SUSTAINABILITY
We believe we should not only minimise the impact we have on the environment, but also make a positive impact on the world around us and its people.
Since we began the journey to create Another Place, The Lake we sought to take the broadest view on making a positive impact. We opened in 2017 and our initial focus sits squarely on generating and sourcing sustainable energy.
Becoming a B Corp
We want to use our business as a force for good, both environmentally and socially. That’s why we’re currently going through a rigorous assessment to become B Corp certified.
B Corps balance profit with people and planet – reaching the highest environmental and social standards. Far from a tick-box exercise, becoming a B Corp will fundamentally change the way we do business – and we’ll be legally required to report on our impact every year.
Our journey
Our activity will centre around three key themes; conservation, circular, and community.
Conservation
Conserving the earth’s natural resources is vital for a sustainable future. We source energy from renewable sources for our hotels and find innovative ways to reduce our energy demand. We also take pride in sustainably sourcing the local, seasonal produce for our kitchens and use biodegradable cleaning products.
We only buy 100% renewable electricity, supplied by Brook Green Energy.
Since January 2019 we have reduced our carbon footprint by 250 tonnes per annum. We have achieved this by investing in a wood-pellet biomass boiler system, allowing us to switch away from LPG boilers. This new biomass boiler system provides all our heating and hot water requirements.
Across the hotel, LED lighting is used almost exclusively to ensure less energy is wasted. To create more efficient kitchens, we increasingly use induction hobs – which also create a more pleasant working environment for our kitchen team.
Guests can charge their electric cars at one of 2 high-speed charging points at the hotel.
The ultraviolet water quality system in our swimming pool minimises the chlorine needed, and we filter the pools using OC1 – an ultra-efficient filtration media reducing overall water usage.
In our kitchens, we source as much as we can from local suppliers supporting good local farming practice and reducing food miles.
Almost 100% of the meat we serve is supplied by local farmers and butchers.
Our fish and seafood are sourced sustainably from waters managed by quotas to support fish populations.
Circular and community
Having focussed initially on conservation, we will formalise our approach to circular and community themes from late 2020.
In working towards a circular approach to the resources we use, and the waste we create, we aim to minimise consumption of virgin materials and reuse items wherever possible. The ultimate aim will be to create a circular system whereby resources can be infinitely reused in some way – either by us or our partners.
Our progress to date:
We have dramatically reduced single-use plastic. You’ll find reusable carafes of filtered water in our rooms instead of bottles, and no plastic straws, picks or stirrers. The land&water bath and body care bottles in rooms are made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, are refilled after use, and are fully recyclable.
In our kitchens, food is delivered in reusable crates or recyclable cardboard. We ensure we reduce food waste, for example by using all cuts of meat across our two restaurants. The cooking oil we use is also collected for use in biodiesel.
We believe that business should bring benefits for its local community. From creating quality, long-term employment opportunities to building assets that will benefit local people for years to come, people are at the heart of our decision-making.
At Another Place, The Lake:
100 of our team live within the local community. We provide transport daily to ensure those team members without their own transport are able to live within the community.
We work with a network of local business partners from sports provision to tradespeople to food suppliers.
As well as keeping our visitors informed via partnership marketing with organisations such as our local RSPB branch, we support community conservation efforts (with the Red Squirrel conservation work on site) and charitable fundraising.
