The Christian Conference Trust (CCT) is a registered charity which provides conference spaces for people of the Christian faith. The Trust was established in 1910 and currently employs between 200 and 250 staff across its three UK sites - The Hayes in Derbyshire, High Leigh in Hertfordshire, and Highgate House in Northamptonshire.
The Hayes in Derbyshire is the largest of the three sites and is situated on the edge of the Peak District in Swanwick, Alfreton. It’s historic building can accommodate up to 400 residential conference delegates, as well as providing spaces for team meetings, church weekends away, exhibitions and training events.
As a Christian organisation, CCT consider caring for the environment to be a part of their duty of faith. As such, the CCT is committed to increasing the sustainability and biodiversity of their three sites. All three conference buildings are located within large plots of land, and CCT believe it is their duty as landowners to care for these areas for the good of the wider landscape as well as their business needs. The CCT consider nature-based solutions (NBS) to work for the benefit of all nature as well as the organisations own interests. Therefore, implementing NBS is a key part of their estate management.
Nature-based solutions
The farmland on The Hayes site currently uses its unmanaged pockets to increase biodiversity, with the intention that this will provide a refuge for livestock and help to tackle fast runoff during heavy rains in the long-term.
There has been an increase in hedgerow planting, and the CCT annually apply to the Free Trees scheme run by the Woodland Trust, allowing them to plant new saplings to further increase site biodiversity. This will help manage livestock more sustainably and alleviate local flooding.
The CCT have implemented NBS across all operational areas where possible, including swapping to energy saving light bulbs and switching to a sophisticated ‘zero to landfill’ waste management system.
Nature-based solutions projects
Here are some measurable NBS projects at The Hayes:
- Planted 400 metres of hedgerow trough a collaboration with The Woodland Trust
- Established a new orchard and herb garden
- Expanded plant diversity, including introduced a variety of grasses and grass lengths, to encourage site biodiversity
- Established a site compost heap which generates compost used in their gardens
- Worked with DWT to increase unmanaged pockets of woodland and scrubland on site, which help manage flooding due to excessive rain run-off.
NBS approach
The CCT have a history of hosting nature based NGOs at their facilities, and the central leadership team have worked hard to manage their landscapes with care. The Head Gardener at the Hayes, Louis Adlington, takes this one step further, ever pushing to improve local biodiversity at the site:
“When I worked for the company previously, I always did my best to encourage nature in how I managed the gardens. The company teamed up with A-Rocha to get the advice and support needed to make a real impact. The managerial interest and support has been there to really make a difference for nature locally. We take nature conservation as far as we can go at the Hayes, with long-term goals in mind”
A Rocha is an NGO and UK Christian charity that supports Christian communities and organisations to care for the natural environment through protection and restoration projects. Their support has been a significant factor in the development of NBS at The Hayes, alongside in-house changes that the CCT have started independently. More recently, The Hayes were introduced to the government funded opportunities for NBS development available to them after attending a presentation run by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust (DWT).
The NBS approach adopted by the Hayes has the following elements:
1. A network of biodiversity experts and supporting agencies
“...any landowners that are affiliated with that kind of [supporting agency] can get free advice from them on how to manage things, for biodiversity. They're all professionals, that go and give advice....They've helped quite a lot with the other centres as well. They give advice on hedgerow planting and planting native species and what areas they might be struggling with if they've not noticed, invasive species or something like that, you know. They'll go and assess all the land for you.”
2. Win-win solutions
“A good example of this is... the main runoff bank is an area the farmer doesn't utilise. He doesn't particularly like that area anyway because if any of these livestock disappear, they disappear there. We've said we're going to fence off that at the top of the bank and scrub all that up. So, in the long term, that will catch a lot of floodwater. The farmer’s happy to lose it, it's safe for the livestock, and it should help alleviate that issue as well.”
3. NBS is part of corporate identity
“Biodiversity and sustainability are two ideas that the CCT champions and worked tirelessly to improve. All three centres are located on large plots of land and as landowners we believe a duty of care is necessary not only for the purposes of our business needs, but for the influence estates like these have on the wider landscape.”
4. Friendly competition
“...you get between the three centres, a little kind of like friendly competition... You know, everyone's posting. We've got an in house social media thing. So, they're posting all the stuff that they've been cooking for the kitchens... it's the in-house uptake of, you know, the enthusiasm behind it that's driven it really...”
5. Synchronise business and NBS rationale
“NBS raises awareness for the things you're doing, but it's also a good selling point for some people...It's the end game, isn't it? Is what you can achieve for it financially. So, if you can pin those things together, it's always it's always going to be the winning way to do it.”
NBS Barriers
Barriers to NBS implementation include:
Time commitments to scope and deliver NBS projects
The number of initial meetings arranged to set up NBS projects with outside collaborators before any work began was seen as potentially wasteful and discouraging. Setting expectations for timeframes and time commitment before the project begins are needed to find a common language and effective work ethic when co-designing NBS projects.
Competing priorities
Business priorities can detract for NBS focus. Developing a ‘NBS case’ that supports long-term sustainability of the business and delivers positive ecological and societal impact can be beneficial.
NBS novice challenge
“For companies that are coming into this blind that perhaps haven't got anybody, any member of staff that has any kind of knowledge of anything to do with nature, it might be quite a hard sell. The idea of spending - even though they're not spending any money - to spend that time to learn what they need to learn can be quite tedious.”
NBS Enablers
Enablers to NBS implementation at The Hayes include:
Senior management buy-in and foresight
Support from CCT senior management has been instrumental to the implementation of NBS. In particular, the CEO has encouraged exploring new ways to increase site sustainability and biodiversity.
Site-specific advice and collaboration for NBS
A Rocha UK, DWT, Derbyshire Heartwood (a Derbyshire County Council community forest initiative), and Swanwick Wildlife Group (local wildlife and conservation charity) have given site specific advice and strengthened the confidence for The Hayes to begin applying for funding.
Positive economic impact long-term
Although NBS takes time to embed, some interventions can be economical to implement and save money in long-term. Developing composting areas and growing plants in house rather than buying can both save money on landscape management and improve site biodiversity and sustainability.
NBS-inspired customer engagement
NBS project enable engagement with customers around acting for nature. It is a tangible way the organisation can demonstrate its commitment to protecting the natural environment which can compliment the corporate identity.
Friendly internal competition
A friendly competition has arisen between the three CCT centres around NBS implementation, which has encouraged staff buy-in and raised the profile of NBS activity.
Supporting local community initiatives for nature recovery
Collaboration with Swanwick Wildlife Group is of mutual benefit. The Swanwick Wildlife Group offered advice on local biodiversity to The Hayes, and The Hayes have provided the Group with wildflower seeds and native plants grown onsite for the conservation areas they manage.
Win-win problem solving
NBS could be an efficient way to resolve problems associated with climate change such as flooding. Arriving at win-win solutions ensures NBS buy-in and effective collaborative relationships.
Learning points about NBS implementation
- If an environmental issue is causing a problem onsite, then it is going to be affecting the whole area. Therefore, NBS implemented will be of benefit to the local ecology as well as the private land.
- It is not always necessary to apply for funding to start NBS projects. Sometimes, the changes to processes and resource acquisition are inexpensive and can be done in-house.
- Collaborating with neighbouring landowners can increase the area of NBS impact.
- When it comes to multistakeholder collaboration, it is more important that the NBS projects are similar and have a common aim, and less important that the stakeholders themselves are similar organisations.
- NBS solution can improve brand and reputation of your organisation, therefore connecting environmental goals with corporate ones is important for buy-in from management and employees.
- It is important to plan and synchronise the NBS project cycle with the nature cycle that works for your own land.
“When it comes to nature... it's actually the same in gardening... you either spend an absolute fortune, or you have patience. It's one or the other.”
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