Hotelier Sustainability Summit underway
The Hotelier Middle East Sustainable Design & Operations Summit is currently underway at Grosvenor House Dubai.
The event brings together more than 100 directors of engineering, directors of development, general managers, design directors, and consultants to discuss and debate the importance of setting a sustainable agenda right from the design stage.
This year’s event will focus on sustainability throughout a hotel’s lifecycle – from the design and development stage, right up to implementation and retrofitting solutions.
KEO International Consultants executive director corporate sustainability Holley Chant has been named summit chairperson to lead the discussions at the one-day event.
The summit will kick off with an opening address that will set the scene for the day - this session will give an overview of the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders involved in the sustainable planning, design, build and operation stages of hotels and resorts here in the Middle East. It will also outline the format and objectives of the conference.
Following the agenda-setting address, the first presentation of the day will uncover the financial facts around sustainable design and construction. It will look at the upfront costs and lifecycle savings if sustainability is factored in from the start of a project.
Next, a keynote address will see the Dubai Municipality outline its goal of promoting sustainability across the hotel industry in the emirate and discuss the requirements of the Green Building Regulations and the criteria that must be met by the different stakeholders.
The event will then bring together a panel of hoteliers, consultants, and development experts to discuss the relationship between stakeholders.
This panel discussion will bring together an owner, designer, contractor, operator, and regulator to discuss and debate how each stakeholder can work together to drive sustainable design and construction.
At the end of the session, delegates will break for coffee and a chance to network with their peers and the event sponsors, which include Farnek and TSSC.
Farnek will also ensure the event will be carbon neutral for the second year in a row. Carbon emissions at the event will be offset by MyClimate’s carbon offset programme, which replaces climate-impacting energy sources with clean, renewable ones by supporting projects that use renewable energy, cut methane emissions, and support reforestation programmes.
After the morning break, delegates will split into groups and attend four different workshop – each catered to either owners and developers, designers, contractors, and operators.
The owner/developer workshop will outline why owners must fully understand the requirements of the Green Building Regulations. It will also focus on how sustainability needs to be factored into a development right from the start.
The design-focused workshop aims to enable designers to compare and evaluate different design solutions, based on preliminary data that will result in high performing sustainable properties.
The workshop for contractors will look at the role of contractors in the design and construction of sustainable hotels and resorts, and how the contractor can influence other stakeholders to drive sustainability.
The operator-focused workshop will provide hotel operators with a more detailed understanding of the latest operational sustainability measures that can be implemented in their properties.
Following the workshop, delegates will reconvene to outline the outcomes of each workshop, and then move onto how the outcomes relate to the different stakeholders.
A case study from Verde Hotels will follow, and the event will end with a presentation from Farnek on benchmarking a property's sustainability efficiency.
The Hotelier Middle East team will be tweeting throughout the event. Please follow the official event hashtag #Sustainability2015 to follow the discussions.