Our annual meetings

Every year we host an Annual General Meeting (AGM) with a difference.

We invite inspiring speakers from the world of sustainable building, ethical finance and environmental campaigning, and we create a space for our members to share information about their green properties and projects.

As a mutual, our AGM is also the place where members can have their say on how we're run, and debate key issues with our Board.

Ecology 30th Anniversary Conference 2011

2011 marked 30 years of Ecology's work to build a greener society, and we celebrated in style during our Anniversary Conference on 4 and 5 June 2011. Over 160 people enjoyed two days of workshops, speeches and debates in the award-winning surroundings of the Wales Institute for Sustainable Education.

We were delighted to welcome Jean Lambert, Green Party MEP and former Chair of Ecology, as well as Directors, Board members and Chief Executives past and present, to the wonderful new facilities at the Centre for Alternative Technology. While the children escaped to explore the woodland and hills around Machynlleth, the adults were no less entertained by a range of engaging speakers.

Paul Allen, External Relations Director at CAT, began proceedings with a history of CAT and a powerful vision for zerocarbonbritain2030 - an "energy progressive" society, free from fossil fuels. In the afternoon, Chris Herring, Chair of Passivhaus Trust and Director of Green Build Store, made the case for Passivhaus low energy building, including a screening of Future Passiv, a short documentary featuring the Denby Dale Passivhaus project. Our keynote speech was delivered by Charlie Luxton, sustainable architectural designer and broadcaster, who outlined the urgent need to improve the energy efficiency of the nation's housing stock, and took us on a lively tour of projects showing the practical ways to achieve this.

Members also took part in a lively Open Forum - you can listen to a full recording of the session in our podcasts section.

After a choice of member presentations and tours around the WISE and CAT sites, delegates enjoyed a celebration dinner, music and dancing with local celtic band Hi Jinx.

On Sunday morning members returned to the majestic Sheppard Theatre to hear Pat Borer, WISE architect, explain the design principles behind this very special (and award-winning) venue. The final session took us back to the bigger picture, with a talk from carbon footprinting expert Mike Berners-Lee, asking "How Bad Are Bananas?" (The answer: not too bad, but air-freighted Peruvian asparagus is a carbon nightmare.)

In between sessions, delegates browsed our Green Market, with thirteen stalls ranging from renewables to woodwork and local crafts!

Your feedback

Thank you to everyone who gave feedback on the Conference - you can see a summary of your views here. We'll be taking all of these points into account as we plan future events.

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Ecology Building Society Annual General Meeting 2011

Our 2011 AGM was held on Saturday 30 April at our HQ in Silsden, West Yorkshire. This year we broke with tradition and decided to hold our main member conference as a separate event in June to celebrate our 30th anniversary, but our AGM was once again well attended by Ecology members. Votes cast overall were in line with 2010, at 19.2% of eligible voting members. An open forum proved popular, and a full recording of both the AGM and Open Forum sessions can be accessed on our podcasts page.

We also took the opportunity to thank retiring Director, Pamela Parkinson for her valued service to the Society.

ResolutionsForAgainstAbstentions
To receive the Auditors' Report1,2361621
To receive the Annual Report and Accounts1,2421516
To re-appoint KPMG Audit Plc as auditors1,11510551
To approve the Directors' Remuneration Report1,1646145
To re-elect/elect as Directors
To re-elect Malcolm Lynch1,2133724
To re-elect Janet Slade1,2144221
To elect Steven Round1,2053829

Ecology Building Society Annual General Meeting 2010

Our 2010 AGM was held on Saturday 24 April at The Royal Agricultural College near Cirencester. In addition to the regular AGM business and voting during the morning, the afternoon included presentations from Jamie Hartzell, MD of Ethical Property Company who outlined ideas for improving the market in shares of social and ethical enterprises, and William Lana, MD of Greenfibres who examined ethics in the clothing sector. The event was complemented by a range of stalls to showcase local sustainable businesses and organisations.

You can download an audio recording of the formal business of our AGM and the Open Forum in our podcasts area.

The AGM was once again well attended by Ecology members. Registration and all voting procedures for the AGM were handled by Electoral Reform Services, giving members the option to cast their votes online via a secure server as well as by post. The total votes cast represent 19.3% of eligible voting members.

ResolutionsForAgainstAbstentions
To receive the Auditors' Report1,3671825
To receive the Annual Report and Accounts1,3692318
To re-appoint KPMG Audit Plc as auditors1,25410254
To approve the Directors' Remuneration Report1,2827256
To re-elect/elect as Directors
To re-elect Paul Ellis1,3484022
To re-elect Tony Taylor1,3464024
To re-elect Pam Waring1,3593120

2010 AGM Presentations

Slides and text from some of the presentations are available to download below:

Annual General Meeting