Azora to reduce Spanish hotel portfolio’s energy consumption
Azora yesterday announced a €2.5 million investment in a pilot project to decarbonise its seven-hotel portfolio in Spain. The Madrid-based property investment company is targeting a 25% reduction in annual energy consumption.
“This decarbonisation plan highlights the commitment we have to sustainability, and represents the next stage of our efforts to improve the energy efficiency of our portfolio,” said Concha Osácar, co-founding partner, Azora. “We are convinced that the creation of value also involves applying the latest trends in energy efficiency and sustainability into the repositioning we carry out to improve the user experience and the environmental impact of our facilities.”
The investment, made through Azora’s flagship European Hotel & Leisure Fund, aims to decarbonise the hotel portfolio acquired from Med Playa in 2019.
The project includes a number of initiatives focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency and minimising dependency on fossil fuels across each asset. This programme follows an initial €30 million repositioning of the hotels to bring them to a 4* rating, with the portfolio continuing to be managed by Med Playa Group.
With these measures, Azora expects to achieve a 25% reduction in annual energy consumption across the portfolio, representing an energy saving of 4,300 MWh/year and reducing carbon emissions by 1,100 tonnes per year.
The initiatives include: replacing domestic hot water production equipment (previously produced using natural gas boilers) with modern air/water heat pump-type equipment; providing the building with a photovoltaic solar energy production plant; and installing thermal production control systems, as well as equipment to optimise electricity supply.
Following this pilot programme, Azora plans to extend these successful decarbonisation initiatives across the rest of the fund’s portfolio, to improve the energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of its hospitality assets. Azora has also committed to obtain BREEAM very good certification for all of the fund’s hospitality assets, having already achieved this certification for the seven-hotel Med Playa portfolio, among others.
“The initiatives we have rolled out across the Med Playa portfolio will be analysed as we look to replicate the success of this pilot project across the rest of our portfolio,” said Gonzalo García-Lago, partner, Azora Hotels & Leisure. “Our objective is to continue taking measures to modernise our assets and reduce the carbon footprint of our activity as much as possible.”
Last year Azora received a ReThink Hotel Award (organized by Habitat Futura and TSMEDIA in recognition of the 10 best sustainability and hotel energy rehabilitation projects) for its repositioning of the TRS Ibiza, which incorporated designs that maximized sustainability functions.
The seven-hotel portfolio, which was acquired from the Med Playa hotel group in May 2019 and includes 1,670 rooms, comprises: the Hotel Pez Espada in Torremolinos and the Hotel Riviera in Benalmádena, both located on the Costa del Sol; and the Flamingo Oasis, Río Park, Riudor, Regente and Agir hotels, located in Benidorm.
These hotels form part of Azora’s European Hotel & Lodging Fund, which comprises 41 leisure and hospitality assets across Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Belgium and Germany.
