Crowne Plaza Changi Airport has joined an elite group of Singapore hotels that have been ‘Green Globe’ benchmarked by the highly regarded non-profit organisation, EC3.

In its first annual ‘Earthcheck’ assessment against benchmarking indicators and checklists to track performance in key areas of environmental and social impact, the 320-room city-style resort outperformed baseline levels in seven areas including water savings, use of paper products, cleaning products and
pesticides.

The EC3 assessment team noted the hotel’s positive commitment to maintain and improve performance in all indicators, particularly energy consumption, potable water consumption and waste sent to landfill. The benchmarking exercise was conducted from May 2008-April 2009. Only four other hotels in Singapore have received Green Globe certification - InterContinental Singapore, Holiday Inn Park View and Holiday Inn Atrium, all InterContinental Hotel Group companies, and Novotel Clarke Quay.

“Crowne Plaza Changi Airport has evolved very much along environmental lines. The hotel design makes the most of natural sunlight, recycled materials were used in its construction and we make every effort to reduce our impact with the use of non-hazardous cleaning materials,” said the hotel’s General Manager, Mark Winterton.

“To receive the EC3 benchmark is something of an achievement for a new hotel and provides a great incentive for us to keep on improving, reducing our impact on the environment under EC3’s highly credible benchmarking procedures,” he added.

EC3 Global is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC), which is owned by 16 of Australia’s leading universities. It was established under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Programme in l987 to underpin the development of a dynamic, internationally competitive, and sustainable tourism industry and draws on research from over 250 tourism and environmental sustainability leaders. Worldwide, only 400 hotels have received the EC3 seal of approval. Crowne Plaza Changi Airport has also been recognised by BCA Green Mark. Launched in 2005, the BCA Green Mark Scheme is a strategic programme aimed at raising the awareness of sustainable and environmentally friendly buildings. It evaluates buildings for their environmental impact and performance.

The benefits of Green Mark buildings include cost savings from efficient use of key resources such as energy and water, leading to lower operation and maintenance costs. Other less tangible benefits include enhanced occupant productivity and health due to good indoor environmental quality.