The Exeter Sustainability Awards that recognise organisations and individuals that take forward sustainability in Exeter make their 3rd awards in 2025. Enter before the 9th of January. 

Global City Futures are sponsors for the Small Business Award, with senior project manager Chris Mainstone on the judging panel.

Chris comes from a regeneration, construction and manufacturing background with experience in the public and private sector, and is a certified chartered accountant.  He has been very impressed with the entries to the Awards, and is looking forward to seeing what is put forward.

The Awards are brought together by Princesshay, The Crown Estate, Exeter Live Better, University of Exeter and InExeter. They working together to celebrate, support and recognise the sustainable practice and commitment of businesses, organisations and individuals driving change and making a difference to sustainability across Exeter.

The Exeter Sustainability Awards are free to enter and are open to organisations and individuals living or operating within a 10-mile radius of the city centre. The categories are open for entry. Youth Awards, also Community group / charity / non-profit, School / educational organisation, Micro business (0-9 employees), Small business (10-49 employees), Medium/Large business (50+ employees) and the Citizen’s Award which is open for any individual going above and beyond in their community.

A panel of judges will be looking for environmental and social best practice, innovation, sustainable energy use and climate resilience. Organisations, businesses, and individuals can enter themselves or nominate others. Entries are now open and close on January 9th. Full details about the Exeter Sustainability Awards, categories and the application process can be found at www.exetersustainabilityawards.co.uk

The sustainable finance consultancy Global City Futures are thrilled to win two Notty awards in the categories of Financial Friend and Sustainability Superstar, after having been nominated for three of the new-style business awards.

Unusually, all three of the south west businesses shortlisted for the Sustainability award were winners – with the judges saying:

“Three very distinct nominations that made for a tough decision to make. The only logical conclusion was to acknowledge all three for their bold and transformative work on three different levels in the region and beyond.”

With a restaurant – The Pig at Coombe, a construction company – QMS and Global City Futures all winners, it really shows that the judges believe in sustainability across all industries, and Senior Consultant Rachael Gilliam who led on the nomination, agrees.

“We were amazed and really pleased that all three businesses shortlisted were winners, especially as food production and waste, as well as construction materials and methods are top priorities for a sustainable future. It’s fantastic to have the work that we do in building business cases for net zero carbon projects recognised, and we will continue to take forward many more for the region and the UK.” 

For the Financial award, the judges commented that:

“The sheer scale of the work carried out by Global City Futures distinguishes them as the winners for a very broadly competed category.”

Will Treadwell, Consultant at Global City Futures and a chartered accountant put forward the nomination: 

“The skills and expertise we have in the team really shows in the quality and scale of projects we are appointed to and proud to play our part in – often proving that growth and development can also be sustainable and inclusive. It is really satisfying to use accounting and financial knowledge to work with organisations that are aiming to put climate goals and quality of living first.”

The Global City Futures team were handed the two trophies at the awards night in Exeter organised by Notworking Networking, who organise southwest business events. 

Global City Futures is a B Corp finance consultancy, working with public and private sector organisations to help them take action for a sustainable future. They offer change management, innovation in procurement, financial structuring and professional services which take the complex challenge of sustainable transformation to deliver considered and effective solutions.

If you missed Managing Director Roli Martin speaking at the Big Sustainability Expo and the Local Government Association this year, the slides are available below.

Take a look at Global City Futures’ successful approaches to financing decarbonised heat networks, with cross public sector collaboration as well as the role of the local council and tried and tested actions for delivery.

Download a PDF of the presentation

Global City Futures are specialists in renewable energy projects and commercial structuring appraisal for the public sector, with the presentation features a case study of East Devon District Council where we acted as financial advisors to develop their heating infrastructure project. This will allow new homes to be delivered to the Future Homes Standard.

There are constraints and risks associated with district heat networks, this presentation also gives the consultancy’s expertise in finding solutions through understanding the process, modelling and funding market.

Finally, to get in touch for more information contact us here.

Roli Martin, Managing Director will be one of the expert speakers at The Big Sustainability Expo 23, taking place in Southampton on the 3rd of October. 

The conference is ‘one of the UK’s most comprehensive events dedicated to environmental management and the drive to net-zero’ with an audience of businesses, third sector organisations and local authorities.

Roli will be presenting ‘Successful Financing of Decarbonised Heat Networks’ – at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton, on the 3rd of October. Free to attend, join us to hear solutions to attracting public and private finance to local authority sustainability programmes, illustrated by a case study on the city of Exeter’s heat network.  He will walk through successful approaches to funding and delivering decarbonised heat in the domestic and non-domestic markets.

The ‘Successful Financing of Decarbonised Heat Networks’ session will discuss cross public sector collaboration for delivery of heat networks: the benefits and risks, matching grants with private investment and look at solutions without government assistance. Delegates, join us for:

• The role of local councils and other public sector organisations in decarbonised heat networks, from how they can facilitate and act as policy holders, to leading on strategy direction of procurement
• Understanding capital constraints and solutions to the balance sheet problem. Tried and tested process in action for delivery of successful decarbonised heat networks
• Understanding the key workstreams: Technical options appraisal for decarbonised heat solutions
• Business Case and financial Modelling Governance and approvals gateways
• Procurement and commercialisation

Global City Futures partner with Government departments, agencies, and institutional leaders to co-create lasting solutions to establish sustainable city communities. Roli Martin works with city authorities, NHS Trusts and local government, with recent projects in keyworker housing, energy market analysis and specialism in district heating. Managing projects in change management, data analytics, innovation, finance, and professional services, the Global City Futures deliver public and privately funded business models.

Free to attend, The Big Sustainability Expo takes place in Southampton on 3rd October – this event is for professionals from large corporations to SMEs, non-profits, and the public sector.

The Exeter Sustainability Awards, recognising businesses, community groups and individuals who are going the extra mile for sustainability in Exeter is returning for a second year. Founded by Princesshay in 2022, the awards will open for entries on Friday 1^st September.

Global City Futures are again sponsoring the awards for Small Business, with Senior Consultant Rachael Gilliam on the judging panel.

Rachael has focused on providing Programme Management to local authorities and other public sector organisations to ensure the safe continuity of vital and sensitive services, developing sustainable financial business models and has a range of corporate and professional experience.  She was very impressed with entries to the Awards last year, and is looking forward to being on the judging panel.

Rachael said “It was so heartening last year to hear about projects large and small that are happening in our home city, and to celebrate their successes. Global City Futures are very pleased to be sponsoring the awards again this year, and championing sustainable small businesses as we know you don’t have to be a big business to make a big difference. I believe that all businesses can build in sustainability, and have it as part of their culture and mission, I’m really looking forward to being inspired by this year’s entries.”

The Awards are brought together by Princesshay, The Crown Estate, Exeter Live Better, University of Exeter and InExeter. They will be working together to celebrate, support and recognise the sustainable practice and commitment of businesses, organisations and individuals driving change and making a difference to sustainability across Exeter.

The Exeter Sustainability Awards are free to enter and are open to organisations and individuals living or operating within a 10-mile radius of the city centre. The categories open for entry are new for this year  – Youth Awards, also Community group / charity / non-profit, School / educational organisation, Micro business (0-9 employees), Small business (10-49 employees), Medium/Large business (50+ employees) and the Citizen’s Award which is open for any individual going above and beyond in their community.

A panel of judges will be looking for environmental and social best practice, innovation, sustainable energy use and climate resilience. Judges include Emma Askew, Founder and Director of Earth Minutes; Kalkidan Legesse, Social Entrepreneur; Peter Knight, Manager Director of Stagecoach South West; Trevor Gomm, Princesshay Operations Manager; Rachael Gilliam, Senior Consultant Global City Futures and Helen Shoesmith, The Crown Estate.

Global City Futures, Exeter College and Coastal Recycling are sponsoring Small Business, the new Youth category and Community group / charity / non-profit respectively.

Organisations, businesses, and individuals can enter themselves or nominate others. Entries are now open and close on 1^st December 2023.

Full details about the Exeter Sustainability Awards, categories and the application process can be found at www.exetersustainabilityawards.co.uk

Find Global City Futures at the Local Government Association conference in July, where Roli Martin, Managing Director will be speaking on ‘Delivering Decarbonisation in Local Government’. 

Together with Naomi Harnett of East Devon District Council, Global City Futures will present on how to develop a decarbonisation programme whilst identifying realistic targets and projects. The session will look at innovative funding solutions, including maximising government capital and private investment.

The session will explore work carried out in collaboration with East Devon District Council showcasing how an innovative financial model for decarbonised heating infrastructure, empowered by Energy from Waste, delivered 12,000 homes to the Future Homes Standard.

The speakers will be taking questions on the financing of decarbonisation and overcoming challenges as local authorities aim for net zero. Contact us to pose a question, or to talk further about decarbonisation in your local authority.

Find us in the Innovation Zone on Day 2 of the LGA conference, 5th July in Bournemouth.

On Friday (27th January 2023) we attended Exeter Sustainability Awards, where EX2 Group won in the Small Business category sponsored by Global City Futures. 

Rachael Gilliam and Will Treadwell (pictured, with Kerry Lane of EX2 centre) were inspired by the winners, from retrofit schemes providing skills training to a one-woman mission to make a difference with wildlife gardening to improve her local community.

Rachael, Senior Consultant for Global City Futures said “It was so heartening to hear about projects large and small that are happening in our home city, and to celebrate their successes. The EX2 Group have really gone all in to build their business to express what they believe in – with electric vehicles and a low carbon operation, while providing solutions to organisations to do the same.”

The Awards took place at Exeter’s St Sidwell’s Point, a newly built community leisure facility built to passivhaus standards. Attendees heard from Anne Daniels, Arctic explorer who talked about the changes she had experienced due to global warming. She read from One Chance Left, a collection of poems written by scientists from the University of Exeter and the Met Office.

Rachael: “What I took away from this event is that it is really important that we engage with sustainability at all levels – from local authorities, how we run our businesses, the local communities as well as the choices that we make as consumers. We saw that it can be done, and can be done successfully to make differences locally that have global impact.”

This was the first year of the Exeter Sustainability Awards, launched to recognise all the amazing people, businesses and organisations that are making a difference to sustainability in the city.

Global City Futures are working with local authorities across the UK to support the implementation of their Climate Action Plans – see our projects in Lambeth and Lancaster 

In September of 2022 Elaine Anning was nominated for a West Country Women Award in Green Business, and later announced as one of three finalists. 

Elaine was nominated by her team for her innovative, climate-focussed consultancy in her role with Global City Futures. An outstanding runner up finalist,  she is focused on leading Global City Futures – she is not only concerned with the businesses sustainable impact, but expertly guides others toward low carbon solutions.

The Green Business award is sponsored by LHC Design, west-country-based architects. They said “All of our shortlisted candidates are amazing women whose business actions are directly reducing carbon emissions and our impact on the planet. We have learnt so much from each of them and would like to thank all of them for being so forthright, honest and passionate about what they are doing!”

In October Glayne Price of LHC Design was delighted to announce the three Finalists for the ‘Green Business’ category over tea and cake at Powderham Castle, whilst also celebrating all of the semi-finalists within their own businesses and fields. “The process has been somewhat difficult due to the high calibre of nominees. Following a chat and a coffee with all our semi-finalists we had the unenviable task of shortlisting from the original 6 down to just 3 – a difficult task due to the diverse nature of all our nominees.”

In December at a glittering ball in Plymouth Elaine was awarded Runner Up Finalist, and said “The Awards are a real celebration of achievement in many categories, and it was fantastic to hear about all the talent and innovation in the West Country.”