Shaping a low carbon, sustainable hotel

Zeal Hotel Exeter - Planning Submission

UK-based hotel developer Zeal Hotels set out to establish a low carbon, sustainable 142-room hotel at Exeter Science Park. They engaged our integrated engineering, energy, and sustainability team to provide advice to support their planning submission.

As part of our multidisciplinary delivery, our structural engineers, in collaboration with our fire safety engineers, led the conceptual design delivery to shape the proposed build and construction of the hotel. The hotel sector has been slow to act and is lagging in the race and requirement to be zero carbon by 2050. Zeal Hotels addresses this by pushing the boundaries and challenging the established construction of hotels by introducing low carbon concrete options, specifying at least 50 percent cementitious material in all structural elements.

Working with the landscape architect McGregor Coxall, our civil infrastructure introduced permeable paving, reduced the surface water run-off, and eliminated the need for underground pipes by designing in swales to transport water. In addition, we advised on a reworking of the site to mitigate the use of retaining walls and other structures around the site, which has also limited the amount of excavation needed.

Our geotechnical specialists advised on how to reuse excess materials as structural fill, and our transport planning team has an overall transport, access, and movement strategy for the site. And to support the overall process to enable Zeal Hotels to develop a low carbon hotel, our smart energy and sustainability team produced a framework to deliver a carbon verification and validation process.

Through these efforts, Zeal Hotels was able to obtain planning permission and move forward with their planned low carbon, sustainable hotel in Exeter Science Park.