Join us for our first ever Sustainability Exchange, Food for Thought, which will offer insights and practical ideas to help organisations achieve their sustainability goals. This new series introduced to mark the BID’s third term of operation, was suggested by businesses during our extensive consultation phase in 2025.
The lunchtime speaker panel is the first in a series of knowledge sharing activities facilitated by the BID. This first topic on the menu is sustainability in hospitality and retail, which will be held on Tuesday 22 September at the Victory Services Club (63-79 Seymour Street) from 12:30pm. Lunch will be provided.
At the event, guests will hear from a leading hotel and a landlord as they share practical approaches to sustainability, the benefits they have achieved, and ideas you can take back to your own organisation.
- Sean Kelly, General Manager, Marriott Marble Arch, will share their award-winning approach to reducing food waste in the hotel.
- Sarah Ivory, Environmental Sustainability Manager, Whitbread, will cover reducing water use and decarbonisation in Premier Inn hotels.
- Chris Dunlop, Head of Commercial Property, The Portman Estate, will showcase the estate’s work on introducing green leases for their tenants, focusing on shops and restaurant and how they support tenants.
Join us for an inspiring discussion and fresh insights helping create a more sustainable future one step at a time.
Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Chris Dunlop is Head of Commercial Property at The Portman Estate. Chris joined the Estate in 2008 as a graduate, qualifying as a surveyor in 2010 before moving to CBRE Investment Management in 2015 to take on Senior Associate and Director roles. On his return to the Estate in 2022, Chris oversees the Commercial Asset Management Team’s delivery of the Estate’s retail, restaurant, office and hotel properties among other sectors. Chris sits on both the Estate’s Management and Sustainability Committees as well as leading a Project 500 team focussed on improving business processes.
Sarah Ivory is Environmental Sustainability Manager at Whitbread. She joined Whitbread 3.5 years ago, after around 15 years working in nature conservation and intergovernmental negotiations. She looks after a number of projects and programmes addressing operational environmental impacts across the business – from water to waste, and from nature to net zero. She is also responsible for certain areas of corporate reporting, including Whitbread’s second Climate Transition Plan and the business’s climate risk disclosures.
Sean Kelly is General Manager of the London Marriott Hotel Marble Arch. Formerly an Executive Chef with over 20 years of culinary experience he has championed sustainability and innovation throughout his hospitality career. Under his leadership, the hotel achieved Gold Level certification from THE PLEDGE on Food Waste, earning an impressive 94% compliance score.
