A new hotel is set to open this July at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey.
Boasting a prominent view over the vines, the luxury hotel aims to be the ‘first carbon neutral vineyard hotel in England’. Alongside 17 stylishly-appointed guest rooms, the hotel offers the new Vineyard restaurant, as well as a bar area for guests.
Denbies is committed to establishing the best practice in green-tourism and the team has worked closely with architect, Tony Oke, who designed Denbies Winery in the early nineties, to adopt the best measures to achieve a carbon neutral status.
This will reduce the hotel’s environmental impact and promote Denbies Wine Estate as the North Downs and Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’s (AONB) eco-friendly tourist destination.
Many measures have been taken to ensure the hotel achieves as close to full carbon neutral status – zero carbon footprint – as possible. The building was constructed with high level thermal installation and fitted out with low energy lighting, creating maximum energy efficiency with minimum heat loss.
Solar panels have been installed to generate power that will feed into three 5kw Tesla batteries, which in turn will distribute said power throughout the hotel, managed by an intelligent control system.
Any excess energy will be fed back into the grid and re-used, reducing the overall power usage for the estate. Outside, electric car charging points and cycle parking facilities have been installed to encourage visitors to use sustainable transport methods.
Denbies’ proximity to Dorking train station also makes it an attractive destination for those travelling from further afar.
Denbies Vineyard Hotel has been designed to blend into the natural surroundings of the North Downs and fit the specific Surrey Hills AONB criteria in terms of aesthetics and functionality.
A key objective was for the building to fit-in with the ethos of Denbies and exist in harmony with Denbies’ Visitor Centre. The wine estate holds a Green Tourism Gold status and was awarded Green Business of the Year Award in 2016, showcasing their commitment being as green as possible.
“This recent building process has been very different from the original Denbies Wine Estate design, as the technology to design and produce a carbon neutral building was nowhere near as advanced 30 years ago,” explains architect, Tony Oke.
“As technology has advanced, so the commitment to sustainable practice has evolved.”
