Aberdeen City Council’s Archives, Gallery & Museums service (AAGM) is celebrating Green Tourism awards success for four of its venues.
The Art Gallery has achieved the highest award, Gold recognition, with the Maritime Museum, Provost Skene’s House and the Treasure Hub celebrating Silver status.
Green Tourism is the world’s largest sustainable certification programme of its kind, promoting greener ways for businesses and organisations to operate, by offering advice on sustainability best practice, from ethical buying to reducing energy use.
The AAGM staff team was congratulated by the judges for displaying an excellent understanding of sustainability and awareness of opportunities and challenges associated with running a responsible business. The AAGM submissions were themed around People, Places and Planet, with initiatives including:
establishing a regional recycling scheme for blue nitrile gloves routinely worn by staff when handling artworks and objects
reducing energy consumption through improvements to insulation and installation of LED lighting, low -flush toilets and water-saving taps
introducing recycled and plastic-free stock in the Maritime Museum and Art Gallery shops
tackling period poverty by providing free sanitary products in the venues in partnership with Cfine
providing facilities at the Art Gallery for visitors with disabilities, specifically a Changing Places Toilet
removing single-use plastics from the Art Gallery café
Key projects:
Establishing a wildflower meadow at the Treasure Hub in Northfield
Over 97% of the UK’s wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s. Staff volunteers worked with Habitat People to rewild a patch of land at the Treasure Hub to bring back at-risk plant species including crane’s-bill, yellow toadflax or pignut. As the meadow matures it will increase the biodiversity of the area, including pollinators and grasshoppers.
Re-homing bee hives
Bees prop-up the ecosystem and are an integral part of it. The team is working with a local beekeeper to provide a safe and secure home for hives.
Repurposing art crates – from crate to plate
The AAGM collection is in demand, but bespoke packing materials are an unfortunate by-product of lending artworks to other art galleries and museums. Re-fitting a crate requires specialist equipment and knowledge, making them difficult and expensive to re-use. AAGM worked with Fresh Community Wellness SCIO (Freshcom) to re-purpose crates as flower and vegetable planters for a community garden in Seaton. ACC gardeners re-purposed a number crates for Cfine, who worked with asylum seekers to plant a range of vegetables including kale, beetroot, carrots, radishes and parsnips. The crates were painted in the Ukranian colours of blue and yellow.
David McDonald of the Green Tourism Awards, said, “It gives the judges the utmost pleasure to confirm these awards. We were extremely impressed with the level of detail and work put into all four submissions. The whole staff team should be justifiably proud of their achievement and we look forward to continuing to work together.”
David Jackson, VisitScotland Regional Director, said, “We must all play a role in preserving Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage. I’m thrilled to hear about AAGM’s Green Tourism Award successes. Sustainable tourism development is at the heart of what we do, working with partners to drive change and embed responsible practices across the industry. Our VisitScotland business support hub contains a plethora of essential advice, including a guide to Net Zero and information on how businesses can create a sustainability and climate action plan. We have a vision for Scotland to be the most economically, environmentally and socially sustainable destination in the world, so it’s great to see AAGM playing their part and demonstrating real leadership for the region.”
Councillor Miranda Radley, Aberdeen City Council’s tourism spokesperson and VisitAberdeenshire Council Director, said, “The Gold and Silver Green Tourism awards are fantastic news for visitors to the Art Gallery, Maritime Museum, Provost Skene’s House and Treasure Hub. We know from research with our visitors that climate change is an important issue for them. The globally-recognised Green Tourism awards will give visitors the confidence that we are working towards a climate positive future where, alongside the art and history collection, we also value our planet as an irreplaceable treasure.”
Councillor Ian Yuill, Co-Leader of the Council, said, “This success in the Green Tourism awards highlights the Council’s commitment to sustainability, from improving biodiversity and eliminating single-use items, to supporting our local communities. I congratulate the Archives, Gallery & Museums team on their commitment to sustainability in relation to people, place and planet and the excellent work they have done to date to achieve the Green Tourism awards.”
Image L-R: David Jackson, Regional Director VistScotland, Danielle Jones and Amber Pithie Renfrey, Museum Supervisors, and Councillor Miranda Radley