Oxford Salon Group Anne Veck Wins National 'Green Salon' Award

Oxford salon group Anne Veck is celebrating after being crowned 'Green Salon of the Year' at the national Salon Business Awards 2017.

Now in its fourth year, the awards which recently took place on the rooftop Terrace of London's elite Century Club, rewards hairdressing excellence in the UK across 12 categories.

In 2013 Anne Veck converted their 33 St Clements Road salon, to become eco friendly by lowering energy use, reducing waste through more efficient systems, meeting the reduced energy needs from renewable sources, which in turn reduced both theirs and their clients' carbon footprints.

Anne Veck was the first hair salon in the world to use the BlueGenCeramic fuel cell technology, which reduces energy use by half (BlueGen fuel cell carbon reduction: 4 tons of CO₂ and LED lighting carbon reductions: 1 ton of CO₂ from a previous total of 12 tons). In effect the salon has its own mini power station, which converts gas to electricity and heats water and the salon. Their energy supplier guarantees 100% carbon neutral energy and electricity usage has been reduced by 95%.

In addition, the team uses compostable towels, which reduces hot water usage as fresh towels are provided for every client - eliminating the need to wash them. The business has implemented water saving features, LED energy efficient lighting throughout, uses recycled card and paper for all stationery and literature plus telephone calls and broadband are 100% carbon neutral.

Speaking of the salon's achievement, Joanne Charlton, Publisher of Salon Business commented:

Anne Veck Hair is a deserving winner of the Salon Business Awards Green Salon of the Year. They provided evidence of a number of innovations such as BlueGen technology, which has reduced their energy consumption by 50 percent and carbon emissions by 40 percent. This is hugely admirable and shows the impact each and every salon owner has the power to make. Keep up the good work.

This win follows Anne Veck beating off stiff competition from salons across the South of England to be crowned Best Regional Salon (Southern) in May at the Hair Awards 2017. In addition, the team has recently picked up several nominations. Anne Veck is shortlisted for International Hairstylist of the Year at the 2018 Canadian Hairstylist of the Year Awards, plus stylist Pierre Ginsburg is a finalist for two ceremonies in September: The Visionary at the It List Awards in London and The Emergent Talent awards in Paris.

Keith Mellen, Director at Anne Veck is delighted with their success,

We are thrilled to have won the Green Salon of the Year Award. The other finalists in the category are paragons of sustainable best practice so to be named the overall winner is an amazing achievement. Being environmentally friendly is important to us. We truly believe the hairdressing industry could lead the way in sustainability for business in the UK, so we're proud to play our part in helping the environment and working towards making a positive difference.