approved

procurement policy also has this embedded within it. T

his covers the following:

Production and specification methods

Use of materials

Waste disposal and renewable options

OJEU/OJEC tendering process will in

clude environmental issues as a key criterion for DC2 works.

Action: continue as planned with all tenders.

CONSULTATION AT MILESTONES

Reviews will occur at key milestones, su

ch as Detail Design Quality Assurance (Feb/Mar 08).

Action: TS to review the Design Quality Indicator

EVALUATION

Lisa has offered to evaluate work as it is d

one to assure the standards promised are being met. This will b

e on an on-call

basis.

Key Areas of high impact:

LIGHTING: Explore, Atrium, DAS special lighting

Most exhibition, specialist and display lighting in the public offer sp

ace is able to be specified and delivered with a high

level of energy efficiency, life-cycle and control. L

ife-cycle An important aspect of the appointment of lighting

Designer, Mark Sutton Vane, was th

e company’s positio

n as a leader in meeting and setting environmental standards,

making energy efficiency and environmental concerns central to their business practice. Showcase lighting forms part of

their brief and will have sim

ilar conditions upon it as well as str

ingent collections-based criteria.

The control systems fo

r lighting will in

clude dormant period emergency lighting, cleaning lighting modes and

operational lighting.

Areas of concern are the lighting of Science spaces during times when there is n

o science occupation but when the

public offer is fully operational.

Action: GB will give TS the outcome of the lighting audit re

view.

Creating a green relationship• Project team• Designers• Fabrication firms • Agreed process

Sample process

Briefs & Tenders

www.emcbe.com/toolkit

Milestone Consultation

Evaluation & Tracking

Project TeamEnvironmental Plan

Pre ProjectAppraisal

Procurement StrategyKPIsStatutory RequirementsFabrication Tenders

Exhibition DesignService StrategyConstruction

UseRefurbishDisposal

Amazing Butterflies

Butterfly Explorers

Communicating achievement

Balancing Environmental Considerations

• Performance – will these materials be durable in high traffic areas?

• Availability – how readily available are some of these materials?

• Financial Cost – is this going to break the museum’s budget?

• Aesthetic – are the product choices limiting and materials just plain ugly?

• What is “green”?

www.bre.co.uk/greenguide

Establishing Priorities• Sustainability is core to the Natural

History Museum’s brand • Audit – get a grip on what you are

already doing• Elicit feedback from staff and address

concerns and find ways forward• Minimum standards as recommended

by third-party organizations• Promoting Green Procurement• Internal Green Team

• Staff Education

Give it a go – what if we do nothing?

Questions?