Radisson Blu at East Midlands Airport is thought to be one of the greenest hotels in Europe and has won a Green Footprints Award for its sustainable design.
MAG Developments, the property arm of Manchester Airports Group which owns and operates East Midlands Airport, designed and built the four-star, ?22 million, 218-bedroom hotel.
It was constructed using efficient building services and is powered by cutting-edge green fuel, making the building an exemplar in terms of resource consumption ? it may be the lowest impact building in the UK, according to the official energy performance rating system.
As part of East Midlands Airport’s commitment to achieving carbon neutral ground operations by 2012, all of its new buildings are designed to be individually carbon neutral for their energy use.
The hotel is operated by specialist hotel investment firm Azure Property Group, under the Rezidor Hotel Group’s premium Radisson Blu brand.
Derbyshire-based construction group Bowmer and Kirkland was the main contractor on the build. The architect was Manchester-based Leach Rhodes Walker.
It is one of only a handful of hotels in the UK to have achieved BREEAM accreditation ? the world’s foremost environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings.
Neil Robinson, director of sustainability at East Midlands Airport, said: “We did a lot with the design of the Radisson.
“The main thing is that it generates its own heating, cooling and electricity through tri-generation, which is fuelled by vegetable oil grown locally.”
The carbon footprint of the hotels is designed to be 88% lower than that required under UK building regulations.
Clever control systems for fans and pumps, heating and cooling also help to reduce emissions and costs.
And rainwater is collected in underground tanks and used for flushing toilets.