BRAVE GREEN TRAVEL

Green travel Costa Brava
One beautiful hotel, many labels, little clarity

Sustainability, travel and the built environment: it’s not obvious how to assess impacts or direct focus, despite or because of a plethora of accreditation systems; one example to illustrate the point:

Hostal Spa Empuries is the first hotel in Europe to receive Gold LEED certification. The restored 1907 building and new additions are linked by dry-planting and a durable fabric of plaster, stone and natural fibres, behind which less visible but vital systems allow tourism to co-exist with environmental respect: water management and recycling, organic produce grown on site, kitchen composting, PVC and formaldehyde-free materials, natural ventilation and solar panels.

A romantic, surface view of things? LEED is criticised for concentrating too much on energy efficiency and ignoring embedded carbon, while EIG who advised on the project were aiming for a C2C project not certificated at the time. Welcome to sustainability buzzwords, acronyms and constantly shifting opinion.

A beautiful place to stay and it appears best intentions informed the renovation. It rather hides its green credentials though - not maintained or considered off-putting perhaps. Difficult on so many levels and impossible to judge, for now.

If visiting don't miss Mar d'Empuries Beach Bar practically in the sea, drinks & music, treading lightly.

Hostal Spa Empuries L'Escala, Costa Brava
Design/construction Construction21
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design