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Aug 2002 Index

Caithness.org News 2002 Index

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September 2002

A visitor centre that tells the story of the cutting-edge work involved in restoring the environment of one of the world’s most complex nuclear sites has itself received a prestigious environmental award.

The Dounreay Exhibition run by the UK Atomic Energy Authority has become the first visitor centre in the far north of Scotland to receive a silver award under the Green Tourism Business Scheme.

The award reflects good environmental practices, improvement and awareness in how the centre is run, and covers a variety of elements such as environmental commitment, waste minimisation, marketing, management, communication and purchasing.
 

The centre is run by Tina Wrighton, communications officer of UKAEA Dounreay, who said: “The site restoration plan demonstrates our commitment to the environment and it is appropriate that we also demonstrate that commitment in how we run facilities such as our visitor centre. I’m really pleased that we’ve achieved a silver award because it reflects the environmental ethos that is at the heart of our operations.”

Andrea Nicholas, business manager for GTBS, said: “I was delighted when UKAEA Dounreay joined the scheme and I offer my warmest congratulations to UKAEA, who have become the first visitor attraction in Caithness and Sutherland to achieve the award.”

The scheme is designed to help reduce environmental impact, save costs, improve efficiency and increase marketing potential to take advantage of a growing market for environmentally-conscious visitors and contribute to sustainable tourism in Scotland. The GTBS was established by VisitScotland in 1998 and is an accredited VisitScotland Quality Assurance scheme.

Sandra Peterkin, Industry Support Manager for the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board said, “Dounreay is an important and popular visitor attraction in Caithness and it’s great to see it blaze a trail in green tourism. The clean environment of the Highlands is one of our key assets and we congratulate Dounreay on the particular efforts it has made to achieve this award.”

Green Business Tourism - Visit Scotland