Business management & development
Right: From left to right: Monica Palmas, Federico Toresi, Neil Andrew and Andrew Linwood discussing luxury and sustainability.
basically a full set of documentation. These are just some high-level strategies that you think about when you’re trying to design a sustainable project.” For materials, there are many candidates with strong sustainable credentials. Terrazzo flooring, for example, is much in demand, not only for its aesthetics but also because it is a durable, low- maintenance material containing recycled content. Marble finishes are more likely to be maintained should a property change hands, so there is less environmental impact from refurbishment. Retrofitting light fixtures with LEDs requires no changes to the housing so is relatively simple. “Reuse and refurbish,” said Andrew. “Trying to reuse furniture is always going to be a challenge when you take over a property, but with the material passport you can resell that furniture and then buy vintage or second-hand furniture.”
Localised sustainability
Andrew Linwood, head of hospitality and business development at interior design and procurement management consultancy Areen Design, shared an interesting case study comparing two very different properties and explaining how sustainability manifests differently in each. The first is the Westin Palace Madrid, where the brief was to renovate a 120-year-old structure – the first concrete building in Spain – and drag it into the 21st century.
“There were a lot of problems with the hotel,” Linwood remarked. “But what we decided to do was to do several things at once. So, we’re greening the building. In the courtyard, there are planters, which are actually hiding rainwater collection points. The biggest expansion will be on the roof, where we plan to put a new spa, a new swimming pool, a new bar, and lots of greenery.” “For sustainable energy, we proposed changing the roof tiles to collect as much energy as we could,” he
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added. “There is space for a vegetable garden for the hotel to grow as much produce as possible. But part of sustainability is anchoring this property in its locality, so it’s not just a foreign body that’s been foisted on the people.”
At a resort in Kenya with a linear arrangement of villas and a large golf course, the brief was to embed this project in the locality through the architecture. Areen chose to use local heritage and craftsmanship to generate architectural forms. “I can’t stress enough how important that is in a coastal community in Kenya, where skills are in danger of dying out,” said Linwood. “Those guys are weaving baskets that they use for fishing, and you can apply that to building a lot of the accommodation that we had in mind.” Sustainability, then, is more than consideration of the environment. It is as much about integration with local communities and creating authentic experiences for guests. After all, as Linwood suggested to the attendees, using renewable energy is already accepted as a fundamental part of hotel design, like having a shower or a TV in the bedroom. The attendees certainly accepted that sustainability is not a new concept and that, since the 2016 Paris Agreement, it has become a concern for everyone. So whether it is getting to know the supply chain and evaluating its sustainable credentials and embedding standards of sustainability into its business culture, as Accor has done, or incorporating net-zero into design concepts, the luxury hotel sector is already hard at work. “It’s really ingrained in how we do everything, so all our design guidelines already have built-in these aspects of sustainability,” said Toresi. “It’s always been fundamentally good to design something that lasts,” added Andrew.
In the past, luxury and sustainability have been seen as opposing forces pulling in different directions. Now, however, it seems that sustainability must be viewed as a core feature in any luxury brand. ●
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
ASV Photography Ltd
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