Embedding sustainable development in Government Office for London

Client:
Government Office for London (GOL)
Start date:
January 2007
Completed:
March 2007

On behalf of the Government Office for London (GOL), Brook Lyndhurst undertook a consultancy exercise to explore the extent to which sustainable development is embedded into the operations of GOL.

Objectives
The exercise conducted with two main objectives in mind:
• To review the current status of sustainable development (SD) within the Government Office for London
• To identify opportunities for enhancing this status

Methodology
Against the framework set by these two broad components, Brook Lyndhurst undertook:
• A review of relevant documentation
• A series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews with senior GOL officers
• A facilitated workshop
• A set of internal brainstorming sessions

The project steering Group also played a valuable role in ensuring the successful conduct of the assignment.

Findings
The project findings were intended for use by GOL's management board. The final report briefly summarised the policy background to the work, gave an overview of the present situation, identified key themes for embedding sustainable development and provided propositions for further embedding sustainable development within GOL. In order to enable GOL to achieve its objective of mainstreaming sustainable development, we developed a set of final recommendations that included flexible options for different levels of change and a phased approach. The options took into account the organisational environment and particular opportunities and challenges faced by GOL with the aim of helping the organisation to take ownership of the improvements.

Project Director

Brook Lyndhurst Blog

  • Recycling: A duty, not a choice?

    I experienced strangely conflicted responses this morning when I saw this Hammersmith & Fulham bin lorry outside our office. Conflicted because, on the one hand, I wholly agree with the message - recycling is a duty - a moral one if not necessarily a statutory one. But at the same time, the tone of the [...] 

  • iDisappointment

    It was reported this week that Apple have refused to include their iPhones in the UK’s first green-ranking scheme for mobile phones, launched in a partnership between O2 and  Forum for the Future.  There have always been things that have irked about Apple products, of course, such as the non-replaceable batteries (I’m all for sleek [...] 

  • A slow boat to Shetland

    The ferry which waits in Aberdeen is huge and satisfyingly industrial. We enter through a carpeted lobby with a split staircase, then walk out to the stern deck and stand looking out over the greyscale buildings of Aberdeen and the murky waters of the dock. As we pull out of the harbour the seascape broadens [...]