Media Release
BCCK’S ONGOING COMMITMENT TO QUALITY THROUGH ISO STANDARDS
04 October 2018
KUCHING: Borneo Convention Centre Kuching first opened its doors in 2009, with much excitement and anticipation on its first foray towards making Kuching city a hub for business events. One of the commitments BCCK undertook then was to ensure that their service delivery and quality standards would always be top notch and on par on an international playing field for the State of Sarawak.
Now, close to ten years later, BCCK has managed to exceed this commitment to international quality standards and practices with BCCK achieving the ISO 22000:2005 Food Safety Management System & HACCP certification in 2012 which validates their ability to control food safety hazards in order to ensure that food is safe at the time of human consumption. This ties in perfectly with BCCK’s Halal certification which features permanently as part of their best practices in assuring that these standards are adhered to at all times to meet the requirements of the Sarawak Islamic Council.
The next step forward for BCCK was to delve into the client experience when organizing events in BCCK. With a sole emphasis on meeting and exceeding a client’s satisfaction, BCCK thus earned the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certification in 2013. These standards took BCCK to a whole new level in ensuring client satisfaction which was further evident with BCCK garnering the International Conference Award for Excellence (Below 1,000 delegates) and Purpose-Built Convention and Exhibition Centre Award for Excellence (Below Gross 15,000 sqm of total saleable space) at the rAWr Awards 2015 and 2017 and being confirmed as one of the 17 finalists at the 2018 AIPC Apex Award competition for ‘Best Client rated Convention Centre’.
Today, BCCK is delighted to announce that it has recently achieved their third ISO certification, ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems (EMS), which revolves around environmental responsibility and continuous improvement in environmental performance. Achieving the certification demonstrates that BCCK is in it for the long haul and are taking steps towards global sustainability, with a key focus on preserving the world’s resources for our future generations.
In September 2017, the centre initiated a synergistic collaboration with a leading farm situated in Kuching to manage its food waste via a bioconversion process. The segregated waste is recycled to organic fertilizers used to grow pesticide, chemical-free plants and herbs to meet their aims. This not only eliminates the surrounding waste, but also curbs the depth of the existing landfills and incinerations, thereby cutting down the harmful factors that affect the environment. BCCK has also garnered much needed support from their food suppliers and some have chosen to work with the farm, a great step for the community in the long run.
BCCK Chief Executive Officer Eric van Piggelen said “Environmental sustainability features significantly on BCCK’s agenda and we are motivated to reduce and minimize any negative impact of our day to day operations on the environment. We currently have the assurance of ISO management systems from the appointed vendor to process, salvage and turn our waste into re-useable materials, which bodes well with our efforts to be environmentally sustainable”.
He further added, “BCCK remain committed to ensuring our adherence towards maintaining and exceeding the best quality standards with the maintenance of these international certifications. ISO 14001:2015 will become the tool to integrate environmental issues, preserving the local biodiversity and ecosystems and to safeguard the environment from harm and degradation”.
The implementation of international standards furnished BCCK with the opportunity to look at their business practices in totality, and set a standard of excellence for our core services. “With a new era of ISO standards being adopted into the BCCK workplace environment, we can now drive towards a fully integrated approach to a culture of risk management, continual sustained improvement, and buy-in across the entire BCCK family, our supplier partners, and stakeholders. BCCK has newly established a permanent Quality Assurance (QA) team to focus on further enhancing our operation teams service delivery cycle ,” said Christopher Wan, BCCK Corporate Services Manager.
This ties in nicely with BCCK having been named as one of the 17 finalists in the 2018 edition of the prestigious AIPC Apex Award competition for “Best Client Rated Convention Centre”. “This recognition affirms our position as Borneo’s leading convention centre, a title which our passionate and dedicated team strives to live up to every day,” said Christopher Wan.