Our commitment
The Bottle Yard and Bristol Film Office are committed to reducing the carbon output generated at the Studios and at filming locations around the city, to align the production sector’s activities with Bristol’s target to become carbon neutral by 2030, as stated in Bristol’s One City Climate Strategy.
As a UNESCO City of Film, Bristol is committed to fully integrating culture and creativity into local strategies and plans for sustainable city development. Bristol UNESCO City of Film represents the many organisations and businesses that make up Bristol’s diverse film, TV and moving image sector.
The sustainability work of TBYS and BFO complements the Bristol UNESCO City of Film 2021-25 Action Plan, which commits the sector to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals with a specific focus on SDG 13 (Climate Action).
Studio Sustainability Standard
The Bottle Yard Studios is an inaugural member of the global Studio Sustainability Standard which was launched in 2022 by BAFTA albert and Arup to help studios voluntarily track and reduce their environmental impact over 6 key areas: Climate, Circularity, Nature, People, Management and Data.
Our two sites are currently rated Outstanding (TBY2 Studios) and Very Good (main Bottle Yard site) by the Standard.
Roots in repurposing
The Bottle Yard’s seven acre main site on Whitchurch Lane was previously a winery and bottling factory, built in the 1950’s, with buildings ranging in size from 7,000 – 20,000 sq ft. Business brought in by filming has created a continued use for these buildings.
We are essentially one enormous re-purposing project and this is something we are very proud of!
Our second facility TBY2 is also a repurposed industrial site, having previously housed a gear manufacturing factory before being transformed into a state-of-the-art studio facility in 2022, following £12 million investment from the West of England Combined Authority.
Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry production line (image: www.bristolpast.co.uk)
Green Team
Together, The Bottle Yard Studios and Bristol Film Office established a Green Team in 2020 and developed a medium-term Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan.
The plan seeks to implement de-carbonisation projects to TBYS buildings and systems, to assist clients to become more sustainable whilst working at TBYS and/or filming on location in Bristol, and in turn, to enable productions to be successful BAFTA albert accredited projects.
Bristol Council’s Energy Team is fully engaged with our Green Team. Together, we have implemented a number of de-carbonisation projects, focussed on reducing scope 1 and 2 emissions.
Big on solar
TBY2, The Bottle Yard’s premium second facility, hosts a gigantic 1MWp rooftop solar array consisting of more than 2,300 photovoltaic panels.
Funded by the Bristol Energy Cooperative, it is believed to the biggest community-owned solar rooftop array in the UK, and is capable of generating enough energy to power 250 average households per year. It is one of the biggest PV installations on the UK studio sector. Read more about this unique, award-winning project here.
Electric Vehicle charging
We offer a 22kw 3-phase fast EV charge point at our main site, where two vehicles can charge simultaneously at 7-22kW (depending on the vehicle).
Charging costs £0.45 p/kWh and is available to site users only.
Our EV point is part of the Revive Charging Network.
Industry collaboration
We support BAFTA albert, the industry organisation working to enable every part of the screen industry to eliminate waste and carbon emissions from production. The Bottle Yard Studios was part of an industry working group that helped to design the Studio Sustainability Standard (see above) which launched in 2022.
We promote albert’s green production tips and are committed to assisting productions to achieve albert accreditation.
Our Sustainability Lead has undergone bespoke training delivered by BAFTA albert to become our official Carbon Literacy representative.
City partnerships
We are a member of the Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership, a consortium of over 1,200 organisations working towards a vision of “a zero carbon, socially just Bristol where all our communities and nature thrive”.
We are a part of the Future Sustainability Leap Network, a support network for businesses in Bristol.
We are partners with Bristol Energy Cooperative, which funded the 1MWp solar array that helps power our expansion facility TBY2.
Recycling
We provide recycling points in offices across our sites and ask tenants to recycle wherever possible.
We also provide productions with details of local companies that dispose of waste sustainably.
Suppliers
We encourage productions filming at The Bottle Yard Studios to use green suppliers as often as possible. We signpost to our Hub of on-site companies offering creative, digital, technical and audio/visual expertise, grips, transport, structural, fire and safety assistance. Each company shares our sustainability policy and commitment to keeping environmental impact low. We also share details of other local companies in our green suppliers directory.
Set repurposing and storage
We encourage productions to do all that they can to avoid sending sets to landfill, and advise them to enlist the help of professional companies that can help with prop and scenery removal and recycling.
Our scenery store contains reusable flatage that incoming productions are invited to use free of charge.
In many cases we connect incoming productions with outgoing ones, to encourage reuse of production office resources. We also connect productions to local charities and community initiatives that can benefit from materials when productions are finished with them.
Power
We have a rolling programme to replace existing lighting with LED lighting.
In addition to the flagship solar project at our TBY2 facility (see above), we have installed photo voltaic cells in other parts of our site to provide additional solar power.
We enable productions to work off local power in our build spaces.
Accommodation
We encourage productions to use local accommodation to reduce travel and supply a ‘digs list’ with details of everything from 5* hotels to spare rooms in local houses.
Resources, advice and events
We host regular free events, such as travel advice sessions and bike servicing, to help productions and tenants discover new ways to be sustainable.
We're pleased to share resources and reports like these, produced by leading industry organisations to further the cause of sustainable TV & film production across the UK.
