Kitchen hand leads Langham Hotel’s award-winning initiatives

Nicholas Blake, Environmental Project Supervisor at the Langham Hotel
which won a Green Ribbon Award.

Nicholas Blake began his career with Auckland’s Langham Hotel as a kitchen hand in March last year. This year, he and the Managing Director John Dick, collected a Green Ribbon Award on behalf of the Langham hotel as a result of the leading role Blake played in establishing its environmental policy.

Blake says his love for the environment extends from his childhood when he would vacation at Pacific islands, going diving and exploring the wildlife. As a result, he decided to study environmental management at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. Three years later he completed a Bachelor of Science and then a Postgraduate Diploma at Auckland University in Environmental Science in 2006.

Despite feeling that he now had the tools, experience and understanding to apply his knowledge, he was told that he needed experience before getting a job in his area of expertise. “I needed money at the time and took a job as a steward (kitchen hand) at the Langham Hotel,” he said.

Four months later Blake started designing a sustainability proposal, highlighting eco operational efficiencies and corporate social responsibility. This led to a 12-month contract as the hotel’s Environmental Project Supervisor.

Since then, the Langham Hotel has achieved Green Globe Benchmarked status in recognition of its environmental initiatives. The hotel’s environmental policy focuses on reducing, reusing and recycling waste and packaging; improving the efficiency of energy usage; as well as investigating and using environmentally friendly products. Core practices include gauging the environmental integrity of potential suppliers; a carbon offsetting programme for guests; the installation of light sensors and eco lights in areas requiring 24-hour lighting, and time controls on kitchen fans. The hotel also recycles its packaging, cardboard, paper, containers, and office products.

Blake and his colleagues are developing an external programme called "Guests of the Earth" to create awareness of hotel programmes while also offering guests opportunities to participate. The hotel is also working with tertiary institutions advocating sustainability initiatives and promoting programmes like Green Globe to students studying hotel management.

Blake is adamant that businesses need to move away from the view that natural resources only exist to fuel our needs and believes that business opportunities are emerging as demand grows for carbon neutral economies and best practice environmentally friendly solutions.

Blake said he was humbled to receive the Green Ribbon Award on behalf of the hotel and its 350 employees and says it serves as motivation for the Langham Hotel to raise the bar within the hospitality industry.

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