The National Theatre Green Store is our brand-new, large-scale sustainability initiative.

This game-changing facility has been developed to inspire designers at the early stages of the production process to reuse existing materials, whilst encouraging them to achieve their creative goals and adhere to the standards of the Theatre Green Book.

Reuse is at the heart of achieving Theatre Green Book Basic Standard, with 50% of materials needing to have had a previous life, and 65% needing to be repurposed at the end.

By encouraging reuse we can create a circular economy and reduce our carbon footprint.

After 34 years in our old home in Kennington we have moved to an exciting new space in Bermondsey, which provides 1,260m of hanging space and holds over 131,652 items of costume. For the first time, all 21,942 of our props are housed under the same roof, making us a one-stop-shop for hire to the creative industries.

The central London location means that the production resources stored at the Green Store will now be much more accessible for designers and creatives, leading to increased reuse of materials across productions.

In addition, DAF Trucks have generously donated an electric truck to the National Theatre for the transportation of production materials, further reducing the carbon impacts of all transportation.

Not only does the store recycle stock back into shows, the Costume and Props hire department also provides a unique service for 400+ other theatres and 200+ schools and colleges, as well as hiring to film and television companies, photographers and media houses.

Like any business, our operation has an environmental cost: we create work that is inherently temporary; we make use of raw materials; we ask people to travel to a particular location at a particular time.

In May 2021, we started working towards the basic standard of the Theatre Green Book – a new guideline for making sustainable theatre.

Three years on, and now all productions staged at the South Bank in 2024 are meeting the basic standard, with further progress being made to reach intermediate and advanced levels of sustainability.

Initiatives like the Green Store will drive forward our ambition to reach net zero by 2030.

This success could not be achieved without immense collaboration between all the skilled makers, designers and creatives involved.

Watch our short film to meet some of the incredible theatre-makers that are creating change in our organisation.