LUTON, ENGLAND Whitbread PLC is spending more than £7 million this year to boost the environmental performance of its hotels, restaurants and coffee shops. Part of Whitbread’s Good Together sustainability strategy, it will help reach 2020 reduction targets of 26% in energy consumption and 20% reduction in water use.
Whitbread will install 20,000 proprietary low-flow showerheads at Premier Inn hotels, saving enough water to fill 88 Olympic swimming pools each year. Installation of LED lighting, investment in voltage optimization, thermal building insulation, automated lighting systems and bathroom tap restrictors are among the other green initiatives at Premier Inn.
“This significant green investment is a major step forward for Whitbread as we continue to drive down carbon emissions and reduce water consumption as part of our Good Together commitments,” says Chris George, who is heading up Whitbread’s green efforts. “By leading the way in our sector, we can show what can be achieved when you are committed to taking action on the environment.”
Whitbread is also operating a sustainable new-build program, with construction under way on a second green hotel and first low-carbon restaurant. Burgess Hill Premier Inn and Beefeater in West Sussex, due to open later this year, follows Whitbread’s pioneering green hotel pilot in Tamworth, Staffordshire, which opened in December 2008 as the UK’s first green budget hotel.