Sustainable Refurbishments

Hotels need to keep up with changing design, wear & tear and customer demands but Apex show that refurbishments can be done sustainably.

The Apex International Hotel in Edinburgh is currently going through a bathroom refurbishment with the help of their architect in charge of sustainable hotel design to carry it out sustainably by re-using materials and installing energy & water efficient products.

Please see below some of the actions that are being implemented in this refurbishment to show how the hotel is recycling, re-using and saving consumption.

Recycle/Re-use:
WC, WC seat and bracketry for cistern cleaned, retained and re-used.
Shower/bath screens cleaned and reused with the seals replaced.
Light fittings retained, lamps and transformers replaced with new LED equivalent to make substantial energy savings.
Basins were initially considered for retention but when installed in 'mock-up' bathroom they looked dated and chipped and as they wouldn't reach guest expectations they were donated to a local charity.
Granite vanity top recycled in all bathrooms.
All fittings high quality stainless steel with the majority of stainless steel being recycled.


Water Saving:
Aerators installed to taps to reduce water consumption.
Introduced new low volume cisterns with dual-flush action.
Showers were replaced with new thermostatic valves surface mounted for ease of maintenance.
Showers fitted with 'flow regulators' to control water usage.
Baths were removed in 50% of bathrooms in the refurbishment at the Apex European Hotel and changed to shower only.
Baths were removed in around 10% of the bathrooms at the Apex International Hotel and changed to shower only.
Bathrooms/shower rooms completely tiled with large porcelain tiles. This reduces the area of grout and creates a highly durable, easily maintainable surface finish.

Energy Savings:
Thermal insulation was upgraded to the existing bathroom pipe work to reduce heat loss.
Shower flow regulators result in less hot water being heated and drawn therefore saving in gas consumption.
Transferring lamps to LED reduces the energy consumption.

Business Champion for Sustainable Communities Awards 2008

Jo Harbisher was recently awarded a finalist in the Champions for Sustainable Communities Award 2008 in the business champion category.

Forward Scotland presented Jo with her award for her continued efforts in the community and in reducing waste, delivery mileage and increasing the purchase of locally-sourced food and drink in the hotel group. She set up a strong corporate social responsibility mandate in the group and in addition to her environment work, has encouraged the hotels to host complimentary local trader and resident meetings, donates hotel items to local charities and hosts a complimentary Christmas dinner for local residents in the Grassmarket annually.

Apex win 3 more environment awards

Apex have just won some more awards in recognition of their environmental achievement at the Hotel Review Scotland Awards 2008.

They won The Green Hotel Group of the Year Award and Apex’s Environmental Director, Jo Harbisher and Group Facilities Manager, Niall Fotheringham were also awarded Eco Medals for Environmental Leadership.

Apex win Sustainable Food Award

Hi, just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know of a recent environmental award won at the Apex International Hotel in Edinburgh.

The hotel has just won the Promoting Sustainable Food award at the Considerate Hotelier of the Year Awards 2007 for their great work in using locally produced food, seasonal and sustainable with as little packaging as possible.

As part of the Apex groups purchasing policy the hotel is in constant contact with suppliers to ensure their menus reflect what is in season and in plentiful supply.

They also minimise deliveries by co-ordinating dates with other local businesses as well as minimising packaging. For each item to be delivered the hotel co-ordinates with the supplier to use as little packaging as possible and to recycle or return packaging for re-use.

The hotel uses fair trade, free range, organically certified and farm assured produce.
For menus and to book online visit www.apexhotels.co.uk/eat

Wrapping Paper

There’s just 7 weeks to Christmas, and what does that mean?...an abundance of wrapping paper!

Did you know… over Christmas as much as 83 square km of wrapping paper will end up in the UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey!!

So, it’s high time we came up with some alternatives.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Welcome to Jo Blogs

Hi, we all enjoy a little bit of tinternet browsing so here's a little blog with a slant on environmental issues for everyone to enjoy, browse and add comments.

If anyone wants to get in touch direct with me, feel free to email me at greenteam@apexhotels.co.uk otherwise happy blogging!