The solar-powered, Hackney-based Premises Studios has been given the inaugural Julie’s Bicycle Green Business Award.

Presented at the Music Week Awards at London’s Roundhouse by Tony Wadsworth, Chair of Julie’s Bicycle, the award recognises:

• The implementation and success of environmental initiatives
• Management support and overall staff commitment to sustainability
• Methods used to track environmental impacts
• Relationships with and influence on audiences, customers, suppliers and other clients
• New and original campaigns and ideas

Premises Studios launched Europe’s first solar powered recording studio in 2005. It was built using 80 per cent reclaimed and recycled materials, fitted with a low-energy SSL console and insulated so well that it never requires heating, even in sub-zero conditions. In 2010 Premises established a bee-keeping project on the Studio roof with The Golden Company (an organisation working with disadvantaged young people).

High-profile artists _ including Lily Allen and the Klaxons – are among Premises Studios’ clients, and several of them have voiced their support of Premises’ campaigns around raising the profile of the Feed-In Tariff (2009), their collaboration with Friends of the Earth on the Big Ask campaign (2009), and the environmental problem caused by declining bee populations (2011).

Julie’s Bicycle launched the Green Business Award in partnership with the Music Week Awards in order to recognise the environmental achievements made by companies working in the UK music industry.

This is the first environmental award of its kind for the UK music industry, and the standard of applications was high, especially given that this is the Award’s first year.

‘The Premises took the initiative to go green well before it became commonplace, and they were the first commercial studio in the UK to install solar panels,’ says Alison Tickell, Director of Julies Bicycle. ‘Proving that engaging with issues of public concern can be a business win, they used a government grant to speed up their investment payback, and have used their green credentials to give them a marketing edge. They have also successfully campaigned for better renewable power incentives that benefit the music industry, as well as UK homes and businesses more broadly.

‘It’s also impressive the way The Premises have used their solar panels and more recent initiatives like their beehives to engage with artists, other studio users and young people in their Hackney community - this is a really important step and its impact cannot be underestimated.

‘By seizing the business opportunities while making the ethical choice, The Premises is a powerful example of the opportunities that environmental sustainability offers: an ethical business base that will sustain it into the future.’

‘We aim to combine solid business sense with real environmental action and this award is recognition that our model works. Julie’s Bicycle is a great organisation and their endorsement is a real honour,’ Julia Craik, Director of Premises Studios, responds.

Michael Gubbins, Content Director of Music Week added: ‘Music Week is proud to have worked with Julie’s Bicycle to launch the Green Business Award, and we consider it to be one of the most important of the Music Week Awards. Premises Studios has set an example which we expect to see followed by a great many other companies, in an industry which is becoming increasingly engaged with environmental sustainability as a core business priority.’

More: www.juliesbicycle.com