Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) lies just south of the centre of Birmingham. An arts charity founded in 1962, it has several galleries on site, is home to theatre spaces and an independent cinema, and runs over 140 courses a week for visitors, including painting, jewellery, yoga, and ceramics.

As a large, non-profit, multi-purpose space open to the public 364 days a year, the team at MAC faced some unique challenges when they began to address their carbon emissions.

Unlike smaller commercial galleries, who often see things like business travel make up most of their footprint, MAC had a different issue to confront. In 2022, over 98% of MAC’s carbon footprint came from energy use.

‘The biggest part of our carbon footprint is energy in the building,’ says Lizzie Moran, Head of Technical Resources at MAC. 

Things like lighting for public spaces, offices, and galleries, gas boilers for heating, air handling units for the theatre and cinema, and climate controls for the main gallery generate huge energy demand.

Over the past few years, Moran and the team have been finding ways to reduce this energy consumption, while also making sure that they can maintain MAC’s programming and its role as a welcoming public space.

‘We want to make sure the building is welcoming and people come and view the artwork,’ says Moran. ‘It’s a really tricky balance.’

To date, the team have installed solar panels on the roof, installed a voltage optimiser, and gradually switched lighting to LED. They’ve replaced old boilers with new, more efficient models, and, crucially, they use a building management system, which makes the building’s energy easier to manage and adjust.

They’ve made big savings by only using air handling units when theatre and cinema spaces are in use, rather than running them all the time. In the past year, the team has also worked with lenders and curators to address climate controls in MAC’s main gallery.

In September 2021, air handling units used an average 3,535kWh of electricity per week. But the following September, when climate controls were relaxed and the unit was used only when the gallery was open, average usage dropped to around 2,100kWh per week—a reduction of roughly 59%.

‘Keeping climate controls running only when the gallery is open, or if and when an exhibition specifically needs it, has made a massive difference to our electricity consumption,’ says Moran.

The key to reducing energy has been making sure ‘big wins’—like solar panels and LED lighting systems—are in place, while also getting down into the detail to make the more subtle changes that need to come afterwards. This often means working with experts, like energy auditors, and getting to know the systems in the building.

‘We’ve already done all the ‘quick wins’—we’re now looking at smaller, more incremental changes,’ says Moran.

Carefully thinking about each element of the building one by one—things like the lighting in the galleries, the air handling in the cinema, and the automatic doors to the main entrances—and how they need to function can help to focus on how systems or behaviours can change to reduce emissions bit-by-bit.  

From the 2019 baseline, implementing these measures has led to year-on-year reductions in energy consumption, including a 22% reduction in energy-related CO2e emissions in the past two years.

‘Now the challenge is finding out about what we can do next,’ says Moran.

Existing technology and infrastructure can limit options, but staying aware of the changing landscape means that there could be bigger leaps forward in the not-too-distant future.  

‘It’s about knowing what technology will become available—it’s all moving quite quickly,’ Moran says. ‘For example, if the aim is to get rid of the gas boilers, what alternatives would we have?’

Tapping into wider networks, both within and outside of the arts, has helped the team stay aware of this conversation.

As well as being Active Members of GCC, MAC are taking part in Arts Council England’s Capital Investment Ready programme, and are also members of Sustainability West Midlands.

‘You’ve got to be open,’ says Moran. ‘To be able to tap into a network, to go outside of our sector, is quite important, I think. It’s being able to say, ‘Do you know anybody who does this?’, and hear from everyone from heavy industry to education to local councils.’

One of the benefits of being a larger, multi-purpose space working across the arts is being able to connect with organisations from across the arts industry.

‘We’re in a really privileged position where we can tap into a lot of different networks, and our attitude is, the more the better,’ Moran says.

As well as connecting with others, consulting with experts, knowing your building’s systems, and measuring as much as possible, Moran has one more piece of advice for other organisations who aren’t sure where to begin.

‘It might be a bit of a cliché, but start from where you are,’ she says. ‘You have to understand what you have before you can see what else you can do. There might be quite a lot you can do without spending any money at all.’

Our Member Case Study series highlights stories from across our sector that show the climate action that’s taking place every day. We’d like to thank our featured members for generously sharing their successes, their challenges, and their plans for the future.

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