Express & Echo (City & East Devon Edition)
Hotel ‘ahead of schedule’ towards its sustainability goals
A NET-zero hotel on the edge of Exeter is due to open in January next year, it has been revealed.
Work is well under way on the Voco Zeal hotel at Exeter Science Park.
A topping out ceremony was recently held as the 142-bedroom hotel reaches its highest point during construction.
The hotel, which is aiming for fourstar status, is environmentally friendly and is being constructed with half the embodied carbon of a standard hotel, and will generate all its own electricity from photovoltaic roof and wall panels.
As a fully sustainable operation, produce is being sourced locally or grown on site, and it is intended to stimulate economic growth through job creation and investment.
Developer Zeel Hotels is working with hospitality giant IHG Hotels & Resorts on the hotel, which will be run under IHG’s Voco brand. The hotel, next to junction 29 of the M5, will be managed by Valor Hospitality.
The Voco Zeal Exeter Science Park remains on schedule to be completed in December this year, with official opening planned for January 2025.
Zeal Hotels is also working with Red Construction South West, part of Red Construction Group, on the project, focusing on reducing emissions, rather have reached this milestone on the road this point ahead of schedule. than offsetting, to create an industry- towards completing our first net-zero “We are also tracking ahead of future leading sustainable hotel brand. carbon hotel and it is a testament to the sustainable goals, having achieved the
Tim Wheeldon, managing director of dedication of the team at Red Construc- 2030 sustainability target for carbon Zeal Hotels, said: “We are thrilled to tion South West that we have arrived at emissions during construction and are forecast to hit the 2050 target for energy use during operation. Both are huge goals and, in part, are due to the fact the hotel will be generating more solar energy than it will actually use.”