Hackney People

Ben Todd

At first it seems like an idea that wouldn't work - actors and engineers in a single location, collaborating to generate ideas for a more sustainable city.

Yet, this is exactly what Ben Todd has achieved in the last six years as Executive Director of Arcola Theatre.

He first visited the theatre in Dalston in 2005, when a friend who worked there asked for his help.

He fell in love with the vibrant, organic feel of the organisation - and with Hackney generally - and started volunteering as a theatre handyman. It had a very different atmosphere to Cambridge University, where he had spent the previous eight years completing a MEng and PhD in sustainable energy.

Ben began to think about the potential for bringing together engineers and theatre people to promote innovation in sustainability through the arts - and in the process making the Arcola the world's first carbon neutral theatre.

It wasn't difficult to convince Arcola's founding directors, Mehmet Ergen and Leyla Nazli, that improving the theatre's energy performance would mean significant savings in running costs. In turn, they showed Ben how much easier it was to get sustainability messages across through theatre, rather than lectures and frightening statistics.

So in 2007, he started Arcola Energy, an organisation with the specific aim of driving sustainability in the arts, as well as commercially developing low-carbon products. He had grown impatient at the slow pace to reach solutions when working with large engineering and technology firms. But the theatre and the people working there offered an immediacy and flexibility that helped to get things done quickly.

Attracting funding was difficult for a long time, because the Arcola's 'evolutionary down-at-heel ethos' didn't suit high profile investors. But Ben realised they could build a narrative to convince them if he got the ball rolling and started making things happen before any money was even available.

Today, he feels he has achieved his goal of bringing very different people together - from volunteers from Hackney and around the world, to individuals from firms like engineering consultancy, ARUP - who have all contributed to projects to make the theatre more sustainable.

Born in London, raised in Liverpool, and a proud Clapton resident since 2006, Ben considers Hackney to be a place full of 'raw energy'.

He believes the borough is receptive to the principles of sustainability because 'most people living in Hackney have chosen to come here to change their lifestyles in a positive way, although sometimes with small resources'.

He adds: "This gives the opportunity to show them how they can live in the coolest place in the UK and build a community around sustainable values and lifestyles."

I get the sense as I talk to Ben, that Arcola Energy is trying to become a worldclass organisation. But at the same time, when you walk through the door, you step into a genuine community centre where you are inspired to do more, or do things better.

Ben would like to see the Arcola grow, but without losing its down-to-earth accessibility, and recognises that the future, in a new building and with bigger audiences, won't be easy. And he feels the Arcola shares similar challenges to Dalston and Hackney more generally. How to manage a population with rising incomes, but without the place losing its magic and becoming an 'any-town'?

Only time will tell if he succeeds.

Curriculum vitae

• 1976 Born in Westminster, London
• 2001 Completes MEng at Cambridge University
  Completes MEng at Cambridge University
• 2004 Completes PhD at Cambridge University
  Completes PhD at Cambridge University
• 2005 Joins Arcola as a volunteer handyman
  Joins Arcola as a volunteer handyman
• 2007 Starts Arcola Energy
  Starts Arcola Energy
• 2009 Wins Green Communities Heroes awards
  Wins Green Communities Heroes awards
• 2010 Named as one of 50 green pioneers by The Guardian
  Named as one of 50 green pioneers by The Guardian
• 2011 Arcola Energy wins three Sustainable Cities awards Arcola Energy wins three Sustainable Cities awards

Born in Westminster, LondonCompletes MEng at Cambridge UniversityCompletes PhD at Cambridge UniversityJoins Arcola as a volunteer handymanStarts Arcola EnergyWins Green Communities Heroes awardsNamed as one of 50 green pioneers by The GuardianArcola Energy wins three Sustainable Cities awards

More information

Call: 020 7503 1386; or visit: www.arcolaenergy.com

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Page updated: 14 Apr 2011