A luxury Lake District spa resort has achieved a new accreditation to benchmark its progress in environmental performance and use of renewable energy.

Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa near Windermere has received the nationally recognised Greengage ECOsmart gold award.

ECOsmart is the leading certification system for hotels, hospitality and meeting venues. It integrates UN sustainable development goals into its benchmarking processes and is recognised as a marque that organisations can display to demonstrate their commitment to environmental sustainability and achievement of recognised standards.

Low Wood Bay recently became the first spa in the North West to attain the Good Spa Guide’s highest ‘Five Bubble Luxury’ rating. Around 12% of the venue’s annual electricity is now self-generated on-site by a hydropower water turbine fed from a fellside stream behind the hotel.

The spa hotel also runs a combined heat and power (CHP) plant which generates electricity and heating. And six EV charging points are in situ for guests to recharge their cars during overnight stays.

Conservation projects are also a vital cog in the venue’s efforts to improve its natural surroundings. New woodlands next to Low Wood Bay are thriving thanks to the plantation of over 2,500 new trees by English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues.

The hotel group’s ECOsmart certification also includes its sister venues Wild Boar Estate, which has a biomass woodchip burner, solar panels and its own private borehole water supply, and Lancaster House Hotel which features solar panels and EV charging points.

ECOsmart certification continually tracks sustainability performance and improvements. Accessible through a user-friendly online portal, it includes a range of environmental management tools to help direct the hotel’s path towards greater sustainability.

Mark Needham from English Lakes Hotels says:

“Sustainable approaches to regenerative tourism and renewable energy adoption are crucial aspects in our thinking. We are continually looking at ways to reduce our environmental impact, our carbon footprint and our operating costs too."

“As well as helping us to measure our carbon output more accurately, ECOsmart gives us a pathway to best practices and new ideas and validates our commitment to sustainability.”

Low Wood Bay front of house manager Sofia Spadafora regularly shows guests around the water turbine building and pipeline when they ask about the hydropower project, including delegates from a recent energy industry conference at the venue. Guests can also view live turbine output performance here.

According to Greengage, 78% of travellers plan to stay in a sustainable property at least once in the coming year. ECOsmart certification provides a quality hallmark to help them make more informed decisions when booking a sustainable hotel venue. It is also compliant

with Travalyst’s sustainability standards for accommodation providers, in an initiative aiming to increase international transparency.