Whitbread to launch first low-carbon restaurant

12th January 2010, 10:23am

Whitbread restaurant group has confirmed plans to launch its first low-carbon restaurant.

In addition, the group is set to open its second green hotel. Burgess Hill Premier Inn, in West Sussex, represents the new additions in environmentally-friendly budget hotels.  It follows Whitbread's pioneering green hotel pilot in Tamworth, Staffordshire - the UK's first green budget hotel which opened its doors to guests in December 2008.

The 60-bedroom Premier Inn at Burgess Hill, due to open in Autumn 2010, will adopt the best-performing green technologies trialled in Tamworth to deliver 70% carbon and 60% water savings.

And next to the hotel will be a 220-cover Beefeater open grill restaurant, the first low carbon eatery. 

The development will include ground-source heat pumps using the earth's natural energy to provide heating and cooling cool as well as hot water, high efficiency thermal insulation, and heat-recovery shower systems capturing and reusing energy used by the boilers.

The investment forms part of Whitbread's corporate sustainability programme, 'Good Together', which was launched in December 2009 along with a pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26% by 2020.

Both the Premier Inn hotel and Beefeater restaurant at Burgess Hill will be built using timber frame construction methods from sustainably sourced wood.  Timber frame has the lowest carbon content of any commercially-available building material and its flexible design allows for high levels of insulation to achieve maximum energy efficiency.

Alan Parker, chief executive officer of Whitbread, said: "Burgess Hill's clever combination of high-tech environmental features and advanced construction methods will allow us to achieve truly impressive results in terms of cutting carbon and conserving water.  The hotel will include many of the best performing technologies pioneered at our first green hotel in Tamworth.  

"Our low-carbon Beefeater restaurant at Burgess Hill is another first for Whitbread and brings us another step closer to achieving a 26% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020."

Related Articles:

• 11 Apr 2012 - Whitbread appoints new managing director of Costa Coffee
• 28 Apr 2011 - Whitbread achieves strong revenue growth with sales up 6.6%
• 02 Mar 2011 - Costa reveals Coffee Nation acquisition
• 28 Jan 2011 - Whitbread welcomes new non executive director to the board
• 24 Jan 2011 - Whitbread restaurants introduce range of lower salt soups
• 14 Jul 2010 - Hotel and restaurant group Whitbread reveals green refurbishment drive
• 23 Jun 2010 - Whitbread reports strong start to financial year
• 15 Dec 2009 - Third quarter trading proves encouraging for Whitbread
• 20 Aug 2009 - Whitbread launches environment report

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