by Tom Bosschaert
Director

Feb. 25, 2013

Tom Bosschaert

This year we held our annual SiD sustainability workshop for new Except members in Hotel New York: how to make the most sustainable restaurant/hotel?

We started with a day in the conference room covering the history, theory and essential tools for systemic sustainability. The next day was a surprise: we visited Hotel New York where five teams worked to envision the most sustainable hotel & restaurant in the Netherlands, and develop a 10 year pathway towards it.

The teams consist of new Except members as part of their training to become sustainability professionals, and consist of multi-disciplinary experts, ranging from designers and scientists to business developers and communication strategists.

Role playing
We used a role-playing game to simulate a client relationship which illustrated the various complexities of such a project quickly, and allowed the team members to fully immerse in the various issues.

Visionary results
The results were spectacular, ranging from technical solutions for energy, food and waste, to social engagement programmes, communication trajectories, educational aspects and full phased trajectories taking into account economic and logistic operations.

After traveling across Rotterdam together we ended the day in our favorite restaurant See You See Me, and went full charge ahead into an awesome weekend with a late night party at the floating pavillion.

Thanks to the participants for their dedication and energy, I'm looking forward to the next sessions.

Feb. 25, 2013