Developed by Inter Afrique Properties, the hotel is located in Airport City, Accra. The preliminary certification confirms that the hotel’s resource-efficient design will result in reductions of 25% in energy, 26% in water and 31% in materials’ embodied energy compared to a local benchmark.

Makhosazana Mthethwa, Sustainable Building Consultant at Solid Green, says that EDGE, an innovation of the IFC, was used as a fast, easy and affordable certification tool for the Hotel to benchmark its green building strategies. The tool was also easily customisable to Ghana’s local context. Edge Preliminary Certification is used to recognise a building’s green interventions during Design Phase. This process will be repeated, and the hotel audited, at the post-construction stage to earn final EDGE certification.

“The Pullman Accra Airport Hotel is committed to sustainability and so achieving third party verification for their efforts to go green is a major priority,” she says.

This EDGE certification demonstrates Pullman’s leadership as well as advocacy in the green building sector. The benefits of the energy and water efficiency measures will include lower operational costs, and will result in market differentiation as the hotel is likely to attract more clientele who are environmentally conscious.

The reduction in energy consumption was due to the following measures:

• A reduced window to wall ratio of 30%.
• Well insulated external walls.
• An energy efficient air conditioning system with Air Cooled Screw Chiller with a COP (coefficient of performance) of 4.
• A high efficiency boiler for water heating.
• 100% LED energy-saving light bulbs for all internal and external spaces.
• Occupancy sensors were used in the hotel common areas so that lights are only on when they need to be, while room cards will be used to control lighting in the hotel rooms.

To achieve the 26% reduction in water consumption, low-flow fittings such as showerheads and faucets were specified throughout the hotel, with efficient dual flush for water closets in all bathrooms. Auto shut-off faucets were specified in public bathrooms, together with water efficient kitchen faucets.

Embodied energy savings on materials were largely due to the medium weight hollow concrete blocks used for internal and external walls; and wall insulation was significantly improved with a 100mm wide air gap.

According to TripAdvisor, close to 60% of travellers make eco-friendly choices when booking hotels. With its EDGE certification, the Pullman Accra Airport City Hotel will therefore not only save resources and improve operational costs, but also boost profit margins and safeguard against occupancy risk.