Gold Award for Innovation on Climate Adaptation for GA & Whitbread
Wednesday 9th December 2015
Gilbert-Ash and Whitbread have been recognised with an international Gold Green Apple Environment Award for their innovation in the field of climate adaptation.
The construction of a new Premier Inn at Worcester Cricket Club has incorporated features to help mitigate against the risk of flooding – a concern for many businesses as flood damage is forecast to rise five-fold across Europe by 2050 according to research published in the journal, Nature Climate Change.
The Premier Inn project, worth £7.2m, involved the construction of a 120 room hotel on a flood plain. The neighbouring cricket club has suffered over 150 floods since it opened in 1865.
The awards, which set out to find the greenest companies, councils and communities, saw more than 500 companies competing for the accolade.
Ray Hutchinson, managing director of Gilbert-Ash, said: “We are proud of our long standing relationship with Whitbread, the parent company of Premier Inn and one of the longest standing companies in the UK. We have delivered several hotels for them in the past and we recognised the challenges involved in flood mitigation on this particular project at the outset. We feel that our approach has delivered a hotel which is prepared for future climate changes.”
He added: “Our solution involved a concrete transfer slab on level one which would support the hotel’s timber frame above. The hotel was then raised on stilts, lifting it above the ‘at risk’ zone. Electrical features have been installed at raised levels. A goods lift was designed to allow for potential flooding therefore stopping at a higher floor level if an emergency incident occurred. These decisions will prevent damage and any associated impact on the hotel’s ability to continue operating during a flooding incident.”
James Pitcher, Corporate Social Responsibility Director at Whitbread, said: “Whitbread recognises the impact climate change has on our business. We are therefore committed to mitigating the risks by integrating climate adaptation within our design and construction process.”
As a result of Gilbert-Ash’s Green Apple Award success, the company has been invited to have its winning paper published in The Green Book, the leading international work of reference on environmental best practice, so that others around the world can follow their example and learn from their achievement.
Gilbert-Ash will progress to represent the UK in the Green World Awards, and the European Business Awards for the Environment.
