Member Article

Panasonic helps its corporate partner, National Trust

On 18th July, the National Trust’s Brancaster Activity Centre is celebrating officially re-opening to the public, with the support of National Trust’s corporate partner, Panasonic. The centre is on the Norfolk coast in Brancaster Staithe harbour and it runs residential programmes for school children, attracting groups from all over England for its raft building, kayaking, orienteering, cycling, ‘coastal safari’ activities, and much more.

The centre has finally re-opened its doors after eighteen months of closure following a devastating tidal surge in December 2013. These floods caused extensive damage. However, National Trust seized upon this as a perfect opportunity to refurbish and refit the centre, enabling it to provide even better facilities for visitors. With the help of National Trust staff, partners and volunteers, the centre has been redesigned with new fixtures, appliances and furnishings.

National Trust’s strategic technology partner, Panasonic, has provided state-of-the-art audio visual products, including smart TVs, to help the centre deliver a high-tech learning atmosphere for school groups and a better experience for all visitors. Sharing joint passions for making working environments as eco-friendly as possible, Panasonic has also supplied Brancaster with a range of energy-efficient appliances to help the centre reduce its energy consumption and get closer to being self-sufficient in terms of local energy production and use. Specifically, Panasonic has supplied high-capacity washing machines, an energy-efficient dishwasher, and heat pump tumble dryers that use up to 40% less energy than some conventional units.

Panasonic has also provided appliances for Brancaster Activity Centre’s new self-catering group accommodation that will help the centre to further achieve its aim of contributing to the environment. Families and other groups are now able to book the nine en-suite rooms and enjoy the well-equipped, self-catering kitchen complete with energy-saving devices from Panasonic. For instance, Panasonic’s induction hobs and combination ovens save the user energy, time and money, freeing visitors up to enjoy more of the local landscape and beautiful Brancaster coastline. This self-catering facility will allow the Great British public to enjoy the Brancaster Activity Centre all year round.

David Bonney, Advertising & Partnership Manager at Panasonic UK, said: “We are committed to making a contribution through our business operations to improve the lives of people around the world. Panasonic and National Trust’s long-term partnership presents us with the opportunity to do this while showcasing our innovative, eco-friendly home appliances and enabling the National Trust to achieve its goal of moving towards a greener, more sustainable mode of operation. The Brancaster refit is a great example of this. We’re also dedicated to creating a better life and a better world, by contributing to the development of a sustainable future. As such, we are proud to have provided energy-efficient appliances for the refurbished Brancaster Activity Centre. Energy saving is important to schools and Panasonic, as well as National Trust, which is why Panasonic’s appliances are such a great fit.”

Moving forwards, the team at Brancaster Activity Centre hopes to attract more visitors and new schools – the Norfolk coast gets over a million visitors a year so the tourism potential is huge. They also want to encourage visitors staying with them to think about energy consumption, so they display messaging to encourage people to turn off lights and use the dishwasher only when it is full etc., especially in the new self-catering accommodation.

Due to the centre’s location, flooding always remains a small risk, so many flood mitigation measures have been installed, including flood gates and sacrificial wall coverings, which mean that the centre can soon be operational again following any future floods. “It’s great to have visitors back in the Brancaster Activity Centre and to have the building buzzing with happy children again” says Katherine Tofield, Outdoor Learning Centre Manager. “The team has worked really hard to get the centre up and running, and we’re really pleased with the result. We’re grateful to Panasonic for providing such a fantastic array of technologies and energy-efficient home appliances for our centre. We’re looking forward to welcoming many more visitors in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Denham .