The challenges facing people and our planet are more evident today than ever. But this is not a time to feel down. It’s a time to step up. That’s why we’ve launched Project Possible. And. It. Is. Huge.
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project
2022/23 Report Our ESG Programme
our purpose is to help everyone paint their own possible
At Crown, we believe every pot of paint is brimming with potential. And we want to put that in the hands of everyone. Because with paint you can change a room, change a mood, even change a life. That’s why we want to inspire people to paint their world better, braver and beautifuller (yes, that’s not a word, but this is paint, you can do anything). Whether you’re a DIYer, a pro or part of the Crown family, we’re committed to supporting you. Not just with our paint, but by giving you everything you need to open up new opportunities each day. We know what a positive difference we can make to people and
our planet, so we’ll keep pushing what’s possible. Now and always, it’s not just paint, it’s personal.
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we’re part of something bigger
Crown is proud to be part of Hempel, a global coatings company whose purpose is to shape a brighter future with sustainable coating solutions. Hempel is wholly owned by The Hempel Foundation, a dedicated philanthropist that strives to make a significant difference to the world by supporting biodiversity, empowering children to learn, making coatings more efficient and sustainable, and driving great initiatives that bring about positive change. Crown’s own economic and social goals, described in this report, are fully aligned with those of The Hempel Foundation, and our efforts and profits are helping them to be realised each and every day. To see more of The Hempel Foundation’s work, visit hempelfonden.dk/en
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say hello to Project Possible
The challenges facing people and our planet are more evident today than ever. But this is not a time to feel down. It’s a time to step up. That’s why we’ve launched Project Possible. And. It. Is. Huge. We’ve always known the positive difference we can make to people and our planet; now we’re dialling it up. With the support of our colleagues across the UK and Ireland, we’ve committed to an ambitious programme of actions. Together we’ll be combining all our knowledge, passion and expertise in order to help make everyone’s world a more beautiful place.
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Project Possible covers five key areas and runs through our entire business and beyond. It’s bold and ambitious, but those are words we’re proud to live up to.
community We’re on a mission to support communities across the UK and Ireland, by leading projects that help people get the best from their local places, spaces and sports clubs.
education We know we can’t bring about change on our own, so nurturing the next generation of professional painters, decorators and designers is something we’re immensely passionate about.
sustainability By enabling our customers to make more sustainable choices, whilst scrutinising the ones we take as a business, we’re doing more than ever to drive sustainability and reduce our carbon impact.
charity From fundraising and donating products, to simply lending a helping hand, we’re committed to making sure the positive power of paint reaches those that need it most.
people & culture Change starts at home. Our Crown family are everything to us and we’re continually developing a safe and empowering working environment that’s rich in possibility for all.
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our crowning achievements
37% of our workforce are
100% of our business operations now run on energy from certified renewable sources.
£20k + raised in one day through our corporate charity golf day.
437 community groups and good causes were supported in 2022 with paint donations worth over £60k.
100 + career-boosting training programmes were delivered to professional decorators, architects and designers.
women – an important milestone on our journey to better diversity and inclusion.
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We believe it’s possible to paint a greener world.
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Our overall ambition is to radically improve our environmental and social impact, so that our company, customers and colleagues are able to thrive – now and into the future. Driven by Hempel’s Futureproof Framework, we have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90% in scope 1 and scope 2 before 2026 and halving them in scope 3 by 2030.* We’re continually pushing more adventurous sustainability targets too, and that’s across the whole Crown business. Currently we’re focusing our efforts on where they can have the biggest impact. We began by improving our manufacturing operations and now we’re focusing on our products and packaging. we’re putting sustainability first *Scope 1 refers to the emissions we produce in our own operations. Scope 2 refers to the emissions produced from the energy we buy. Scope 3 refers to the emissions produced by our customers and suppliers as a result of our partnerships.
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our big ambitions…
planet-first in our thinking Sustainability is now a key driver in all product development and innovation.
zero waste to landfill To achieve this by 2026, we’re implementing a comprehensive approach to recycling and circularity across our operations.
completely carbon neutral This is no small feat. It includes our factories in Darwen and Hull, our offices and our network
of Crown Decorating Centres in the UK and Ireland. Oh, and we’re aiming to have it in place by 2026.
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we will be completely carbon neutral
50 , 000 litres of diesel saved by going electric. Our goal is for all our forklift trucks and on-site vehicles to be fully electric in 2023, creating an annual saving of 105,000 kWh. We’ve invested over £430,000 in an electric charging area to make this happen. Reduced delivery journeys by a whopping miles. And that’s just in 2022! Since 2019, we’ve reduced our total logistics-related CO 2 by 500,000kg – the equivalent of travelling from London to Edinburgh 3,915 times! 1 3 . 5000 1 0
We’re now running on 100% renewable energy. Yep, all our business operations are supplied with certified renewable energy. And we’ll keep improving in line with our ISO 50001 certificate.
We’re removing fossil fuels from all operations. We reduced our natural gas consumption by 20% at our Hull site and by 12% at our Darwen site in 2022. And we’re aiming for both sites to have a 100% reduction by 2025. per litre of paint produced at our UK manufacturing sites versus 2021. 7% less energy used
£2.2 million investment to supercharge our journey towards carbon neutrality by 2026. Over 500 installed to generate clean energy for our Hull warehouse, already achieving an annual saving of 144 , 952 kWh . solar panels
50% Over reduction on all company vehicle CO 2 emissions.
We’ll make more of our fleet vehicles electric or hybrid. Our first fully electric vans joined our Crown Decorating Centres fleet in 2022 and we have big plans to introduce many more before the end of 2025 .
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We’re dedicated to reducing our total waste generation.
In 2022 we arranged for 11,000 delivery pallets to be collected and reused, which saved 222 tonnes of timber. That’s the equivalent weight of about 60 oak trees.
1 , 800 tonnes of waste in 2022 alone. That’s the equivalent in weight of around 266 adult elephants! recycled and repurposed over Through NIMTECH we
We’re already taking simple steps to improve this, like the roll-out of smart scales during 2022 to improve waste data reporting and help optimise recycling and reuse.
In 2008 we partnered with NIMTECH , an amazing social enterprise which specialises in recycling. We now have recycling centres at both our Darwen and Hull manufacturing sites where we’re able to process vast amounts of unused paint, plastic and metal packaging, paper, cardboard, electrical waste and more. We recycle and reuse. I n fact, as part of our packaging circularity scheme, we aim to make sure the recycled plastic we collect goes straight back into producing painting tools and sundries.
In 2022, our Crown Decorating Centres helped over 4 , 000 trade customers recycle their used metal and plastic paint cans, even those from competitor brands.
Since 2011 we’ve recycled countless paint cans via our Can Back scheme, and in 2022 we hit a major milestone - recycling over 1 million paint cans in just 12 months!
we will send zero waste to landfill
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we are planet-first in our thinking
1 st UK paint range with a trace VOC classification. (Volatile Organic Compounds) That’s the lowest solvent content grouping possible, and it was awarded to our breatheasy ® formulated Walls & Ceilings range.
All our plastic packaging will contain 80% recycled content by 2025. That’s well beyond the UK Plastic Packaging Tax threshold of at least 30%.
1st UK paint manufacturer to achieve 100% recycled packaging across many of our most-loved paint ranges. They are made entirely from post-consumer-waste plastic. 1 st Our new Walls & Ceilings range was verified in 2022 by independent testing house, Eurofins. UK paint range to be vegan. certified
We’re a member of the BCF Coatings Care environmental programme that promotes good practice in the British coatings industry and measures environmental performance.
By 2030, we’re aiming to achieve the big Hempel goal of a 50% reduction in Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by working in partnership with our suppliers and our customers. This would be the equivalent of removing 700,000 cars from the road in one year.
We’re working hard to make sure more and more of our products are BREEAM and LEED certified with the most up-to-date
environmental product declarations.
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“they call me the King of Can Back”
A simple and effective way to recycle and reuse.
“Our NIMTECH teams are based at our manufacturing sites in both Hull and Darwen. From here we process all of the waste from our UK operations, although we don’t see it as waste; we see it as a resource that simply needs to be recovered, repurposed or recycled. Every scrap of material that can be reused is: from office paper to tinting colourant, electrical items, plastic, manufacturing waste, paint damaged in transit - everything! One of my favourite examples of recycling is our Can Back scheme. Launched in 2011, it’s a brilliantly simple idea that encourages our account-card customers to return their empty paint cans (from any brand) to one of our Crown Decorating Centres, rather than chucking them out.
Our lorries pick them up each time they drop off new supplies - so there’s no additional transportation - and bring them back to our plants for processing. The NIMTECH team then clean out each can, making sure any residual paint is also recycled, and then bale the packaging, be it plastic or metal, to be recycled. In the last 24 months, we’ve prevented over 480 tonnes of paint cans going to landfill. And in 2022 alone, we recycled over 1 million cans, targeting 1.3 million in 2023. Sure, it can be a messy job, but the result makes for a cleaner planet, and we couldn’t be more proud of the scheme’s success.”
David Bowker Managing Director of NIMTECH
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A shining example of renewable energy. “we make one Hull of a team”
“We’ve been focusing on reducing energy across our manufacturing sites since 2018. A key part of this has been to consider how we might incorporate renewable energy generation. Following an in-depth survey in 2020, we were able to start implementing a really exciting initiative — to build an enormous solar farm on the roof of our new warehouse facility in Hull. From concept to installation, the project took just 18 months, and by February 2022 we were generating our first energy from this system.
Our solar farm is estimated to produce 166,700 kWh a year, equating to 5.7% of all site energy, and represents 50% of our Hull warehouse energy demand, which is just fantastic! It takes us one step closer to our net 0% emission target, and is the first time that Crown has been able to generate energy and put it straight back into our facilities. We’re looking forward to this project paving the way for future initiatives aimed at creating greener energy on-site.”
Ellis Mudd Director of Manufacturing
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We’re dedicated to helping our charity partners with our profits and our paint.
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now and always we’ll give to good causes
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We’re as committed to supporting charities and charitable causes as we’ve always been. Whether that’s through raising as much money as possible for our national and local charities or donating our paint and expertise to bring the positive power of paint to those who need it most.
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our big ambitions…
raise £50,000 for Alzheimer’s Society
give more than ever to local charities From donating to Youth Zones to supporting
We aim to reach this goal for our national charity partner before the end of 2024.
charities that aid families in crisis, we’re committed to helping as much as possible.
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Photo by Thousand Word Media
178 Crown Decorating Centres are raising funds for Alzheimer’s Society. Anyone in the UK or Ireland can donate at our tills.
We donated £75,000 over 3 years through The Hempel Foundation, to support the amazing work of The Blackburn and Darwen Youth Zone, who support up to 1,000 local young people every week.
We raised over £20 , 000 in one day
through our annual corporate charity golf day.
Nightsafe to help provide a safe and more welcoming home for local homeless youths. We donated paint to local charities like
Our payroll giving scheme ensures all our employees can round up the pounds and donate them to Alzheimer’s Society.
Throughout our nationwide network of Crown Decorating Centres and offices we got busy for Bake for Dementia.
through the power of paint we raise loads of money for charity
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“careful colour choices can make a huge difference”
Fighting dementia with colour. “Since working with Alzheimer’s Society we have immersed ourselves in the many challenges that the illness brings, looking for ways to provide meaningful support beyond raising funds.
Warmer tones too, such as reds and oranges, are more favourable than blues and greens. Armed with this knowledge, we’ve set about creating a selection of dementia-friendly colour schemes to help care homes, architects and all our customers design more homely, welcoming spaces for those living with dementia. It’s been an enormously humbling experience, and has opened our eyes to the true power of paint not just to improve a room, but to improve a life too.”
We often think of dementia as causing forgetfulness, but it’s far more complex than that. The disease also has a direct impact on the visual system of the brain creating difficulty with depth of perception, spatial orientation and judging colour contrast. And that’s where careful colour choices can play a hugely important role. We know that patterns can be confusing, as can dark shapes. Pastel colours can also be hard to distinguish from one another, but stronger, bolder colours can be more easily recognised and remembered.
Jemma Saunders & Kathryn Lloyd Crown Colour Consultants
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We care deeply about our communities and want our presence in them to be only positive.
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helping to create positivity all around us
From creating more joyful local spaces through the power of colour, to giving back to local youth sports teams in honour of our decades-long association with top-flight football, we love nothing more than using our expertise and heritage to help make the places around us happier and healthier.
Redesign pointers/arrows
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our big ambitions…
£15k investment into grassroots sports A promise we will keep every year going forward.
donate 50,000 litres of paint Or more! Every drop going to support community projects nationwide.
50+ community ‘glow ups’ Across the UK and Ireland these initiatives will continue to support regeneration through colourful murals and paint projects.
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in our communities we make a positive difference
We donated over 400 litres of paint that would otherwise have gone to landfill. The paint was donated to the Blackburn Empire Theatre, a registered charity that supports local amateur arts and entertainment. We donated paint to children’s mindfulness workshops to help the community initiative, Child Dynamix. They encourage children to spend time in nature, learning and growing outside together.
437 community groups and good causes received paint donations. We donated £60,000 worth of paint to many amazing initiatives in local areas across the UK and Ireland in 2022.
We created stunning murals and street art nationwide as part of our ongoing commitment towards brightening towns and cities, bringing a much-needed ‘glow up’ to previously unloved spaces. Examples can be found at the Bankside Gallery in Hull’s Shorelines Project, and TidyTowns Project, adorning the walls of Swords in Dublin.
We created the Grassroots Sports Fund sponsoring our first wave of teams in the UK and Ireland. In 2023, we’re investing £15,000 to support up to 30 teams.
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Making brighter communities possible. “I’ve been working across both our Hull and Darwen sites for 35 years. “you’ll be amazed what I can Russell up”
of Hull with provocative and beautiful murals designed to highlight the risk of flooding and inspire people to be part of the local and national conversation. We worked alongside internationally renowned artists, local artists, community groups and local residents to help highlight the reality of climate change. This wonderful project filled the city with impactful, thought-provoking art, and it was all made possible with Crown paint.”
Whenever community groups reach out to Crown to help add a splash of colour to their projects, I have the great privilege of supporting them. It means I’ve become somewhat of an expert at tracking down paint. But it doesn’t end there: I also make sure the paint or equipment that’s being donated gets to the right place at the right time to bring a project to life. Initiatives like the Shorelines Project in Hull. Since 2021, Shorelines has been transforming the threatened coastal city
Russell Kitchen Operations Support Manager
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We want to help everyone have more colourful futures.
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supporting generation now and generation next
We know it can be difficult out there. That’s why we give every ounce of support we can to all those in our industry. And we do mean ‘all’ — from professional designers, engineers, chemists, architects and craftspeople, right through to those apprentice painters, decorators and designers still in college. We also know the importance of engaging young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities in schools and colleges. We’ll regularly give inspiring talks that highlight the many possible career choices within our industry, and support university undergraduates with exciting live industry projects.
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our big ambitions…
champion apprentice decorators Through our continued commitment
sharing knowledge more widely We’re actively providing professional development opportunities to architects and designers, investing in apprenticeships and partnering with universities.
protecting craftsmanship Working with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), we’ll be supporting talented craft scholars as well as junior craft events nationwide.
to events like Crown Apprentice Decorator of the Year UK and World Skills Ireland.
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In partnership with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), 10% of all proceeds from our CRAFTED ™ by Crown collection will go to support the training of aspiring artisans and craftspeople. *
Working in partnership with Manchester School of Art we provide real-time commercial briefs for design undergraduates, inspiring them for future success. reach their true potential. 387 aspiring apprentice decorators In 2023, Crown Apprentice Decorator of the Year turns 43. In that time we’ve helped more than
Over 100 learning & development presentations delivered to help inspire more than 725 professional architects and designers. And we’re set to double that in 2023. Skill-share opportunities created for many of our employees so they can support their local schools and communities.
We funded chemistry degree undergraduates . Three have already achieved first-class honours and now hold full-time jobs at our Darwen Research and Development lab. A further two undergraduates have begun workplace degree apprenticeships in partnership with University of Salford. 5
*Proceeds from the sale of CRAFTED™ by Crown ready-mixed 2.5L paint from May-December 2023.
we share our knowledge to help others succeed
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“I share every drop of my painting expertise”
Supporting and celebrating industry.
“One of the great pleasures of working with Crown for so long is being able to share all the things I’ve learnt along the way with the next generation of painters and decorators. Every year, I pack up my toolkit and travel the length and breadth of the UK to share technical tips and secrets of the trade with hundreds of students. It’s also the time I brief them on the regional heats of the Crown Apprentice Decorator of the Year Award. It’s an amazing competition, showcasing incredible skills and talent, and I’ve been part of the CITB SkillBuild competition team as lead judge for over 20 years.
Supporting and celebrating the industry and giving it the recognition it deserves as a highly skilled trade is very important to us. Many of the students go on to become successful professional decorators in their own right. Seeing them reach their full potential is incredibly rewarding and inspires me every day to keep on teaching.”
Kevin O’Donnell Technical Demonstrator and Super Trainer
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people
Our Crown family are at the heart of everything we do and we’re committed to creating an environment rich in possibility for all.
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it takes wonderful people to make a wonderful company
Over 1,100 brilliantly talented people work at Crown and we’re delighted to have them. In fact, we encourage them to shine to their fullest by asking that they only ever bring their true self to work. Whether that be at our head offices and manufacturing sites in Darwen, Hull, Dublin and Belfast, or at one of our 178 stores across the UK and Ireland. We’re also proud to have generations of families working throughout our business. By continuing to be a progressive, inclusive and supportive employer, we hope to inspire future generations to choose us too. And we look forward to seeing the splashes of colourful creativity they bring with them.
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our big ambitions...
continue a culture of inclusivity and opportunity We’ll always create an environment where our colleagues can professionally develop and thrive.
reduce barriers for development in the workplace Not just in management, but throughout our entire Crown organisation.
health and wellbeing support for
everyone Every employee across the UK and Ireland will have access to this vital benefit.
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we’re committed to supporting our people
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Our amazing Employee Assist Programme gives everyone free access to health and wellbeing support.
managers in inclusive leadership best practices and ensuring our job adverts contain language to attract a diverse candidate pool. 500 We’re actively leading and recruiting diverse teams by training all Hempel are one of only 500 companies to have signed a commitment to end disability exclusion, known as The Valuable 500 Collective. This will ensure that all abilities are catered for now and into the future.
Hempel’s Employee Foundation supports our greatest asset: our people. and women represent 37% of our overall workforce. We’re continuing to grow that number by ensuring equal pay and opportunities, removing barriers for women across every area of our business. of our business leaders are female All employees past and present and their immediate families are eligible to apply for grant funding in the event of unfortunate situations, or to support life-changing opportunities.
The programme covers a wide range of areas from counselling to legal advice, cancer support to life coaching, and encourages us all to put wellbeing first.
We’re developing a culture of
Throughout our head offices and manufacturing plants in Darwen, Hull, Belfast and Dublin,
over 1 , 100 brilliant people. we provide a safe and nurturing workplace to
continual learning.
Via the Crown Decorating Centres Academy and the Hempel Academy we help and encourage all employees to grow and fulfil their ambitions.
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“Crown is like a family; there’s so much support”
Nurturing our leaders of the future.
“Crown are a fantastic company to work for. The care and guidance shown to staff of all levels and departments is admirable. Since joining the business in 2021, I’ve benefitted from constant help and support from my line manager, with regular appraisals and 1-2-1s. As an ambitious person, it’s a brilliant feeling to know the business is rooting for me to succeed every step of the way. One of my great passions is my volunteering work, and Crown have been really supportive of this. Not just with words, but by allowing me to take part in outreach programmes with local schools in Hull. I now regularly engage young people in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities and get to inspire children to look for a future career in engineering. I’ve also been fortunate enough to lead sustainability projects and the Energy Excellence Strategy in Hull. Being able to make such a positive change to the environment, and the staff working on the plant, has brought me a huge sense of achievement. I’m really proud to have been shortlisted for ‘British Coatings Federation Young Leader of the Year 2023’.”
Christopher Morton Engineering Facilities Manager
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For more information on all things Project Possible, please visit: about.crownpaints.com/projectpossible For media enquiries, please contact: crownpaints@citypress.co.uk Crown Paints Ltd PO Box 37, Hollins Road, Darwen, Lancashire, BB3 0BG 01254 704951 Crown Paints Ireland Ltd 28 & 29 Grattan Business Park, Clonshaugh, Dublin, D17 X478 +353 1 816 4400
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