Alexander Peters: Water-saving taps
A total of 160 lavatory units were overhauled in the toilets of the A and B halls on the Hamburg exhibition campus between December 2022 and March 2023. “We installed modern self-closing taps which open for only five to eight seconds per washing cycle. This reduces water consumption per washing cycle from previously 3.6 litres to only 0.9 litres,” reports Alexander Peters, Head of Facility Management at HMC. It is worth noting that the amount of waste water is reduced accordingly, as well, he adds. “To recycle the waste water, it needs to be purified in water treatment plants in a complex process. It is therefore more important than ever to reduce water consumption.”
Tim Normann: Cycling to work on a leased bicycle
The distance between Tim Normann’s home and his workplace at HMC is 22 kilometres. When he feels motivated and the weather permits it, the employee of the T-MA department (Technical – Trade Fairs and Exhibitions) rides the distance on his new mountain bike which he leases from JobRad. This is similar to leasing a company car, except that you get a bicycle or e-bike rather than a car. “When the Human Resources department told us about the option of requesting a company bike from HMC, I was instantly enthusiastic. Now I can use my dream bike, and it even gets some public funding. At the same time I protect the climate and stay fit. That is a real win-win situation!”
Ronja Marquard: Sign language workshop
In October 2022 Ronja Marquard was overseeing a very special event at the CCH. Together with Sylke Weber, the project manager was in charge of organising the fifth youth festival of the German Hearing-Impaired Youth Organisation at the CCH. To be prepared perfectly – and out of personal curiosity – she organised a one-day sign language workshop for her team before the festival. “Hello, my name is Ronja. Welcome to the CCH! Hall 1 is located to your left.” Having attended the workshop, she is now able to express simple sentences like these in sign language. During the festival, she was able to apply some of what she had learned. “Interacting with children and youths using sign language left a deep impression with me. It was an enriching experience,” says Ronja Marquard. What she found especially enjoyable was the contagious happiness during the events: “The young people’s laughter filled the entire CCH.”
Florian Röner: Switching off the lights to save energy
Florian Röner is a person who has been critical of wasteful energy use for a long time. “There ought to be a way to avoid keeping the stand illumination on all night,” he thought during SMM 2022. So the Hall Inspector of Hall A1 took a deep breath and approached every single exhibiting company in “his” hall personally, asking them to switch off their stand lights at night if at all possible technically. And he succeeded: More than half of stand operators complied with this request. Encouraged by this positive response, a written recommendation to keep stands dark overnight was included in the information packages distributed among exhibiting companies at the subsequent WindEnergy fair for the first time. Then, at INTERNORGA the request was made by intercom announcements in every hall. “All in all, around 90 per cent of our customers were willing to comply,” says Florian Röner. “All of us – my fellow hall inspectors and night hall inspectors and I – are staying focused on conserving energy and doing our part to protect the environment. Even the smallest steps count in the end.”
Irene Tagmi: German lessons for refugees
Irene Tagmi started the year 2023 determined to fulfil a couple of New Year’s resolutions. Through a campaign on the intranet the Corporate Communications Consultant learned about purpozed, a platform for corporate volunteering used by HMC. It offers employees volunteering options with non-profit organisations that fit their personal interests, abilities and time budgets. Irene Tagmi submitted an application and was selected. Since January, she has been teaching German lessons to refugees from Ukraine in cooperation with the Sternchance/City Kids organisation to help the new arrivals cope with their new environment. “Of course, the main purpose is to help people learn our language,” says Irene Tagmi. “But what matters even more to me personally is to give them a good experience by exemplifying a friendly culture of welcome.”
