18 . Glasgow Business April 2015


GLASGOW BUSINESS AWARDS 2014 WINNER


Steve turns his good Ideeas into green action


» Managing Director of Ideeas wins Green Champion at business awards S


teve Taylor, Managing Director of Ideeas, was hailed as Green Champion at the


Glasgow Business Awards 2014, whose main sponsor is Bank of Scotland. Taylor was given the award for


his imagination and his ability to deliver on projects, oſten including finding the funding for the work. Ideeas is a one-person


company, set up in October 2004, where Steve wins, designs, undertakes and manages all projects. It carries out between 10


and 20 contracts a year ranging from developing a can recycling project at a sports club to being responsible for reducing the CO2 emissions at T in the Park. Last year, Steve was also


Sustainability Manager for Festival 2014, the cultural festival that ran alongside the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. His style of working is oſten


based on developing ideas, undertaking feasibility studies, winning grants to make them happen, developing management plans to ensure they are sustainable and generating ideas to help continual environmental improvements. One project that he completed


involved him spoting some derelict land, envisaging it as a good allotment site, bringing community representatives on board, securing a lease, applying for and winning three grants from Climate Challenge Fund and others, and physically helping clear the site (with his arm in a sling aſter a shoulder operation). He also set up the management system to let the plots out to local enthusiasts. In 2013, its first year


Steve Taylor, Ideeas – winner of the Glasgow Business Award for Green Champion, sponsored by ScottishPower


other sports clubs to introduce a range of environmental measures including LED lighting, bike racks, public transport timetables, food waste composting, insulation and, where practical, solar or other environmentally friendly energy sources. His work on composting food


waste has included a local café and other premises and he has also introduced plastic and can recycling schemes. He introduced the innovative


use of a cargo bike for transporting waste – an idea that was unveiled publicly at Festival 2014 – a big saving in costs and CO2 emissions. His work in Eastern Europe has


included helping the Romanian water authority develop new wetlands by the Danube which have increased biodiversity, helped atract tourism and helped control water quality and conservation. Steve has also undertaken


similar work with the Genoa Development Agency in Italy and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow. He has also developed a remote


of operation, more than 300kg of crops were produced on the site. Steve has also worked


internationally, helping water conservation projects in eastern European countries, and developing sustainability projects in Ghana and Uganda, which stemmed from his own ideas and own initial funding. But his many impressive


projects include many much closer to home including developing a Powerdown project in Barrhead, devising the idea and


gaining Climate Change funding for it and through it helping 2,000 households reduce their energy use. His work with Clydesdale


Cricket Club on the south side of the city saw it install solar PV panels on its roof, reducing the club’s CO2 emissions and electricity bills and working with them to pioneer a new idea for cricket clubs to be called the Green Bat Award. His success on the Green Bat Award led to him working with


rural waste reduction project in rural Finland, which led to reduced waste and vehicle mileage and increased recycling rates. His success in achieving


funding has included applications through the European Interreg programme to implement renewable energy projects in Faroe Islands, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. Steve says that his recipe for


success has included developing good ideas, being able to apply for funding and understanding various funding regimes, and retaining enthusiasm in the face of bureaucracy or setbacks.


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