Harrogate employer maps out route to zero-carbon future

Andy Makin (left), managing director of EnviroVent, on the site of the company's new zero-carbon headquarters, west of Harrogate, with Sam Allen, construction director at Sutcliffe Construction; David Dickson, from the LEP; and Daniel Martin from Teakwood Developments.

As the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference got underway in Glasgow this week, a Harrogate employer unveiled its plan to eradicate carbon emissions from its operations by 2030.

Ventilation manufacturer EnviroVent, which employs over 230 people in the town, says its Roadmap to Net-Zero will generate emissions savings of over 1,000 tonnes of carbon in the next 10 years.

Jane McLean, Quality & Environmental Systems Manager at EnviroVent, said: “Environmental sustainability is very important to us as a business and to many of our public and private sector customers. We’re delighted to be revealing our Roadmap to Net-Zero, which gives a very clear route that we will follow to achieve our environmental targets.

“To add to this, all our products are designed to use minimal amount of energy and we recycle parts from systems we replace, wherever possible. As a result, customers buying our ventilation systems can be safe in the knowledge they are giving back to the planet.”

To meet the ambitious target of net-zero carbon within the decade, EnviroVent has put in place a number of sustainability practices to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

This has included committing to planting 5,000 trees per year as part of a new partnership with carbon sequestration organisation MoreTrees that will remove around 1,500 tonnes of CO2 in total from the atmosphere.

EnviroVent also plans to relocate in summer 2022 to new zero-carbon headquarters currently being built to the west of the town. The building, which will be heated and lit using power generated on-site, will also feature electric charging points, and the company plans to upgrade company vehicles and replace diesel-fuelled cars with hybrid vehicles.

The company is also involved in a number of projects – such as Midland Heart’s Project 80 scheme in Birmingham and Z House project, Barratt Developments’ flagship zero-carbon home concept – to reduce carbon emissions in new housing.

EnviroVent was recently commended for its commitment to the environment by winning The ASCP Safety & Compliance Awards for Best Product for Improvement to Wellbeing with its new ATMOS ventilation unit.