At Compton Verney, sustainability is not a separate strand of work. It is a value embedded in how we care for our site, shape our programming, and communicate with our audiences. Like many, we are still finding the best ways to talk about it honestly, clearly and without overstating our progress.
Who we are
Compton Verney is both a museum and a managed landscape, where biodiversity, land stewardship, and sustainability are part of everyday operations. Our parkland is home to 270 species of trees and plants, 117 bird species, 29 butterflies, and 11 bats, making it a living ecosystem. We sit in a Grade I-listed Georgian mansion, with six permanent collections, major exhibitions, and year-round learning, set in 120 acres of Capability Brown parkland. This unique setting gives us both a responsibility and a powerful opportunity to lead by example, and to bring audiences with us on the journey.
Our progress so far
In the past two years, we have made significant investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency, totalling more than £300,000. This work has included repairing and upgrading our lake source heat pump, installing solar panels on our office and gallery roofs, fitting a voltage optimiser, and introducing new air handling units and heat pumps. We have also replaced outdated cooling equipment and added an electric shuttle to support greener visitor transport.
Together, these measures are reducing our carbon footprint by over 200 tonnes each year, cutting our annual energy use by hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours, and generating substantial cost savings that will continue to benefit the organisation long into the future. Alongside energy improvements, we have completed a Biodiversity Net Gain survey to better understand and monitor our ecological impact and joined the Warwickshire Smart Travel Partnership to support visitors in making more sustainable travel choices.
Lessons Learned
A previous challenge to our environmental policy made us more cautious about communication. We were concerned about saying the wrong thing or overstating progress, which led to a period of ‘green-hushing’. While it limited what we shared at the time, it also made us reflect and sharpen our approach.
What our audiences told us
Our Act Green 2024 results confirmed what we suspected:
- Visitors care deeply about the climate crisis.
- They expect cultural organisations to act.
This gave us both permission and responsibility to speak with confidence, honesty, and humility. The appetite is there. Now, it’s our communications job to meet it.
How we frame our work
To bring clarity and focus, we align our sustainability stories to four of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This gives us a consistent lens for talking about:
- How we power our buildings
- How we manage our land
- How we educate and inspire visitors
We also use Indigo’s communications pyramid to review our activity, asking: What are we already doing? Are we telling anyone? Could we go further?
Our Principles for Sustainable Communication
Start small, but start Tell the truth, even when that’s “we’re still working on it” Share specifics, not slogans Be humble, but confident
This approach helps us avoid greenwashing while ensuring we do not underplay our progress.
Actions We’re Taking
- Treating sustainability as a core communications theme, integrated across print, digital, and in-venue touchpoints.
- Training staff so they can answer visitor questions confidently.
- Reviewing the environmental impact of our own marketing activities, from print to digital campaigns, to ensure they are both effective and lower impact.
Reducing environmental impact often goes hand-in-hand with improving marketing effectiveness.
Tone and connection
We are moving away from trying to appear “perfectly green”. Instead, our tone is real, clear, and human. Audiences want to know we care, that we are taking action, and that they can be part of the story.
What's next for us
Our 2025 priorities include finalising our messaging, embedding sustainability in our campaign planning, and working with colleagues to shape a joined-up, organisation-wide sustainability policy. This isn’t a one-year project. It’s a long-term mindset shift.
We don’t need to have all the answers. But we do need to communicate with honesty, consistency and purpose. Sustainability isn’t a separate strand. It’s a comms opportunity, and a chance to build trust, show leadership, and bring people with us.
Let’s use the quiet good. Let’s tell those stories, and help shape what sustainability leadership looks like in the cultural sector.