Goodwood Estate and South Downs Water on Sustainability

South Downs Water has been the official water partner of The Goodwood Estate since 2018. Thus far we haven’t publicly highlighted the synergies of our long-standing partnership but we’re incredibly proud of what we are doing collaboratively. So we decided to sit down with Lloyd McNeil, the Estate Managing Director of The Goodwood Group, to discuss the most important element of our partnership; sustainability.

Why did Goodwood choose to partner with South Downs Water, and how does our partnership endorse your ethos and values?

South Downs Water’s Natural Mineral Water is drawn from a 420ft deep artesian spring in the beautiful South Downs and bottled at source, only a few miles from The Goodwood Estate.

This is key to supporting local businesses whilst reducing unnecessary food miles to our venues and events. The water is also delivered directly to Goodwood in South Downs Water’s vehicles, which is more efficient than using a delivery provider.  

Goodwood also appreciates South Downs Water’s commitment to using 100% recyclable materials – both their plastic and glass bottles are made from recycled content and are 100% recyclable, plus their water is delivered on reusable wooden pallets.

 

Let’s celebrate and highlight Goodwood’s sustainability initiatives, as they are diverse and impressive.

Sustainability is central to how we run our diverse group of businesses at Goodwood, and every year we pull many of the outcomes together into a Sustainability Report for the Estate. We focus on six main areas: 

1. Natural Capital
2. Carbon, Water
3. Business
4. Social
5. Resources 
6. Waste

There are many projects that we are proud of and some of the recent highlights include:

Many people may not be aware that The Goodwood Estate has recently installed an award-winning biomass energy centre, fuelled by wood from the Estate’s forests. Can you tell us some more about this?

Throughout the recent lockdowns, the Estate constructed a large-scale 3.5mw biomass system, delivering combined heat and power through an underground network to the Hotel, Goodwood House and the dairy. This system is fuelled by woodchip from the Estate and the waste strawbales and chestnut stakes previously used to build the Festival of Speed Hillclimb course. 

This new venture is dramatically reducing the Estate’s consumption of grid electricity and heating oil, and over the next two years, we are looking to extend the electricity connection to further locations including The Kennels. Following the biomass installation, the Goodwood Hotel was delighted to win the ‘Most Sustainable Business’ award at the hospitality industry’s Catey awards in London, an awards ceremony that celebrates the best and brightest businesses and individuals in hospitality across the UK. In addition to this, the hotel was also been shortlisted for the ‘AA Sustainable Award’ at the 2022 AA Hospitality Awards.

How important is local sourcing for Goodwood in your messaging to promote Goodwood’s initiatives in sustainability?

The Estate operates a Procurement Code that focuses on sustainable partners, especially local providers.

We choose to work with sustainable local businesses like South Downs Water wherever practical.

With everything from catering supplies to event equipment and services sourced via local suppliers. This includes our own farm, which supplies most of the meat, milk, cheese and beer consumed at the Estate’s venues. 

As well as the reduced road miles, we believe in reinvesting back into the local community by supporting and working with nearby businesses as much as we can.

The Goodwood Education Trust does a fantastic job of promoting awareness and understanding of the natural environment to children and young people. Can you tell us more about The Goodwood Education Trust’s work in improving sustainability?

The Goodwood Education Trust is an educational charity that promotes public understanding of the countryside, its traditional heritage and modern-day management. Sustainability education is at the heart of the Trust’s learning programmes, which cater mainly for visitors from schools, colleges and community groups across the south east. 

We aim to demonstrate sustainability in action in a non-classroom environment, whether this is by exploring our organic farm and its sustainable food production, or by understanding the conservation of the natural world through exploring the Estate’s woodland and grassland habitats. Even the Education Trust building itself is a physical manifestation of sustainability in action, being constructed from Larch panelling and Cedar shingles sourced entirely from the Goodwood Estate. 

Learn more about Goodwood’s sustainability initiatives and what we’re doing at South Downs Water to keep sustainability at the forefront.