Menu
Consort were finalists for the BHBiz Community Champion Award 2024 and the BHBiz Charity Champion 2024. Consort’s commitment to giving back and making a positive impact is deeply rooted in our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy that aligns with our core values. Powered by our passion for ice cream and growing as a business, enables us to put more time and investment into our community.
We play an active role in the community, supporting local and national charitable organisations and a wide range of initiatives to create a positive social impact for the world around us.
We’re all about supporting our team members’ passions for giving back. As a vibrant, diverse, and close-knit team, we’re big believers in making a difference together. That’s why we run fun initiatives like staff raffles and donations to food banks. It’s all part of our culture of caring and making a positive impact!
We are proud to be the winner of the BHBiz Green Award Champion 2024. We recognise how important it is to make sure we are committed to reducing our carbon emissions and the impact we have on the environment. Consort’s carbon footprint was first measured in late 2023 for the baseline year of 2022. From this, carbon reduction targets have been developed.
Whether we are thinking about how to travel to work, what cup to drink from, whether to sell a new product, where we hold a meeting and countless other decisions, prioritising carbon reduction is important to us delivering our strategic goals.
The engagement with our staff has proved invaluable in helping us to identify where we need to change our behaviour and how to do it. This has helped to prioritise the key areas we want to focus on, which will enable us to set challenging targets and report our progress on the journey to Net Zero.
At our core, we’re not just a business — we’re a family. We believe in fairness, equality, respect, and encouragement for everyone who walks through our doors. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, you’ll find a supportive and inclusive environment here.
We’re also committed to promoting positive mental health because we understand that a healthy mind is just as important as a healthy body. That’s why we’ve implemented a program aimed at supporting the mental well-being of our team members. From providing resources to encouraging open conversations, we’re dedicated to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued and supported.
In addition, we’re proud supporters of equality and diversity in employment practices. We are a Disability Confident Committed employer, we actively work to create opportunities for individuals of all backgrounds and abilities. We believe that diversity makes us stronger as a team and as a company, and we’re committed to fostering an environment where everyone can thrive.
In September 2023 we completed the installation of a combined 824 solar panels at our depots in Burgess Hill and Ashford (Kent). Although the weather has not been kind to us during 2024, thus the own energy produced has been less than hoped for, we have seen a considerable saving in our consumption from the grid.
If we ignore the fluctuations in energy prices, we would have saved £65,164 across both depots.
In addition, to maximise the potential of the solar array, we have, over the last few months, constructed an additional new cold store at our Burgess Hill depot. This will not only allow us to create greater energy savings, by utilising the energy created by the Solar PV, but will also mean that we will be able to vacate, in time, the use of an offsite storage facility, which will further reduce our carbon footprint as we will not have to make numerous daily journeys to and from this facility in our lorries.
We are also thrilled to announce that our Ashford depot recently took delivery of a brand-new electric counterbalance forklift truck! This eco-friendly, electric-powered forklift is a valuable addition to our team, offering improved handling, reduced noise, and zero emissions. With this investment, we’re not only enhancing operational efficiency but also making strides toward our commitment to sustainability.
This milestone marks the first phase in our challenge to go gas-free at Ashford by the end of 2024. The electric forklift replaces an older gas-powered model, helping to reduce our carbon footprint and supporting our ambitious environmental goals. But our commitment doesn’t stop there—just recently, we accepted a quote to replace Ashford’s gas-fired central heating system with a more efficient electric alternative. The installation will render Ashford free from natural gas-powered devices, bringing us closer to a more sustainable future.
Both initiatives were documented within our Carbon Reduction Plan 2024 and demonstrates our commitment to reduce our emissions.
