London – 26 April 2017 –
AccorHotels opens its new flagship Novotel in London’s Canary Wharf.
The 313-room hotel, which represents a £90 million investment from AccorHotels, situated at 40 Marsh Street and at 127 metres high, is one of the tallest buildings in the area, with 360-degree views of London taking in sights including The Shard, the Olympic Park and Greenwich Park.
The opening creates around 150 jobs, ranging from managerial roles to receptionists, bar and restaurant staff.
It marks another boost for the London hospitality industry, which directly employs 517,000 people, accounting for 18 percent of all the UK jobs in the sector and 9 percent of all jobs in the capital across all sectors.
Employees have been selected for their passion and personality in order to fit into a reinvented, guest-focused hospitality experience where check-in is facilitated on iPad with no reception desk in sight.
This hotel is the first of the group’s UK portfolio to contain a vegetable garden, in line with AccorHotels’ PLANET21 plan to support urban agriculture by planting 1,000 vegetable gardens in its hotels by 2020.
It has also been designed sustainably with a wide range of initiatives aimed at achieving a BREEAM Excellent rating.
BREEAM is a sustainability assessment method for masterplanning projects, infrastructure and buildings, measuring sustainable value in a series of categories, ranging from energy to ecology. Sustainable features in Novotel Canary Wharf include:
- A Combined Heat Power system that will contribute to a 30 percent reduction in CO2 emissions
- Light regulation system that adjusts the level of light according to the time of day and season
- Beehives on the 39th floor – believed to be the highest in the UK – that will produce honey for guests
- Recycling of cooking oil, general waste, soap and bottled bathroom products
- Use of eco-friendly food products and products from local suppliers and short supply chains