A sales and meeting environment built inside a Cannes hotel suite, measured at 4,180kg CO2e. Every supplier was inside 100 miles and 71% of the production materials by weight were rented rather than made, which avoided 845kg of carbon on its own.
CBRE Investment Management · Hotel suite, MIPIM · Cannes, France · 2025 · Real Estate · Design; Production; Project Management
MIPIM is the property industry's main annual market, four days in Cannes where investors, developers, funds and city delegations do deals. CBRE Investment Management needed a sales and meeting environment aligned with the group's wider ESG strategy and its commitment to the circular economy. A suite takeover rather than a hall booth changes the problem: the room already exists, so almost nothing needs building, and the work becomes a question of what is brought in, where it comes from, and whether it leaves again.
A suite dressed rather than a structure built. 71% of the production materials by weight were rented, not made. Furniture came from Cannes based rental companies. Live plants were rented and returned to local florists to be used again. Framing, where framing was needed, was FSC certified timber. Graphics were recyclable fabric with zero PVC, so no toxic materials were used on any graphic and the banners are fully recyclable at eventual end of life. The reception counter was FSC MDF finished in low VOC water based paint.
The geography did the rest. Every supplier on the project was based within 100 miles of the event, and 100% of rented elements were delivered from within 100 miles. On a Cannes project run by a London agency, that is the decision that moves the number: renting locally removes the freight, and it removes the storage and the refurbishment that owning the same items would have cost.
A hotel suite is an easier build and a harder specification. There is no hall floor to work to, no rigging, and a hotel that will not accept anything fixed to its surfaces, so every element has to be free standing, brought up in a lift, and taken out without a mark. Renting locally solves that and creates its own constraint: the palette is whatever is available inside 100 miles of Cannes in March, during the one week of the year when every rental company in the region is fully committed to MIPIM.
Total event carbon of 4,180kg CO2e, on a scope covering embodied carbon of newly created materials, all logistics movements and production facility energy use. CBRE Investment Management avoided 845kg CO2e by renting equipment and furniture rather than buying it. 71% of production materials by weight were rented. 100% of materials were separable at end of life. Zero waste to landfill or incineration, and all rented equipment returned. 100% of suppliers were based within 100 miles of the event and 100% of rented elements were delivered from within 100 miles. Indicative, calculated in house, not independently audited.
FSC certified timber framing. Recyclable zero PVC fabric graphics. Rented live plants. FSC MDF reception counter finished in low VOC water based paint. Rented furniture from Cannes based companies.
Aktuel: French rental company certified to ISO20121, the sustainable event management system standard. Party Rent: French rental company certified to ISO14001, the environmental management system standard. Green Lab Design: French live plant rental. H2O Graphics: French eco-graphics.
Measurement and reporting by Simon Evans, CEnv ISEP, Sustainability Director. Design lead `[name]`. Project management `[name]`. Photography `[credit]`.