What Is B Corp?
Balancing business with purpose
In 2024, we announced that we became B Corp Certified, a huge achievement that took months of hard work to attain.
What is it?
B Corp is short for B Corporation, a certification awarded to businesses that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. Administered by B Lab, a non profit organisation, it recognises companies that balance profit with purpose, ensuring they benefit not just shareholders, but everyone involved including employees, customers, the local community and the planet.
What are our B Corp initiatives?
The B Corp movement challenges us to redefine success to include the wellbeing of our community, our staff and the planet. From sourcing sustainable produce to supporting our local communities and offering unparalleled guest experiences that align with their values, we see this as areal opportunity to create change within luxury hospitality.
In the last year we have overhauled our supply chain with a focus on long-term relationships with like-minded, and where possible, local suppliers and producers. It may have started with a rigorous checklist (think banning single use plastics and carbon offsetting), but through it we have developed new friendships and partnerships with some incredible people with whom we share a passion for doing the right thing and doing it really well.
Today, we are proud to be partnered with some incredible British businesses such as Chocolarder in Cornwall, Skye Weavers on the Hebridean Isle of Skye, Mitchell & Peach in Kent and Canned Wine Co. in Bath.
We strive to lead and innovate in energy saving features including heat reclaim and water efficiency. Our accreditation holds us to the highest standards of environmental performance and transparency, but we are committed to going further.
Each year we aim to reduce our energy usage by 5% through more responsible use of gas, water and electricity – this ranges from LED lighting to meticulous tracking and timers. We’re currently measuring carbon emissions at 26kg per room per night, well below the UK average of 33-36kg.
With water we’re particularly mindful of wastage. Each day we use 7 times less water in our building thanks to our specialist vacuum drainage system. What’s more, in-house filtration and bottling eliminates single-use water bottles and reduces carbon emissions in the transport of bottled water.
Our passion for preserving the environment and enabling our guests to live better influences all of our operational decisions. We are dedicated to continually seeking to evolve and improve in this area, and we empower the hotel’s brilliantly diverse team to suggest new ideas and get involved.
Communication is key and through our corporate citizenship our customer service and our employee responsibilities we are a listening organisation – open to review and respond to all as part of our positive contribution to society.
Finally, our commitment to charity is a quiet, yet active story, with donations and projects spread across a variety of sectors including supporting seriously ill children through Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity and London’s homeless through The Connection at St. Martin’s.
That’s great, what’s next?
Just like how sustainability requires continual effort, achieving B Corp status is not a one-and-done achievement; it requires ongoing commitment. We will undergo a B Impact Assessment every three years to ensure we continue to meet their standards. We will also be continually seeking to improve our impact score, by implementing more sustainable supply chain practices and increasing our community involvement.
As London’s first luxury hotel to become B Corp Certified, we see ourselves as guardians for future generations and are part of a global movement towards benefitting all.