Spotlight Interview – Carly Hardy
Our People & Sustainability
What’s your role at Location One?
I am Head of Sustainability and Projects, which means I work on anything that makes our business more efficient in carbon or financial terms (whilst also looking to enhance the customer and employee experience!). It’s a role I carved out for myself really. I have a background in consultancy and sustainable energy, with spells in not for profits and profit-making organisations, so my current role suits me perfectly.
What is the favourite part of your job?
I love that I have the agency to make stuff happen and I love that no day is the same. I would be hopeless at a repetitive role that has set routines. I also love looking at data. We are currently working on hybrid power trials with ADF, and they are the perfect combination of tech, data, practical set-up and the art of persuasion. Right up my street!
What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing the Production Industry in terms of Sustainability?
The biggest challenge is breaking habits. Reducing carbon emissions, eliminating waste, and moving to a circular economy means breaking deeply entrenched habits. Anyone working in sustainability works in behavioural change and they should have a good grasp of human psychology. We need to wean ourselves off the diesel, give ourselves more time to plan, trial new ways of working. I must say, though, the film industry should be proud of its achievements in this area. I haven’t seen the same agility or sense of purpose anywhere else: we are a tight knit, stubbornly optimistic community, and there’s a real sense of camaraderie and traction around decarbonising the world we work in.
How are Location One and ADF tackling these challenges?
With a sense of togetherness! We’ve worked together for years but it’s exciting to realise all the new benefits of working as one, particularly when it comes to decarbonising our businesses.
Both Location One and ADF are knee-deep in a detailed carbon footprinting exercise. We are therefore both acutely aware that emissions associated with operating unit base generators and driving our vehicles form a huge part of our footprints. We did a trial recently that achieved a 40% reduction in fuel and CO2e emissions through use of hybrid power (battery store + generator) at unit base. We’re conducting power surveys at several unit bases right now with the plan to complete more hybrid power trials. The switch to electric vehicles (EV) is tougher. We are analysing our fleet telematics, so that we can understand the suitability of EV for our fleet profile based on the miles we drive, our payloads, towing requirements and charging windows: we’ll make the switch when viable EV tech comes to market. There’s lots of work we are doing around ‘eco driving’ in the meantime, which reduces fuel consumption and embeds good driving behaviour that will pay dividends in the future when we are trying to maximise the range of EVs!
What is your biggest achievement to date?
What we have built at Location One. We have somehow managed to bring the most brilliant group of people together. I am so proud of them all. Serving the film industry is gruelling but exciting and it takes a special kind of person to do it.
If we’re talking about specifics, then I have to say I am very proud of my EcoPod invention. It’s in no way a money spinner but it solves a long-standing problem with on set waste and it has supported key circular economy industries such as Anaerobic Digestion and In-Vessel Composting (and sustainable products such as Vegware).
Which company values resonate with you the most?
For those of you who don’t know, our core values are HEART: Heroic, Expert, Agile, Responsible, Team (find out more here) . It’s hands down the ‘Team’ value that resonates most with me. I am a collaborator by nature rather than a traditional leader.
Who would play you in a film about your life?
Sally Hawkins. I think she’s amazing. She grew up in Blackheath where I live now. And I love a Mike Leigh film.
