Building Ballyhass with purpose, people and place in mind
This page brings together the story behind Ballyhass Adventure Group’s B Corp journey: how we are growing our business while working to create a stronger impact for our team, our communities, our customers and the outdoors that sits at the heart of everything we do.
It is not a finished story. It is a working picture of where we are, what we are learning, and where we want to go next as we continue building a more responsible outdoor business in Cork and beyond.
A public view of our impact journey
This is our way of sharing the work behind the badge: the standards we are trying to uphold, the improvements we have already made, and the areas that still need more progress.
Proof, progress and priorities
We have structured this page around the core B Corp impact areas, bringing together key numbers, case studies, community work, team initiatives, operational changes and the priorities shaping our next chapter.
Inspiring an outdoor generation must mean more than growth alone
For Ballyhass, building a stronger business also means supporting local communities, backing our team, improving how we operate, and protecting the places that make outdoor experiences possible in the first place.
A framework that matched the business we were already trying to build
Ballyhass did not begin with B Corp. It began with a mission to inspire an outdoor generation, a strong belief in the value of outdoor experiences, and a growing sense that success should be measured by more than visitor numbers or turnover alone.
As the business evolved, B Corp became a natural fit. It gave Ballyhass a clearer structure for looking at how decisions affect people, customers, community, governance and the environment, while also challenging the business to document, improve and be more accountable in the areas that matter most.
It also aligned with work that was already underway: the development of Ballyhass values, the Code of Ethics, stronger team policies, more formal community support, better environmental tracking, and a wider ambition to build a business that contributes positively to County Cork and beyond.
Inspiring an outdoor generation should mean building a business that is better for the people in it, the communities around it and the places it depends on.
From values to verification
Mission and values became more defined
Ballyhass built out clearer internal values, purpose and behavioural standards, helping turn culture and intent into something more practical and more visible across the business.
The Code of Ethics and policies strengthened the foundations
Formal documentation helped connect Ballyhass’s day-to-day operations with higher standards around staff, suppliers, community relationships and responsible decision-making.
B Corp gave the business a full framework to measure itself against
Instead of looking at sustainability or team culture in isolation, Ballyhass could assess the whole business across governance, workers, community, environment and customers.
Certification marked a milestone, not the end point
The challenge now is to keep improving the quality of the work, the consistency of the evidence, and the way Ballyhass tracks and communicates its impact over time.
A more disciplined way to connect purpose with operations and decisions.
How Ballyhass measures impact, documents progress and spots gaps more honestly.
Better reporting, stronger evidence and more progress built into the day-to-day business.
Some of the clearest signs of progress are already visible
Ballyhass is still improving how it tracks and reports impact, but the direction of travel is already clear: more people reached, more team members supported, stronger environmental action, and more evidence of Ballyhass playing a positive role across its sites and surrounding communities.
Visitors in 2025
Ballyhass welcomed 102,635 visitors in 2025, up from 60,269 in 2022. That growth matters because it shows the scale of Ballyhass’s role in getting more people outdoors across Cork and beyond.
Team members in 2025
Team numbers increased from 140 in 2022 to 178 in 2025, reflecting Ballyhass’s continued growth as an employer and its wider ambition to create more meaningful outdoor-sector careers and pathways.
Clear operational steps are already in place
Waste to landfill per visitor
One of the clearest indicators of operational progress is the drop in waste to landfill per visitor, down from 0.211 in 2022 to 0.14 in 2025. That points to a more efficient and more intentional operating model as Ballyhass has scaled.
Direct local support tracked in the report year
Ballyhass has recorded direct support through sponsorship vouchers and sports team support, alongside wider community activity that is harder to capture in one figure alone.
A business becoming more structured as it grows
The most important thing in this section is not any one number on its own. It is the overall picture: Ballyhass is growing, employing more people, improving core infrastructure, reducing operational waste intensity, and putting more shape around how it contributes to community and place.
How Ballyhass is measuring progress across the whole business
Ballyhass’s impact work is structured around the five core B Corp areas. Together, they create a broader picture of what responsible growth looks like, from how the business is governed, to how it supports its team, contributes to community, reduces environmental impact and delivers better experiences for customers.
Governance
How Ballyhass makes decisions, strengthens accountability and builds long-term value into the business.
Workers
How Ballyhass supports, develops and rewards the people who help bring the experience to life every day.
Community
How Ballyhass contributes to local places, partnerships, schools, organisations and wider community life.
Environment
How Ballyhass is reducing impact, improving infrastructure and taking more practical steps for nature and resource efficiency.
Customers
How Ballyhass creates experiences that encourage more people to get outdoors while improving the overall customer journey.
How Ballyhass is building stronger accountability into the business
Governance is about more than policies on paper. At Ballyhass, it is about shaping a business that makes decisions with a longer view, considering people, place, community and environmental impact alongside commercial performance.
B Corp certification has become an important part of that framework. It provides an external structure for measuring the business across multiple impact areas, while reinforcing the idea that purpose and profit should not sit in opposition to one another.
For Ballyhass, that means embedding responsible thinking into how the business grows, how it communicates its standards, and how it keeps improving the quality of its decision-making over time.
What is already in place
B Corp Certification
A formal commitment to balancing purpose, transparency and long-term responsibility alongside business growth.
External validation
Governance is reinforced by wider recognition including Great Place to Work, Pure Cork and Fáilte Ireland programmes.
Key governance priorities
How Ballyhass is trying to build a stronger place to work in the outdoor sector
Ballyhass’s team is central to the experience it delivers. Supporting workers well is not just about retention or reputation. It is about creating an environment where people can grow, feel valued and build confidence in a sector that has often struggled to offer long-term pathways.
The outdoor industry is full of passionate people, but it can be difficult to hold on to experience and talent over time. Ballyhass’s approach has been to develop a more proactive mix of culture, benefits, recognition and support, while continuing to strengthen the quality of roles available across the business.
That work has already been recognised through repeated Great Place to Work certification, but the wider aim is bigger than certification alone. It is to keep making Ballyhass a healthier, more progressive and more supportive place to work season after season.
Current evidence and proof points
Certified as a Great Place to Work for three consecutive years.
Difference in mean hourly pay across all employees in the report draft.
What Ballyhass is focusing on next
Why this matters beyond Ballyhass
Outdoor businesses often rely on seasonal intensity and short-term labour patterns. Ballyhass wants to keep pushing towards a model that offers more support, more development and more reasons for talented people to stay and grow in the industry.
The next part of the Ballyhass impact story
This second part continues the Ballyhass Impact Report 2023 to 2025, moving into the wider role Ballyhass plays in community, environment and customer experience, and how those areas connect back to the company’s long-term purpose.
Together, these sections show how Ballyhass is trying to create value beyond the adventure itself: supporting local communities, improving environmental performance and helping more people spend time outdoors in a stronger, more responsible way.
Community comes first
We begin with Ballyhass’s role in local support, partnership, volunteering and rural opportunity, before moving into the remaining impact areas and wider progress across the business.
How Ballyhass is trying to create shared value beyond the gates of its sites
Ballyhass’s community impact is grounded in a simple idea: a successful outdoor business in rural Ireland should create wider value for the people and places around it, not just for the customers who book in.
That shows up in different ways: direct sponsorship, partnerships, volunteering, engagement with schools and community groups, local sourcing, local hiring, and support for the wider networks that help places like North Cork grow stronger.
Some of that impact is easy to count and some of it is harder to capture in one number. What matters most is that Ballyhass is not treating community as a side project. It is part of how the business understands its role in the region.
Tracked support in the report year
Sponsorship vouchers provided to local schools and community groups in 2025.
Direct sponsorship support recorded for sports teams and clubs in 2025.
Examples of community action already underway
Why this matters
Ballyhass is part of a wider local ecosystem. When it supports schools, clubs, partner organisations, local suppliers and community-led projects, it strengthens the conditions that make a place more resilient, more connected and more positive for future generations.
How Ballyhass is trying to reduce impact while improving the places it operates in
Environmental action at Ballyhass is not built around one headline initiative. It is a collection of practical steps across waste, energy, biodiversity, infrastructure and day-to-day operations, with the aim of reducing impact while making the sites work better for the long term.
Some of the strongest progress is operational: improving waste systems, processing food waste and compostables onsite, reducing landfill intensity per visitor, expanding renewable energy and putting in more practical infrastructure like refill stations and EV charging.
At the same time, Ballyhass is starting to build a wider environmental story around biodiversity, circular systems and the way adventure sites can give more back to the landscapes they sit within.
Clear proof points already in place
Of Ballyhass energy needs covered by solar PV in 2025, marked as phase 1 of 3.
Waste to landfill per visitor in 2025, down from 0.211 in 2022.
Native hedgerow plants added through the Gate to Gate biodiversity project.
Public EV charging stalls installed, plus filtered refill stations at both sites.
Examples of environmental action in practice
Why this matters
Adventure businesses depend directly on healthy places, functioning infrastructure and landscapes that people want to spend time in. Environmental improvement is not separate from the Ballyhass experience. It is part of protecting the quality and future of that experience.
How Ballyhass is trying to create better outdoor experiences with wider positive impact
Ballyhass exists to deliver outdoor adventure experiences that help more people get outside, try something new and connect with the outdoors in a memorable way. That customer mission sits at the heart of the business.
As visitor numbers have grown, Ballyhass has been working to make sure that growth is supported by stronger infrastructure, better site systems and practical improvements that make the customer journey work better while also reducing impact.
In that sense, customer impact is not separate from the wider story in this report. Experience quality, environmental responsibility and operational improvement all shape the kind of business Ballyhass is becoming.
Clear indicators already visible
Ballyhass is now reaching over one hundred thousand visitors annually.
Two Cork sites supported by practical infrastructure improvements and expanding product offer.
What this includes in practice
Why this matters
The Ballyhass customer story is not only about transactions or footfall. It is about introducing more people to outdoor adventure while keeping the overall experience strong, accessible and increasingly aligned with the wider environmental and operational goals of the business.
The Ballyhass impact journey is building year by year
This report looks across a period of growth, structure and sharper accountability. The direction of travel matters most: more people reached, stronger internal standards, better environmental infrastructure and clearer community impact taking shape over time.
A clearer baseline begins
This report period begins with Ballyhass entering a more structured phase of its B Corp journey, with 60,269 visitors and 140 team members forming part of the starting point for measuring progress across the business.
More structure behind the standards
Ballyhass continues embedding its values, ethics and impact thinking more formally into the business, while visitor and team numbers grow and internal reporting becomes more important.
Infrastructure and impact become more visible
Practical environmental and site improvements gather momentum, with stronger waste systems, EV charging, refill infrastructure and wider operational improvements making the impact work more visible across the customer and site experience.
A stronger proof base is now visible
Ballyhass reaches 102,635 visitors and 178 team members, records 49% of energy needs covered by solar PV, adds 4,000+ native hedgerow plants and tracks direct community support through sponsorship and partnerships more clearly.
Better data. Better reporting. Higher standards.
The next chapter is about raising the quality of the evidence, strengthening internal tracking, improving environmental and community reporting, and building towards the next stage of Ballyhass’s B Corp and impact journey with more confidence.
This is not the finished version of Ballyhass. It is the direction of travel.
Ballyhass’s impact journey is still evolving. Some parts of the story are already visible in clear numbers, stronger infrastructure and better formalised standards. Other parts still need more evidence, better tracking and sharper reporting over time.
What matters most is the intent behind the work: building a stronger outdoor business that keeps raising the standard for how it supports its team, contributes to community, protects place and inspires more people to get outside.