Getting to green
ASHH management’s persistence, transparency and integrity paid off. Today Heritance Kandalama is acclaimed for its environmental management and has won many awards for the same.
Heritance Kandalama, the first Asian hotel to receive Green Globe 21 certification in 1999, didn’t have an easy start.
The resort was to be developed in a very sensitive region of Sri Lanka. It was located in the tropical dry mixed evergreen forest, which is not only rare, but due to climatic conditions very slow growing- hence any damage would be irreparable. The locals, mostly farmers but also Buddhist monks, were concerned that that hotel would eat into their resources, besides endangering their habitat. Some of their concerns were deforestation, soil erosion and substantial increase in solid and liquid waste when the hotel would begin operations. They also believed that the hotel might destroy the social and cultural environment of the area. The company’s environment management specialist Ravi de Silva responded to these apprehensions by ensuring the locals that great care would be taken to retain the original character of the area and that the hotel would be an environmental asset to the region.
Even though the government gave the Aitken’s group a go-ahead, precedent showed that if the locals were unhappy, the government could stop construction. Hence the management continued to address the apprehensions presented by the locals. Their philosophy was that the benefits of the hotel should trickle down to the local community. They launched a corporate social contribution programme spanning various projects ranging from education, housing, health, sports to spiritual welfare.
The building itself was made with minimum harm to the natural environment. It was designed to fit the contours of the hills and rocks. Instead of leveling hill slopes the building was staggered vertically and horizontally to accommodate the profile of the land. Designs were altered to accommodate protruding rock boulders. No trees were cut; instead they were moved to other locations using a “root ball” system that could ensure survival of the trees in their new locations. During construction, care was taken to not adversely affect soil or animal life - dynamiting the rocks was avoided.
Locals were also employed at the construction site, which helped them make money to invest in their fields. In fact, locals were recruited to work in the hotel too, after being provided intensive training and English classes. Identification with the resort and team bonding were high on the list with the management. Sixty-five per cent of the staff at Kandalama was hired from the surrounding villages. The management did its best to avoid retrenching; even in times of low occupancy they re-deployed its staff in other available jobs.
A waste management system was put in place to reduce the adverse impact of waste on the environment. Starting with the 3R principle, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, they quickly upgraded to the 7R principle, Reject, Reuse, Reduce, Reclaim, Repair, Replace and Recycle.An environment management system was integrated with the hotels operations. Employees were expected to actively participate in the program. Separate teams were set up for areas such as energy, water usage, air pollution etc. and each team was supposed to carry out internal audits of other department.
The hotels business strategy was anchored on quality, productivity and corporate social responsibility. To fulfill its corporate social responsibility, community projects were designed and implemented through the hotel. These projects improved healthcare, education and public works for the nearby villages. Even hotel guests would participate in these projects as advisors, volunteers or just by providing donations to a particular fund.
