Environmental & CSR Policy

The Strand Palace Hotel recognises the need for responsible environmental management and is committed to improving energy and water efficiency, reducing and recycling waste, protecting the environment, and positively contributing to the communities in which we operate. Working at all levels of the business, from employees to guests and suppliers, we will endeavour to minimise the adverse impact our hotel’s operations have on the environment and engage in CSR initiatives.

Our Policy is to:

• Fully comply with environmental legislation and approved codes of practice
• Continuously seek to improve our environmental performance.
• Reduce the pollution, emissions and waste and increase the hotel’s recycling ethos.
• Ensure the efficient use of energy, water and other resources encouraging an ‘environmentally responsible’ attitude
• Promote awareness and educate employees on environmental issues and sustainable  working practices
• Expect similar environmental standards and practices from suppliers and contractors
• Develop and increase responsible purchasing methods to include sourcing products, such as locally produced goods and using suppliers that maintain ethical practices.
• Assist customers to use products and services in an environmentally friendly way
• Support the communities in which we operate and engage in CSR initiatives
• Align ourselves with Green Tourism Business Scheme and Considerate Hoteliers as an indicator of our environmental commitment and focus

Some of the measures in place to enable us to be more environmentally friendly are as follows:

Green Team

We have a Green Team in place to ensure a targeted focus on environmental issues and encourage the generation of ideas and implementation of appropriate measures.

Energy

We are aware of the need to improve energy efficiency and do actively identify and implement measures to reduce our energy consumption and costs to the hotel. Some of the initiatives taken include:

• The installation of low energy lighting throughout many parts of the Hotel
• Regular boiler efficiency audits
• Control water temperatures throughout the hotel. Lights, heating and air conditioning in the hotel’s conference rooms and offices are switched off when the rooms are not in use
• In periods of low occupancy, appropriate sections or floors within the hotel are isolated so heating can be turned off and lighting reduced to emergency levels only
• Operation of Combined Heating and Power (CHP) units generating electricity and reducing C02 emissions
• The installation of energy saving appliances which includes electric convection ovens, Hobart Flight Dishwashing machines and Fosters Eco-Fridges.

Water

Water is a scarce resource which has a direct impact on our natural environment and therefore its management is essential. We have implemented water conservation measures to reduce consumption and costs. Some of these measures are:

• Providing water saving devices in toilets and restrictors for taps and showers
• We have installed drinking water filtration units around the staff areas of the hotel.
• Water is softened to prevent lime scale build up
• Water is not left running unnecessarily through the use of motion sensor on taps and urinals in public toilets.

Waste

We have looked at ways to reduce, reuse and recycle the types and quantity of waste produced by the hotel, ensuring it is disposed of correctly and also considering alternative ways of dealing with waste. This included glass, cooking oil, cardboard, paper and ink cartridges.

• We have targeted ourselves on reducing the proportion of waste that goes to landfill and increasing recycling levels year on year
• We have reviewed how waste streams are segregated; ensuring that glass, cardboard and paper are recycled.
• We are working with our suppliers to reduce excess packaging and increase the use of recycled cardboard and other biodegradable packaging.
• Through the installation of suitable software and the automation of processes, we have been able to move to ‘paperless’ offices in our back office functions such as Accounts, Reservations and Front Office resulting in the reduction of paper usage by over 80%.
• We have our own in-house water bottling system for guests using our conference & events space whereby filtered water is supplied in branded re-useable glass bottles, significantly reducing our glass bottle wastage.
• Cooking fats are collected in the hotel’s fat traps and removed on a regular basis preventing fats entering the sewerage system.

Transport and responsible purchasing

We do implement ideas and take action to reduce the environmental impact of the hotel caused through travel, whether through deliveries or purchasing more locally sourced and ethically sound products. Specifically:

• We screen our suppliers to ensure they share our environmental ethos.

• We purchase our foods through a national supplier who sources suppliers locally.
• We stock Organic Wines and have embarked on using more sustainable fish.
• We demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and the use of multi-certification in some areas such as Fair Trade, Organic and Rainforest Alliance certified Tea, coffee and sugar.
• We have also introduced ‘Doggy Boxes’ for guests in our Restaurants who wish to take their leftovers home and so thereby reducing unnecessary food waste.
• Inclusion on the ‘Sustrans’ website, to promote smarter and sustainable travel
• We operate a Staff Cycle scheme through the governments Tax Free bikes for work initiative.

Pollution

We consider practical measures to help us reduce pollution of the environment through the hotel’s activities. This will entail us ensuring:

• Chemicals are biodegradable and environmentally friendly
• Drainage systems are not contaminated,
• Proper disposal of grease and cooking oils
• A reduction in carbon emissions
• All boiler flue gas emissions pass through our flue dilution system

We are continually working on improving in this area and do welcome any feedback.

Committed To The Environment And Promoting Responsible Energy Policies

Stay where the City meets the West End, and discover the Strand Palace Hotel. Just minutes from Charing Cross, Covent Garden, Holborn and Embankment underground stations, at the heart of London’s finest attractions and landmarks, we offer contemporary accommodation at great value. Book your green London hotel reservations directly through this site for preferred rates .