Unusual Rigging UK – Advancing Sustainability Performance Context and Purpose
Project Overview:
Sustainability is increasingly central to modern business, driven by stakeholder expectations and evolving regulatory requirements. Unusual Rigging UK (UR), a leader in rigging and technical services, commissioned a sustainability review to evaluate its performance and chart a course for improvement. The purpose was to benchmark current efforts, identify priorities, and develop a structured roadmap toward achieving long-term climate and ESG goals.
Scope of the Review
The review encompassed four core elements:
- Materiality assessment to identify critical sustainability priorities.
- Peer benchmarking to compare UR’s ESG performance against industry counterparts.
- Framework alignment with global sustainability standards.
- Carbon reduction roadmap, based on findings from the 2024 GHG assessment.
- Methodology
- Our approach combined rigorous analysis with broad stakeholder engagement:
- A comprehensive materiality assessment, incorporating feedback from over 54 stakeholders, including board members, suppliers, and clients.
- An ESG performance review, mapping UR against peers in rigging, event production, venues, and media sectors.
- A 2024 GHG assessment, capturing the company’s operational footprint.
This blended methodology ensured evidence-based recommendations grounded in both data and stakeholder perspectives.
The Outcome:
Key Findings
- Current Status: UR demonstrates moderate to high sustainability awareness across its team but lacks structured accountability for outcomes.
- Priority Topics: Reducing carbon emissions and addressing climate-related risks emerged as the most material issues.
- Performance Benchmarking: UR performs above average relative to its direct peers, suppliers, and clients, but lags behind wider industry leaders in event production and permanent venues.
Recommendations
To enhance sustainability performance, the review proposed the following actions:
- Strengthen Communication – Improve visibility of sustainability efforts across stakeholders.
- Enhance Carbon Literacy – Invest in training to raise knowledge and accountability throughout the team.
- Implement the Carbon Reduction Plan – Action measures from the GHG roadmap to achieve Net Zero targets.
- Establish Governance Structures – Develop a clear sustainability strategy with group-wide governance, cascading into individual organisations.
Conclusion
The review confirmed Unusual Rigging’s strong foundation in sustainability while highlighting opportunities to formalise accountability, strengthen governance, and accelerate carbon reduction. By acting on these recommendations, UR is well-positioned to enhance its leadership role in sustainable rigging and align with global best practices.
"Our work with Hope Solutions celebrated the progress we’ve achieved so far and provided helpful frameworks and insights to strengthen our ongoing sustainability efforts."
Maddie Jones, Executive Assistant, Unusual Rigging