Outlining Our Commitment
Sustainability is at the heart of our business strategy. Alongside driving long-term growth and profitability, we promote the inclusion of environmental and social issues in our business model.
Here, we want to begin to outline our commitment to practices and standards which are designed to promote environmentally responsible operations across our resort.
Protecting Our Future
We want to protect the future of our planet so that generations to come, can enjoy this beautiful place we call home.
Of course, we must balance this to ensure that what we do here at Crow Wood today meets the needs of our present-day guests without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. We aim to do this by preserving and protecting the area’s ecosystems and natural resources as much as possible during our operation.
Environmental Responsibility
We have tasked ourselves with reducing our carbon emissions and energy consumption and reducing the use of fossil fuels, through efficiency improvements and the use of alternative and renewable sources.
Carbon Offsetting for Conference Delegate Guests
Here at Crow Wood Hotel & Spa Resort we’re incredibly proud to announce that we will be carbon offsetting 100 miles of car travel for every conference delegate we host.
We’ll be delivering this in partnership with Tree-V, a company that specialises in carbon balancing automotive emissions. Working together we will be ensuring that emissions from vehicles traveling to our venue for conferences will be carbon offset by the protection of overseas forestry and the CO2 that every tree within it is storing. You can find out more about Tree-V at tree-v.com and read about their passion for helping those not able to go EV, still keep their motoring eco-friendly!
Why are we taking this step?
Our team is always conscious of the impact our hotel has on the environment and we’ve already taken many steps to reduce our carbon footprint.
However, there is one area of our operations that we can’t control – how all of our lovely customers get to us. Whilst the world is on a journey to EV vehicles, many of us aren’t there yet and fossil fuelled cars still form the bulk of vehicles on UK roads. This means our conference venue’s carbon footprint goes beyond our front door so we consider it vitally important to put a scheme like this in place. This is our way of ensuring that we are doing what we can to tackle the CO2 emissions associated with travel to our conferences.
Officially an environmentally conscious business
We’re proud to have been awarded the EcoSmart by Greengage Silver Accreditation.
This accreditation recognises our ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability and confirms our achievement of independently verified standards. It highlights the steps we’ve taken to reduce our environmental impact across energy, water, waste, and community engagement.
Our EcoSmart Silver status is now visible on multiple booking channels, including Booking.com and Venue Directory, so customers can filter specifically for eco-certified venues like ours.
We’re also featured on the EcoSmart Sustainability Map, helping environmentally conscious businesses and guests discover us. The accreditation is annually audited, building trust that our sustainability practices are independently verified and continuously improving.
UTILITIES & RENEWABLE ENERGY
2,200-strong Solar Panel Array
Our latest long-term investment and Corporate Social Responsibility initiative is our impressive solar array project, where, in 2024, we installed over 2,200 ground-mounted solar panels. This project aimed to address rising energy demands while reducing the resort’s carbon footprint, with the ultimate goal of achieving energy self-sufficiency, particularly during the summer months.
The 1,127kWp solar installation will generate 981,927kWh of clean energy annually, enough to power around 350 average UK homes.
The system is designed to offset 196 tonnes of CO₂ each year. It now accounts for a significant 27% of our electricity needs, forming a key component in the resort’s energy strategy and sustainability initiatives.
Combined Heat Source Pump
We use a CHP unit, primarily to heat our seven swimming pools. This is a highly efficient process that captures and utilises heat which is a by-product of electricity generation.
By generating heat and power simultaneously, it reduces carbon emissions by up to 30% when compared to a conventional boiler that would be needed to do the same job.
Solar Power
We put to great use our roof space having installed a significant number of solar panels that generate electricity for our site. This reduces our consumption from the National Grid and equally reduces our expenditure.
Borehole
We have our own water borehole which taps into a natural water source some 70 metres below the surface.
This produces 20 tonnes of water per day which contributes significantly to our water usage across the resort.
Water Consumption
We consider our water consumption and use water efficiently, recycling it wherever possible and protecting water quality with salt treatments to reduce the number of chemicals we use.
We use a CHP unit (combined heat source pump), primarily to heat our seven swimming pools. This is a highly efficient process that captures and utilises heat which is a by-product of electricity generation.
Within our hotel bedrooms, we advertise and encourage guests to consider the impact they too can have on the environment. We suggest to guests staying longer than one-night that they consider re-using towels and bed linen, all whilst keeping an emphasis on not impacting comfort during their stay.
We have indeed found that many of our guests are keen to support our sustainability schemes and like to do their bit for the environment and participate in our work.
Industry-leading Chlorine Hyprolyser System
As part of our commitment to sustainability and innovation, we have invested in an industry-leading chlorine hypochlorite generation system. Using only water, salt and electricity, it safely produces pure sodium hypochlorite on demand, eliminating the need to transport and store hazardous concentrated chlorine chemicals. This significantly reduces our environmental impact by lowering carbon emissions associated with chemical deliveries, minimising plastic waste and improving safety for both our team and guests. The investment reflects our ongoing commitment to operating responsibly while maintaining the highest standards of water quality across our spa facilities.
Air Source Heat Pumps
Our air-source heat pumps for our hotel efficiently extract heat from the atmosphere. Having deployed the very latest technology, we are extremely energy-efficient.
Building Management Systems
We use BMS systems resort-wide. This is a computer-based control system that controls the building’s mechanical and electrical equipment, such as ventilation and lighting.
For example, in our leisure club classes, the heating or air conditioning, depending on the class, will come on automatically just before the class starts to heat or cool to a set temperature, then switch off. This allows us to manage our energy demand very cost-effectively and reduce the amount of energy we consume.
LED Lighting
We use LED lighting across our resort, which has a massive impact on our energy consumption. For the most part, the lighting system utilises occupancy sensors ensuring lights are on for the absolute minimum time.
Our private access driveway and car park lights are also programmed to automatically switch on at dusk using light sensors.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
We actively encourage waste prevention, reducing and reusing materials where we can, recycling, and upcycling to minimise waste disposal.
We recycle all our waste, splitting it into plastics, cardboard and general waste, working in partnership with our waste removal company, Veolia. We chose Veolia in particular, as they have their own sustainability fund to transform local communities and environments.
Our Community
We are proud to provide employment to some 385 local people. We encourage investment in the local economy and contribute significantly to economic activity in our area. We use local businesses wherever possible and source products and services locally where it’s possible and practical to do so without impacting on quality.
We regularly donate to our designated charities. In 2022 we have donated £40k to Pendleside Hospice, £10k to Ukraine appeals and £7k to a local Community Grocery Store.
We love to share updates on our sustainability programmes with our staff, guests and members. The impact has been both rewarding and encouraging. Our employees actively engage with us on various programmes.
We have, on a number of occasions, working in conjunction with River Ribble Trust, friends and colleagues, undertaken a clean-up of the River Calder (a section of which belongs to our resort). retrieving various objects including the ubiquitous shopping trolley and disposing of the rubbish in an environmentally friendly way.
Nature Reserve
Our mission is for everyone to continue to use our open spaces and our amenities for years to come, in an environmentally and sustainable way. We constantly provide wild bird food and have built numerous ponds and wetland areas.
Our resort is home to wild deer, various birds of prey and has been designated as a wildlife sanctuary by the company.
The Woodland Trust teaches us that trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and therefore help to combat climate change. Trees also help to improve soils and prevent flooding and erosion.
Back in 2001, when we first purchased the site, 25,000 trees were planted in partnership with the Forest of Burnley, and when Crow Wood Hotel was built in 2019, a further one thousand trees were planted to make up for the land that was cleared for the construction. In the spring of 2021, a further 3,750 native English trees were planted by us with an additional 4,000 having been planted by the Ribble Rivers.
We have also partnered with RecycleIT who have pledged to plant one tree here on the resort, for every one tonne of E-Waste they collect from their clients and partners. This is in addition to pledging to plant one tree for every single laptop that is donated to their refurbishment programme.
“Thousands of wildlife species depend on trees for food and shelter. Of course, planting trees is also one of the best ways of mitigating climate change too. We also wanted to provide an opportunity for not only our guests but also our neighbours to be able to enjoy the walks we have created around the perimeter of the hotel, in their leisure time.” Andrew Brown, MD
It’s well documented that a walk among trees enhances our mood, reduces stress and improves our mental wellbeing. Green spaces encourage more social interaction and a stronger sense of community. We actively encourage staff and surrounding local communities, to make use of our resort and parkland.
Employee Mandate
We strive towards being the best employers we can be. We encourage fairness, inclusion and respect throughout our organisation and have initiated a number of programmes to recognise and reward employee contribution. We consistently make pay awards well above the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage.
Staff welfare is of paramount importance to us and is always a primary objective. We want to provide the best possible working conditions for our colleagues. We do this in a number of ways: we are investing in better staff welfare restrooms and canteen and break areas and by employing the latest technology available we have reduced the heat of the hotel kitchen and are planning imminent investment to carry similar programmes out across the resort.
We encourage our staff to cycle to work, providing bike lockers, and we also have several charging points for electric vehicles that both guests and staff may use.
We provide complimentary health club membership to our staff.
Our Partners
RecycleIT
We have partnered with RecycleIT, one of the UK’s leading IT disposal and asset management service providers. They care about the environment that we live and work in and strive to work towards a circular economy for IT assets.
RecycleIT pledges to plant one tree here on the resort, for every one tonne of E-Waste they collect from their clients and partners. This is in addition to pledging to plant one tree for every single laptop that is donated to their refurbishment programme.
Their popular sustainability programme will also see local community schemes and national charities receive donations to underprivileged children and adults, both locally and on a national scale. This in turn will allow everyone to access vital I.T. equipment.
RecycleIT receives approximately 300 tonnes of E-waste which they either refurb, reuse or recycle. Less than 20% of this volume is classed as end-of-life products with a total of 0% landfill.
Suppliers
We always look to use environmentally-friendly suppliers. For example, our robe and towel suppliers have pledged to remove polythene bags and other packaging from all slippers and robes saving over 50 tonnes of plastic.
Using local businesses where possible we help reduce our carbon footprint in supplier deliveries.
We know our journey doesn’t end here. We will continue to do more to reduce our impact on the environment.
However, we hope our ongoing projects will contribute to and raise ambition for achieving net zero and raise awareness of other environmental issues such as biodiversity & nature, the built environment, circular economy, finance, land use, food & agriculture and transport.
Our Restaurants
Wilfred’s Restaurant and the Hotel kitchens are fully electric. The use of induction hot plates helps protect our staff from being exposed to constant heat and we need less air-conditioning to cool the kitchens down – further reducing our energy consumption and ensuring little to no wastage.
Staff welfare is paramount to us, so providing better working conditions by reducing the heat of the kitchens is always a primary objective.
We have won the Taste Lancashire Award for sourcing local produce. In doing so, not only are we supporting our local businesses but we are also protecting the environment by reducing the carbon footprint of product delivery. Some of our local produce suppliers include:
Dewlay Of Garstang – Garstang Blue Cheese
J&D Rimmer & Sons, Tarleton, Maris Piper Potatoes
JJ Sandham, Preston – Smoked Butter & Lancashire Cheese
Molyneux Kale Company, Southport – Kale & Savoy Cabbage
S C Farrington, Hesketh Bank Farm – Tendertstem Broccoli
Smithy Mushroom’s, Scarisbrick – Mushrooms
Balmer & Sons, Briercliffe, Burnley – Milk & Cream
Warings of Tarleton – Heritage Cauliflowers