The Gardens Group has been announced as one of the finalists at the Planet Mark Awards 2023, which is set to take place at The Royal Institution in London on Thursday 2 November. 

Shortlisted in the Employee Engagement category, the independent garden centre group has been recognised by the panel for engaging its teams in Sherborne, Yeovil and Poundbury at all levels, resulting in a 25.9% carbon reduction per employee over the past year. 

During its third year as voluntary members of Planet Mark, a sustainability certification scheme backed by the Eden Project, The Gardens Group once again engaged its 160-strong team at all stages of the process, from idea generation and target setting to measurement and review. Through hundreds of new initiatives, pushed forward by smaller groups of staff assigned to each task, they have managed to achieve a substantial reduction in carbon emissions in nearly all reported areas, which include Buildings, Travel, Waste, Water, Procurement and Homeworking. 

Created to shine a light on Planet Mark member companies and individuals that have gone above and beyond to maximise their impact, the Planet Mark Awards are judged by a panel of hand-picked sustainability experts, with each award based on a robust criterion. 13 Planet Mark Awards are set to be presented on Thursday 2 November, and The Gardens Group are one of four businesses to be shortlisted in the Employee Engagement category. 

Mike Burks, managing director of The Gardens Group, commented: “With well over 100 team members, spread over many departments at three different garden centres, we knew that employee engagement would be vital if we were to achieve significant carbon reductions through the Planet Mark scheme. We’ve had some real stars in the team, driving initiatives forward over the past 3 years, but I’m most proud of the efforts made by the group as a whole, as our achievements simply would not have been possible without a joined up approach across every corner of the business. As a voluntary sustainability certification scheme, Planet Mark’s membership is full of wonderful businesses all going above and beyond off their own backs, so to be recognised amongst this inspiring group feels very special. Environmental impact is now at the forefront of our minds in everything we do, and this is down to the unwavering enthusiasm of The Gardens Group team, so I couldn’t think of a better category to be nominated in.”