Goodwood Hotel in finals for 'Best Green Enterprise Award'

The hospitality industry Catey award recognises companies nationwide that have taken the most innovative steps to neutralise their impact on the environment in the past 12 months.

Entertaining and Hospitality Managing Director, Andrew Coggings said: “This is a huge achievement within Britain’s hospitality industry and we are proud to share some of the measures we have taken for the hotel to become a truly sustainable business.”

Some of Goodwood’s new sustainability measures include investing in a £6 million biomass waste-to energy facility to provide both hot water and electricity for The Goodwood Hotel.

The new biomass system was installed on the estate during the pandemic. It was turned on last November, delivering combined heat and power to the hotel.

It is fuelled by 3,500 tonnes of straw from Festival of Speed, 2,600 tonnes of woodchip from Goodwood’s forestry team and 1,000 tonnes of waste wood from across the estate.

These measures will save the estate 5,100 tonnes of CO2 and enable the hotel to become carbon neutral.

With carbon emissions being identified as a significant reason for climate change, Goodwood, a 12,000-acre events and hospitality estate in West Sussex, has committed to become a carbon neutral estate by 2030.

Goodwood’s wider sustainability action plan focuses on its natural resources, carbon, water and the community.

Future plans include generating green energy such as solar panels, hydro and aerobic-digestion, along with more electric-vehicle charging points in addition to the 16 already installed across the estate. A fleet of hybrid and electric machinery has been commissioned to look after the two golf courses.

A new foraging area is being established near The Goodwood Hotel with mixed fruit and nut trees for kitchen staff and guests.

Last year the estate forestry team completed the final phase of the biggest tree planting project in Southern England of 78,000 trees.

Winners will be announced on 5 July in London. Other finalists for the Sustainable Businesses Award include Fallow, a restaurant in London, Heckfield Place hotel in Hampshire, Levy UK & Ireland, Eurest food services and the University of Sheffield.

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