Project Details
- Scheme & Version: BREEAM International New Construction 2013
- Certification Stage: Interim
- Rating: Good
- Overall score: 52.2%
Project Team
- Developer / Client: ALMEST
- Architect: EMPROY VC / Bouygues Bâtiment International
- Building Services: EMPROY VC
- Constructor: AEI UCM-BBI
- Assessor Company: Bouygues Bâtiment International
About the Project
The project Hotel Salinas 2 is building in the northern area of Cayo las Brujas, considered a seminatural non-urban site, in the municipality of Caibarién, province of Villa Clara, Cuba.
The plot is located in the extreme northeast of the island unit Las Brujas and in the south of the Beach “La Salina”, all belonging to the central region of the sub-archipelago Sabana-Camaguey and taking part of the “Cayería del Noroeste” National Protected Area, approved since 1985.
The project covers an area of 17.24ha, on a coastal lagoon that was a saline since the last century. The aim of this saline was to produce salt for the leather tanning in the existing tanneries in the municipality, being the processing of the leather one of the main economic sources of Caibarién. These saline areas were abandoned 20 years ago, but the anthropic effects on their biodiversity had not been reversible and a filling was made on them, forming the project site.
The project has an occupied surface of 17003m2 and a gross floor area of 48779 m2.
Energy:
- A reduction in energy consumption of 14%
- A reduction in energy demand of 10%
- A reduction of CO2 emissions of 14%
- All lighting is LED
- The production of hot water is done through the recovery of heat from the chillers
Water Efficiency:
- 70% water saving through the use of ecological water components.
Land Use & Ecology:
- Planting native species
- Creating and achieving a landscape and habitat management plan
Materials:
- Carry out a life cycle assessment of materials that compound the project
- Achieve thermal insulation with responsible sourcing
Waste:
- Installation of a vessel composting for vegetable waste
- Agreement with a pig farm for the collection of food waste
Environmental Challenges and Green Strategy
The environmental challenges are very high as the project is located on a plot with very poor ecological value.
It has been very difficult for the project to achieve biodiversity in an area where there was no flora and a very scarce fauna. In addition, the plot is located in a very sensitive habitat in Cayo Las Brujas belonging to the Cayería del Noreste de Villa Clara National Protected Area. It is subject to strong legal and regulatory requirements, both in the environmental license issued for the work, as well as in the rest of the national environmental regulations, having to comply with all of them to obtain the necessary guarantees from the competent authorities. One of the requirements is the reduction of exoticism in plants and the prohibition of invasive species that may affect the environmental balance. The implantation of this type of plants is complex since there are not enough reserves in nurseries and the plot itself lacks vegetation. Therefore, it has been necessary to manage a large number of native plants within the keys itself with the added difficulty of being a protected area. This has been the first experience at Polo Cayo Santa Maria of using such a high number of native spices in the gardening of a hotel, reaching 70% of the total number of species used.
Benefits of achieving BREEAM certification
The benefits of evaluating BREEAM and obtaining certification come from the adoption of responsible and sustainable environmental practices for tourism, which in island conditions like ours is very important. In addition, it represents an important contribution to the conservation of peculiar and sensitive ecosystems, such as Cayo Las Brujas. This can generate advantages for tourist destinations such as attracting clients interested in ecotourism issues who wish to contribute and promote the protection of nature while enjoying an attractive environment, healthier products, which allow them to promote enjoyment, bone and personal well-being in a healthy way. It can also become an important marketing tool that attracts hotel chains and tour operators specialized in environmental issues that maintain the achievements in terms of ecology and biodiversity achieved so far and even bring new technologies that allow to improve environmental management in an integrated way in the site.
BRREAM has strong requirements from the point of view of energy efficiency, which brought with it an improvement of our specialists and an increase in the quality and comfort of the hotel with low water and energy consumption, promoting a sustainable development, it provides a return of a novel experience for the country where it is not usual to buy supplies of such a high standard and perhaps they can be generalized at least in high-level constructions, thus contributing to energy savings and the economy of the country in general, while providing little support to conserving non-renewable resources such as water and reducing environmental pollution.
It also establishes its own requirements for the temporary facilities of the work and the entire execution period, which are monitored monthly through the clean work letter. This has allowed safer and more environmentally friendly facilities and good practices to be conceived, achieving a much cleaner, more organized and more comfortable work for the workers.