Source: ASB
Park Hyatt Auckland is the first hotel in New Zealand to be awarded the coveted 4-star Green Star Performance Rating by the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC).
Green Star Performance sets out a range of criteria that is used to determine if a building and its operations are best practice in terms of sustainability. This was adopted and adapted for the New Zealand market from the Australian tool with input from the New Zealand property sector.
ASB provided lending through its Sustainable Transition Loan along with advisory services, to support Park Hyatt Auckland through the rigorous certification process and ultimately achieve the impressive certification. The Green Star Rating ensures sustainability claims are substantiated and backed up by a commitment to continuously maintain and improve performance, with energy and water efficiency monitored annually and a full re-certification completed every three years.
From its innovative 85,000-litre collection tank that filters rainwater through the building to flush toilets and water plants, the philosophy flows right down to the ground floor kitchen, where food waste is converted into renewable energy. With the hotel generating an average of 45 bins of food waste per month, each weighing around 150kgs, this amounts to approximately 6,700 kilos of food waste per month that’s diverted from landfill. Other leftover ingredients are either composted or donated to charitable organisations.
“We’re proud of leading the way by achieving this prestigious performance rating, and we’re thrilled the Council has recognised our commitment to balancing a superb guest experience with responsible resource use,” says Park Hyatt Auckland General Manager Brett Sweetman. “When the hotel project began in 2015, we already had sustainability in mind, and it continues to be very important to us – right down to locally sourced ingredients and even the sustainably sourced paper we use in the meeting room.”
“This is a tremendous achievement and shows real leadership for the sector,” says NZGBC Senior Manager Bobby Shen. “By going through this process, the Park Hyatt Auckland team has benchmarked vital elements like indoor air quality, temperature comfort, and efficiency that will support visitors to Tāmaki Makaurau to have a healthy, comfortable stay, while also ensuring they’re measuring and working to reduce their impact on the planet.”
“Discerning travellers increasingly expect luxury hotels to demonstrate a genuine commitment to sustainability. At Park Hyatt Auckland, we believe true luxury lies not only in exceptional experiences, but also in operating responsibly and with respect for our environment and community,” says Mr Sweetman. “ASB has been instrumental in joining the dots of what’s possible and how to bring those ideas to fruition to make them not only commercially viable and but also to lower emissions.”
ASB’s General Manager Commercial Banking and Business Strategy Ben Speedy describes sustainability as a ‘win-win’.
“We see time and time again that enabling building owners to analyse their operations from an environmental perspective inevitably leads to lower costs,” he says. “It’s not just ‘feel-good’ factor, it’s also about the bottom line. Sustainable business decisions make commercial sense, and our role is to support our customers to grow their business while working towards their sustainability goals.”
ASB has now issued $1.5b of sustainable finance to support the decarbonisation of New Zealand’s property sector over the past four years. The bank is actively engaged with business customers across all sectors to help progress New Zealand’s transition to Net-Zero by 2050.
“We offer funding that kicks in straight away to back the customer while they work toward their desired goal,” says Mr Speedy. “This means that as soon as you’ve identified the next step of your sustainability journey, you’ll have ASB’s support to hit the ‘go’ button. At ASB we’re always monitoring and working to reduce our own emissions, so we share values with Park Hyatt Auckland when it comes to meaningfully contributing to our country’s net zero aspirations.”
