Premier Inn to launch its first green hotel

Budget hotel chain Premier Inn is to launch its flagship green property with its new Tamworth hotel in Staffordshire which is set to open in December.

The hotel will use environmental initiatives from its parent company Whitbread, whose approach to the environment is focused on reducing waste and increasing efficiency.

The flagship site will reduce energy consumption by up to 80% and is a test-bed for Premier Inn to trial the best green technologies currently available to see which are viable for its hotels in the future.

The combination of building materials and low carbon technologies includes ground-source heat pumps which use the earth's natural energy to cool and heat rooms and provide hot water throughout the hotel; and grey water recycling providing 100% of the hotel's toilet water use, saving 20% of the hotel's entire water use.

The hotel will also use high efficiency thermal and acoustic insulation, low energy motion sensor LED lighting and solar panels which will provide enough water for 1,000 baths a year.

Whitbread chief executive Alan Parker dubbed the hotel as "ground-breaking".

"This combination of technologies has never been used before in the UK," he said. "They were chosen from a range of initiatives that we believe deliver the most positive social and environmental impact on future hotel builds."

Parker added: "Hotel energy use is a complex equation and we have taken a first step in employing all technologies available to us, in order that we get it just right. This will allow us in the future to implement sustainable practices across our wider estate."

Full details of how Whitbread is reducing its environmental impact are contained in the company's 6th annual Environmental Report which is also being published today at www.whitbread.com.

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By Gemma Sharkey

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