The leading best practice standard for sustainable events management has evolved, aligning it more with ESG principles to include considerations for human rights and supporting local economic growth.

The Brewery are one of the first UK organisations to successfully compete their ISO 20121:2024 transition, a monumental success following their initial certification back in 2013.

This is not surprising as they’re not new to adapting. The Brewery, as its name would suggest, was a functioning brewery from its founding year of 1750 up until 1976 when they made a shift towards event management, utilising the historic location to host weddings, conferences and parties.

Always one to stay ahead of the curve, The Brewery took the initiative on taking tangible sustainability action by becoming one of the first organistions to get ISO 20121:2012 certified back in 2013 and have shown a continued commitment with their recent recertification and transition to the latest version of the Standard.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Arantza Pueyo, Quality Assurance and Logistics Director at The Brewery on Chiswell Street, about their transition journey. Join us as we explore the challenges and benefits of getting recertified to ISO 20121:2024, starting with…

The evolving event management landscape  

In recent years, The Brewery have observed that their clients are increasingly aware of the sustainability impact of hosting and running events, whether economic, social, or environmental. It’s encouraging to hear that many are looking for further guidance on how to run their events sustainably.

In response to these requests, The Brewery have been gathering more detailed information on aspects such as energy consumption, waste generated at events, the number of meals prepared, and the extent of food waste for their hosted events.

UK businesses are also being subjected to an increasing amount of legislation and regulation, which the Brewery makes every effort to stay informed about and ahead of due to the requirements included within ISO 20121.

In response to the changing demands of their client base, and the regulatory shift towards sustainability within their sector, it became clear that a more standardised approach to addressing both would be needed. As a result, The Brewery opted to certify against the then new ISO 20121:2012 in 2013.

Following their initial certification they also benefitted from a more Internal perspective, by ensuring all issues are effectively monitored, with root cause investigations being conducted using the Corrective and Preventive Action Analysis methodology. This approach has helped them to improve their procedures and reduce the number of recurring issues year-on-year.

Changes made following their Transition

ISO 20121:2024 included a number of changes to better align its requirements with ESG requirements, to help create a more holistic approach to Sustainable Event Management. This not only includes considerations for the business implementing the Standard, but also for their local environment and community. As Arantza explains:

“Most event activities, be them pre-event, event, or post-event activities, have an impact on the wider communities. These impacts are seldom considered, but ISO20121 asks that event professionals put controls in place to ensure activities related to all aspects of events do not impact negatively on the communities, ranging from the communities where raw materials are harvested, food grown, or goods manufactured, to the communities where the final event is produced and enjoyed.”

They have tackled elements of this through improving control throughout their supply chain by communicating key sustainability requirements with suppliers.

To further tackle the ‘Social’ pillar within ESG, ISO 20121:2024 also underlines the great importance of human and child rights on the event industry, in response The Brewery:

“Have strengthened our controls on suppliers and partners, to ensure our events are as sustainable and as respectful of human and child rights as we can.”

This is displayed in their recently updated Human and Childs Rights policy.

All their improvements were implemented and audited against ahead of a joint Recertification and Transition audit, which they passed with flying colours:

“Starting in January this year, we began preparations for the recertification audit with the goal of transitioning to the new ISO 20121:2024 standard. We are delighted to share that, three weeks ago, we were granted both recertification and the transition. We have just received the brand-new certificate and could not be prouder!”

A Team Effort

Implementing any ISO Standard is not a small task and requires dedicated time and resources to Implement and maintain:

“We are fortunate to have an outstanding consultant and advisor in Anju Punetha from the team at Blackmores (UK) Ltd. Anju has been supporting and guiding us for the past six years and has been invaluable throughout this process.

At The Brewery, our Quality Assurance team is small, but every colleague has a thorough understanding of their role in meeting ISO requirements. This collective commitment ensures that everyone plays a vital part in our continued compliance.”

The Brewery are an exemplary example of how effective collaboration can take your Management System to new heights. This approach is one we recommend for the implementation of any ISO Standard.

Arantza’s Top Tip:

“Implementing an ISO standard is an ongoing, day-to-day commitment rather than a task to be completed only during audit preparation. It requires consistent effort and dedication throughout the entire year.

Compliance is achieved by integrating the standard’s principles into everyday operations, continuously monitoring processes, identifying areas for improvement, and fostering a culture of quality and accountability.

Simply preparing for the audit is not enough; true success comes from maintaining these practices every day of the year — the other 364 days — to ensure sustained compliance and continuous improvement. It takes some time for the teams to get used to the new processes, but they will see the benefit.”

Learn more

Who are Blackmores?

Blackmores have been in operation since 2006. Over the past 19 years they have helped over 600 organisations achieve ISO certification to a library of 20 Standards covering Quality, Risk and Sustainability.

Offering unique services including assistance with integrated management systems, on-going annual support and on-line learning via the isologyhub, Blackmores have a solution to fit everyone.

Learn more on their website

What is ISO 20121?

ISO 20121 is the Event sustainability standard. It focuses on how an organisation continues to run its activities in a commercially successful way whilst contributing towards a stronger and more just society by reducing its impact on the environment.

Due to the high-level interest in sustainable events in recent years, ISO 20121 was created and launched. The launch was planned in coordination with the London Olympics 2012 in the hope that that all businesses and every international organisation would in time implement ISO 20121 and ISO standards as a social responsibility.

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