Birchwood Park Golf Centre

Notable Observations

• Innovative Rainwater Harvesting System Runoff from buildings and car parks is captured, filtered through a reedbed, and stored in a reservoir to irrigate the course. This makes the club almost self-sufficient in irrigation water.
• Expansive Solar Panel Installation Solar panels cover much of the clubhouse and leisure centre roof, supplying 26% of summer electricity use. This significantly reduces reliance on external energy sources.
• Full Electric Buggy Fleet The club replaced all petrol-powered buggies with electric ones, saving over 900 litres of petrol and 2,116 kg of CO₂ annually.
• Strong Habitat Creation Projects Two hectares of native woodland and shrubland were planted with the Woodland Trust, providing wildlife habitat and future carbon sequestration.
• Zero Waste to Landfill and Circular Practices Birchwood has eliminated landfill waste, increased recycling to 35%, and composts food waste via anaerobic digestion. Waste weights are tracked through a contractor portal.
• Inclusive, Multi-Use Facility The club offers golf, a leisure centre, classes, events, and community space, welcoming 80,000 rounds of golf per year and providing accessible facilities for all.
• Award-Winning Sustainability Leadership Birchwood won England Golf’s Sustainability Project of the Year 2025 and actively shares its practices through its website, newsletters, and external recognition.
• Staff-Driven Sustainability Culture Sustainability is embedded in leadership meetings, staff training, and operational decisions, creating a strong culture that drives ongoing improvements.

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“Birchwood Park continues to be an impressive example of how sustainability can pervade all aspects of a golf clubs operations, and I commend them for this. Clear corporate direction, enhanced by strong commitment and leadership at the site level, have resulted in continuing improvement across a wide range of on-site operations. Particular highlights include the collection and treatment of rooftop and car park runoff water which is then used to irrigate the golf course, the installation of extensive rooftop solar panels which generate over 25% of the club’s electricity needs during the summer, and the replacement of the diesel buggy fleet by electric vehicles which has saved about 2 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per annum. The Group’s aim of achieving Net Zero by 2027 for its overall operations, and for every individual site, is industry-leading and laudable. The use of the club’s website to highlight its’ sustainability commitment, achievements and activities is also an impressive initiative. On the golf course, in spite of exceptionally heavy usage by golfers, staff are managing the grassland and woodland/scrub roughs well, and have worked in partnership with the Woodland Trust to create 2 hectares of new woodland and shrubs which is developing satisfactorily.”

Keith Duff (GEO accredited independent verifier)