Center Parcs

Chris Brooks, Center Parcs Sustainability manager, has one overriding pre-occupation when making any decisions about cutting energy usage and carbon emissions: "It cannot impact on the guests' experience of Center Parcs," he says.

It's a position that seems to have helped rather than hindered environmental progress at the British holiday parks group. The company, which welcomed 1.6 million visitors at its four villages last year, is ranked joint first in the CRC League table.

Brooks credits the 'stick' of the CRC for raising the profile of energy efficiency and sustainability internally at Center Parcs, but he says the group was already some way down the road of sustainability, having achieved the ISO14001 environmental management system some years ago.

Center Parcs has committed to a carbon reduction target of 20 per cent by 2020 from a 2009-10 baseline. Last year, it achieved a 1.9 per cent reduction, but this year it is aiming for a four per cent cut.

"It's about understanding where the low-hanging fruit is," says Brooks about the group's carbon reduction strategy.

To do this, the company rolled out 200 smart meters across all its sites, including its head office, in late 2009. The automated metering has allowed Center Parcs to get a handle on the breakdown of energy use across the villages and, according to Brooks, has been an invaluable tool in the carbon reduction strategy.

The main culprits in terms of energy usage are the parks' swimming pools, so in 2010 the group committed over 1 million at the Whinfell Forest village to replace the boilers for the 'Sub Tropical Swimming Paradise'. This included the installation of four new efficient boilers and a combined heat and power unit.

At another site, the company has invested in LED lighting and automated kitchen extraction controls – producing energy savings of between 10 and 20 per cent. And the company is investing in a new building management system at one of its villages, which it will roll out to all three other villages if it tests well.

The group has 300,000 set aside for each village every year to spend on energy initiatives and Brooks says this linked with its staff engagement programme is reaping rewards.

"Every single person is bonused on the carbon emissions of the company," he explains. "It's helped us develop a competitive instinct between the villages. Everyone thinks about carbon and everyone is rewarded for it."

Center Parcs' biggest challenge now, says Brooks, is continuing to offer its guests new facilities and experiences, whilst reducing the group's carbon footprint. The company is planning a fifth village in Bedfordshire, which will have 800 accommodation units plus a swimming pool. As such the new village is designed to the highest sustainable standards and will include a biomass-powered district heating system and solar panels.