Sustainable Vellamo
The Maritime Centre Vellamo wants to provide its visitors with a sustainable experience. We are continuously developing our operations.
Green Key
The Maritime Centre Vellamo was awarded the Green Key certificate in September 2022 for its responsible operations.
Green Key is an international tourism sector certificate that covers ecological, sociocultural and financial responsibility. The certificate includes regular auditing which encourages the continuous development of sustainable operations. We want to promote more sustainable tourism in any way we can.
Read more about what being a Green-Key-certified tourism company means.
Sustainable Travel Finland (STF)
We are participating in the Sustainable Travel Finland programme and our aim is to obtain the STF certificate granted by the programme.
Sosiocultural responsibility
Accessibility
We are easily accessible: in terms of public transport, the train almost reaches our plot and the bus comes 1.5 kilometres away from us, there are several accessible parking spots by the entrance, parking is free, and you can also reach us by bicycle. Our accessible nature continues on the inside: public spaces have automatic doors and lifts provide an easy way of moving between exhibition spaces.
Every Wednesday, we offer free admission to enable museum visits for all. Furthermore, pensioners, unemployed people, students and conscripts are entitled to our discounted tickets. Children and assistants are always entitled to free admission to Vellamo. We also offer free tickets to local asylum seekers.
Inclusivity
We welcome all people! We wish to provide a safe space for all people, regardless of their gender, race, skin colour, age, nationality, religion, culture or sexual orientation. We work for a more diverse and inclusive society.
We are part of the LGBTQ+ friendly We Speak Gay community. It means that we treat all of our employees and customers equally and respectfully. We acknowledge the human rights situation and attitudes concerning the members of the LGBTQ+ community and the limitations those factors set for minorities.
We have gender-neutral bathrooms for both customers and personnel. We are involved in the annual Antirascism Week in Kotka and equality is an important value to us. We organise events that are intended for the elderly in particular.
Vellamo for all
- Maritime Centre Vellamo is for all of us. Together, we make sure that everyone feels safe.
- We are considerate, kind and helpful. We respect and listen to others.
- We give everyone space and peace to enjoy the exhibitions in their own way.
- No one is bullied, harassed or discriminated against. For any reason.
- Everyone is welcome as they are. Everyone is valuable.
- We at Vellamo are here for you. We will do our best to make sure you feel seen and heard. Please let us know if you need help or notice that someone else could use a hand.
Discrimination-free area
Maritime Centre Vellamo undertakes to be an area free of discrimination. This means that:
- We treat all our customers and personnel equally regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, religion or belief, opinion, health, disability or sexual orientation.
- We inform all employees of our commitment to being an area where discrimination is not tolerated.
- We display the label of a discrimination-free area (Syrjinnästä vapaa alue) prominently at Maritime Centre Vellamo.
- We take all reports and suspicions of discrimination seriously.
Ecological responsibility
We actively strive to decrease our energy consumption. Replacing the lighting of the facade of the Maritime Centre Vellamo succeeded in decreasing our electricity consumption by about a third of the original consumption. The replaced LED strip lights in the lobby and Boat Hall save electricity about 67% when compared to the previous solution. The electricity we use is 100% eco-labelled and renewable in terms of district heating.
We also strive to decrease our water consumption. The public urinals are waterless and the taps work with a motion detector. We have decreased the amount of final waste by making sorting and recycling more efficient.
The environment is an important aspect of our purchases, from print products to exhibition props. We favour the circular economy. We find new purposes for elements removed from our exhibitions. We reuse and recycle the construction materials of our exhibitions as much as possible.
The personnel are encouraged to travel by means other than cars. The personnel have a communal bicycle for running errands outside our premises and there are city bikes that customers can rent. Our plot has a charging point for electric cars.
Financial responsibility
In Vellamo, procurements are made in accordance with the instructions issued by the City of Kotka and the Finnish Heritage Agency and we favour local and Finnish products whenever possible. We appreciate Finnish design when it comes to furniture and the product selection in our shop. The products we choose to sell are sustainable instead of being single-use.
We support employment by organising internships, work trials, and employment periods for people from different backgrounds.
We take measures to develop year-round tourism, and diversity is the strength Vellamo has when it comes to serving different visitor groups. We collect customer feedback through both digital channels and personal encounters.
Photos: Jari Autio, Maritime Centre Vellamo
This page was updated on 22 August 2024.