Sustainability

Somerset House strives to be a cultural leader in championing sustainability across the organisation, through both our own internal ways of working and through our cultural programme. In 2018-19, 51% of our energy was generated on site – our highest ever percentage – thanks to our combined cooling and heating plant.

In partnership with the Northbank and Transport for London, we have reduced deliveries by 12% to minimise pollution in the local area, and we improved our Creative Green certification from 3* to 4* in recognition of our dedication to sustainability and green initiatives.

Our Earth Day Season is now a keenly anticipated highlight of our cultural calendar; featuring commissions and events by artists and writers whose work explores the important role of language and storytelling in promoting collective action and the global climate crisis.

In 2016, we installed a new combined cooling, heating and power plant, in 2018 this produced 49% of all electricity at Somerset House. The heat generated by the process then goes to warm the building during winter and cool it in summer, dramatically reducing our CO2 emissions.

We’ve improved our Grade I-listed building in many other ways, from the thermal insulation we’ve added to the building to the high-intensity, low-energy LED floodlights we’ve installed in The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, and our high-tech building management system helps us reduce our energy consumption round the clock. We aim to recycle as much as possible, with other waste used for power generation, and aim for zero to landfill.