an environmentally friendly software developer?

Yes, it seems unusual but we feel that we can do our part to help the environment just as much as any other business. Of course, software is itself kind on the environment as often our applications save businesses paper and printing consumables, but there is more to helping preserve the environment than that. Read on to find out what we do to help...


where we work

The building that we work in, number 3 Brindleyplace in Birmingham, is itself a well managed and environmentally conscious building. Ok, so the walls aren’t made from mud and the roof from turf, but here are some quite interesting features:

  • The climate control system only operates between 6 am – 7pm Monday to Friday, saving considerable energy compared to it running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • All the lamps in the building are recycled
  • We have intelligent lighting that switches off when people are not in the room
  • All our paper and cardboard is recycled

We also benefit from being in Brindleyplace, one of the best places to have a business in Birmingham, which means that we can take advantage of a number of environmental initiatives:

  • They currently recycle 35% of all waste from all buildings, including ours, with the aim to reach 85% by next year
  • They are hosts for a number of major environmental events including awareness workshops
  • In January they are launching the sustainability forum, with the aim to help all businesses in the development reduce their carbon footprint

how we travel

We aim wherever possible to use public transport, particularly trains as they provide an excellent way for us to meet customers without incurring unnecessary CO2 usage. We are fortunate to be at the hub of Virgin Train’s network and use them whenever we can; they have an excellent set of green policies and practises, of which more information can be found at http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/aboutus/greenpolicy/default.aspx

We also encourage home working – that is not only more enjoyable for the team member it also reduces the amount of travelling that is required simply going back and forth between the office.


what we produce

It is important for us to be conscious of what we produce and how that affects the environment, here are some of the key points:

  • Once we have started on a new project we minimise the amount of paperwork sent between ourselves and the client – we focus on sending Adobe PDF documents that can be read without the need to be printed
  • We reduce the amount of travel by using webcams – in fact when a new client starts with us we provide them with a webcam if they haven’t already got one!
  • We encourage the team to think before they print – does that document actually need to be printed?

moving forward

Our plan for next year is to look into carbon offsetting and better ways for us to reduce the usage of electricity and heating, without having a negative effect on the business. We will also be purchasing a number of ‘green servers’ for running our key business tools on.