The museums undertook work to improve energy and water efficiency, waste management and biodiversity.

The awards were part of the Green Tourism Business Scheme. An advisor from the scheme assessed each museum and gave them an action plane to implement.

Renaissance London, which supports regional museums across England, provided a grant of up to £4,000 for eight of the smaller museums.

Among the improvements were energy efficient lighting and replacing an old-fashioned gas-fired heater with electric fires with motion sensors which turn on and off as visitors move round the museum.

After the work was completed and new assessments carried out, the top rated museum, The Whitehall Museum, received a gold award for exemplary practice.

The museum, in Sutton, installed LED lighting, which it estimates will cut its carbon emissions by 4 tonnes to 733kg and save £750 in bills over the next year.

It also made links with green community organisations and ran sustainability-themed workshops which attracted a new audience to the museum.

Curator Laura Allan said: “At these workshops we are teaching people who are already interested in green issues about history, and people who are already interested in history about green issues.”

The full list of museums and their results:

·Whitehall Museum – gold
·Horniman Museum – gold
·Brunel Museum – silver
·Florence Nightingale Museum – silver
·Freud Museum – silver
·Islington Museums – silver
·Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge – silver
·Geffrye Museum – silver
·London Transport Museum – silver
·Museum of London – silver
·Fashion and Textile Museum – bronze
·Wandsworth Museum – bronze

Alison Brown

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