Griffin Hotel Group put focus on energy efficiency
THE Griffin Hotel Group is looking at the company’s impact on the environment with major investment in a ‘Next Generation’ programme for Monart Destination Spa, the Ferrycarrig Hotel and Hotel Kilkenny.
The group invested €435,000 in energy efficiency projects in 2018, as detailed in the annual company accounts, yielding a net benefit in the first year of just over 2 million kWh of energy saved.
The Next Generation Strategy is a programme of continued investment over the next decade to allow the Griffin Group to play its role in significant carbon reduction, supporting the electrification of transport and the continued removal of singuse plastic from its business ecosystem, according to CEO Michael Griffin.
‘We continually invest time and resources in our employee base, product offering, technology,services and customer experiences but we are also conscious of the need to invest in energy-efficient practices in order to continually minimise our impact on the environment.
In real terms, this means that the group is absolutely committed to sacrificing short term profit goals through investing in a better tomorrow for all of our community’, he said.
One of the main goals was to reduce the energy footprint of each hotel and in order to achieve this, the group contracted Connected Energy to assess operations and create a tailor-made design for each property.
The works included LED lighting retrofits, boiler upgrades, new room heating control management, chiller optimisation, air conditioning upgrades and building management upgrades to enable the hotels to run more efficiently in ‘Eco Mode’ while also improving customer conditions.
The group is also rolling out high quality 22kW Ev charging points at each of its hotels, facilitating customers to switch to electric vehicles.
Kieran McCreat of the company Connected Energy said the annual saving of 2,158,521 kilowatt hours across the three hotels in 12 months, is the equivalent energy consumption of 142 homes a year, every years.
‘We are very happy with the outcome of the environmental strategy now in place at the Griffin Hotels, across the three properties.
‘The hospitality industry can be a real example of what sustainable living can be all about and the Griffin Group is a true model of this by putting it all into practice.’
The 2018 Griffin Group accounts showed continued growth in 2018 with turnover increasing by 2% to 24.5 million. Approximately €18 million of this figure went back into the local economy through staff wages and direct suppliers within Wexford and Kilkenny.
The group had an overage of 470 employees for the year, increasing to 500 during peak periods.
Profit before taxation for the group decreased by €265,000 to €1.75 million as the directors invested in environmental initiatives and refurbishment projects, upgrading IT infrastructure in light of GDPR regulations and launching health and safety initiatives.
The CEO said 2018 was a very positive year for the group which has opened a new venture, Monart Day Spa in the UK, in partnership with the Duchy of Cornwall.
‘2018 was a very positive year for the group, we focussed on enhancing our services, our practices and on plans for our business to operate within the environment as a long-term and sustainable enterprise.
‘We are delighted to see such a significant reduction in our energy consumption within the first year of investment.’