Since I did a post for Blog Action Day on eco-spas and the possible environmental impacts of spa and therapy activities, I've found myself getting more interested in this aspect of things. Having spent most of my working life dealing with these issues, and having realised that eco-spas are a lot easier to find than I'd expected, I'm keeping more of an eye out for more...
One of the upshots of this has been that I also spotted a press release recently about a new spa in Glasgow. The Spa at the new five-star Blythswood Square Hotel opens in February 2010 and as well as the usual blurb about luxury and 'discreet havens,' the media release includes the information that the spa will be using Ila (organic skincare) products and 'indigenous Scottish' beauty ingredients. It seems to be going for the 'local' trend that has swept food markets and other products areas, emphasising in this case the use of "organic seaweed sourced direct from the Hebrides" (good if it's being produced/harvested sustainably and shipped in low-carbon ways) and "Scotland’s purest ingredients including Scotch Thistle extract, seaweed and sea lavender, with healing therapies to provide a complete body and mind experience."
The food on offer is also apparently heavy on the “ locally sourced, organic dishes.”
All this is, of course, commendable and on the right track, and sustainable sourcing of all these consumables is an important step in the right direction.
But in terms of big environmental impacts I was also interested to find out more about the press release's statement that “Blythswood Square will be one of Scotland’s most environmentally-friendly hotels through the incorporation of renewable energy technologies to achieve reduced carbon emissions.” For this I had to head to the hotel company's own website, which lists a range of measures taken to reduce the hotel's carbon footprint, including:
- heating systems which combine Combined Heat & Power, geothermal and solar panels;
- “ highly efficient micro double glazing which is 300% better than the original sash windows at eliminating draughts” - which sounds like a useful resource for historical buildings, which are often constrained by conservation requirements when it comes to energy-efficient fittings;
- “energy efficient lighting” - which I'm guessing is a fancy way of saying low-energy light bulbs;
- additional insulation on internal walls and a heat recovery system in the roof;
- a rain water recovery system to supplement water supplies;
- some members of the same hotel chain also donate leftover food to FareShare, a stunningly common-sense scheme which distributes good-quality surplus food to homeless people, helping them to access better quality food and helping to reduce the shocking amount of food wasted every day in this (and other affluent) countries.
Unfortunately the actual information on the company website seems to have been written by a PR person who doesn't know anything about the subject and has got their terminology mixed up, so they've got geothermal down as meaning 'solar panels,' which doesn't do a great amount for its credibility. But it does look like this particular hotel is going beyond the pitiful and very annoying stickers that seem to have multiplied across many hotels, which point out how much water, heat and detergent is wasted in hotel laundries across the world by washing towels that have only been used once, and urging guests to only leave towels on the floor if they actively need them washing again. OK, fair enough on its own, but said sticker does not make a 'green hotel'. I hope that things have progressed since I wrote a report on the hotel sector for Ethical Consumer magazine in 2007, but at that time most hotel chains seemed to think that that was their environmental responsibilities covered...
Wednesday 30 December 2009
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Titanic, Huddersfield: 'Britain's first eco-spa'
Titanic Spa in Huddersfield was launched with a flurry of broadsheet reviews in 2007 as 'Britain's first eco-spa,” and its website lists some pretty impressive environmental credentials. It has invested £1.5 million in making the building 'carbon neutral,' including installing a Combined Heat & Power (CHP) plant. CHP systems use the same generator to produce both heat and electricity, so less energy is wasted, and Titanic's CHP unit runs on a biomass boiler, meaning that wood chippings are used as fuel. The trees themselves also absorb CO2 as they grow, so this is a method of power generation with a much lower carbon footprint than fossil fuel boilers, although there are some questions about the effects on biodiversity and food production of growing tree plantations for fuel.
As well as the CHP plant, Titanic also has photovoltaic solar panels to generate additional electricity, a swimming pool which uses salt instead of chlorine to keep the water clean, and an Otex laundry system which claims to “make typical average savings of 60% in electricity, 35% in gas and 80% in hot water.” And Titanic's water supply doesn't come from mains water, but from the spa's own borehole stretching 100m down into the limestone aquifer below.
So when I spotted a 2-4-1 offer for Titanic Spa on Lastminute.com, at the same time as my co-author on my first book and I were discussing treating ourselves to a post-manuscript weekend away, it seemed like the chance to find out what an eco-spa might look like.
Apart from the pleasant no-chlorine atmosphere of the swimming pool, the only discernible effect of these environmental measures are the little plaques explaining the pure borehole water, positioned above the drinking fountain in the Heat Experience area. This is a full-on luxury spa, offering a huge range of massages, wraps, scrubs, manicures, pedicures, facials, hydrotherapy and hammam treatments. The swimming pool incorporates a large jacuzzi and is surrounded by loungers in which to while away the hours or to sprawl on in between visits to the adjacent sauna or steam room. And the fabulous Relaxation Room is home to a squadron of vast, squashy armchairs and loungers, a huge sunken pit full of giant beanbags (just be careful not to fall asleep in there...) and an impressive collection of trashy magazines.
The accommodation for those lucky enough to be staying over at Titanic is also pretty plush. According to a local we got chatting to, the guest apartments were originally designed as flats in this vast renovated nineteenth century mill building, but didn't sell. This means they have top-of-the-range kitchens and nice bathrooms, as well as TVs and DVD players for those too exhausted to do anything but flop after their spa day.
The half-hour Target Massages we got as part of the Lastminute offer package were more than adequate, and in my case surprisingly effective for such a short time. My therapist was confident and able, delivering a back and shoulder massage using forearms and elbows as well as hands, and finishing off with a slick of circulagel to make the effects of the massage last longer.
The biggest reason to head for Titanic, though, is the Heat Experience. This is a dimly-lit circular room with the feel of a Middle Eastern hammam, where you can spend hours working your way around a range of small rooms ranging from a gorgeously tiled blue Steam Room, a roasting sauna or milder saunarium, a clean-scented aromatherapy room or a row of bubbling foot spas, to an ice room or a freezing plunge pool. After a few rounds of this your skin feels fabulously clean, your muscles relaxed, and if you've braved the cold plunge pool after some time in the sauna, your circulation and endorphins are racing.
Titanic is, in my estimation, pretty damn good, and its environmental investments are very impressive. But it's not quite there yet. The small eco-failings seem odd; there things that even hotels that haven't grasped the bigger environmental picture manage to do (if only for PR reasons) which Titanic doesn't. The tea, sugar and orange juice in the apartment kitchens, for example, are neither organic nor Fairtrade, although they all easily could be switched over as coffee is already FT. There are no recycling bins in the apartments or around the drinking fountains, and although there are some paper cones to drink from, there were also plastic cups by many of the fountains. The freebie toiletries in the bathrooms, while pleasant-smelling, weren't from any of the widely available eco or fair trade brands, and were labelled 'made in China.' The products on sale and used in treatments were good quality but not eco or fair trade, and although the Decleor saleswoman in the foyer was lovely, she was totally baffled by our questions about the ethics of the company behind the brand. And the Directions page on the Titanic website only gives instructions on how to get to the spa by car, not by public transport from Huddersfield train and coach station, which are a ten minute cab ride away.
Titanic Spa should be justly commended for its major environmental investments, for using serious renewable energy, energy-efficient and low-chemical technologies and for introducing debates on these subjects into the spa world. And as a destination spa it's well worth heading for (by public transport!) for a top-notch relaxing break. But there are still some changes – and not necessarily big ones - which management could make to achieve ethical perfection. I'm certainly looking forward to going back to see if they've made any of them...
Titanic Spa, Low Westwood Lane, Linthwaite, Huddersfield HD7 5UN, 01484 843 544, enquiries@titanicspa.com. Lastminute.com special offer £129 for two people for lunch, dinner, bed & breakfast, full use of the spa and pool/gym facilities and a half hour treatment.
A version of this article was also published in the Ethicsgirls online magazine in January 2010.
As well as the CHP plant, Titanic also has photovoltaic solar panels to generate additional electricity, a swimming pool which uses salt instead of chlorine to keep the water clean, and an Otex laundry system which claims to “make typical average savings of 60% in electricity, 35% in gas and 80% in hot water.” And Titanic's water supply doesn't come from mains water, but from the spa's own borehole stretching 100m down into the limestone aquifer below.
So when I spotted a 2-4-1 offer for Titanic Spa on Lastminute.com, at the same time as my co-author on my first book and I were discussing treating ourselves to a post-manuscript weekend away, it seemed like the chance to find out what an eco-spa might look like.
Apart from the pleasant no-chlorine atmosphere of the swimming pool, the only discernible effect of these environmental measures are the little plaques explaining the pure borehole water, positioned above the drinking fountain in the Heat Experience area. This is a full-on luxury spa, offering a huge range of massages, wraps, scrubs, manicures, pedicures, facials, hydrotherapy and hammam treatments. The swimming pool incorporates a large jacuzzi and is surrounded by loungers in which to while away the hours or to sprawl on in between visits to the adjacent sauna or steam room. And the fabulous Relaxation Room is home to a squadron of vast, squashy armchairs and loungers, a huge sunken pit full of giant beanbags (just be careful not to fall asleep in there...) and an impressive collection of trashy magazines.
The accommodation for those lucky enough to be staying over at Titanic is also pretty plush. According to a local we got chatting to, the guest apartments were originally designed as flats in this vast renovated nineteenth century mill building, but didn't sell. This means they have top-of-the-range kitchens and nice bathrooms, as well as TVs and DVD players for those too exhausted to do anything but flop after their spa day.
The half-hour Target Massages we got as part of the Lastminute offer package were more than adequate, and in my case surprisingly effective for such a short time. My therapist was confident and able, delivering a back and shoulder massage using forearms and elbows as well as hands, and finishing off with a slick of circulagel to make the effects of the massage last longer.
The biggest reason to head for Titanic, though, is the Heat Experience. This is a dimly-lit circular room with the feel of a Middle Eastern hammam, where you can spend hours working your way around a range of small rooms ranging from a gorgeously tiled blue Steam Room, a roasting sauna or milder saunarium, a clean-scented aromatherapy room or a row of bubbling foot spas, to an ice room or a freezing plunge pool. After a few rounds of this your skin feels fabulously clean, your muscles relaxed, and if you've braved the cold plunge pool after some time in the sauna, your circulation and endorphins are racing.
Titanic is, in my estimation, pretty damn good, and its environmental investments are very impressive. But it's not quite there yet. The small eco-failings seem odd; there things that even hotels that haven't grasped the bigger environmental picture manage to do (if only for PR reasons) which Titanic doesn't. The tea, sugar and orange juice in the apartment kitchens, for example, are neither organic nor Fairtrade, although they all easily could be switched over as coffee is already FT. There are no recycling bins in the apartments or around the drinking fountains, and although there are some paper cones to drink from, there were also plastic cups by many of the fountains. The freebie toiletries in the bathrooms, while pleasant-smelling, weren't from any of the widely available eco or fair trade brands, and were labelled 'made in China.' The products on sale and used in treatments were good quality but not eco or fair trade, and although the Decleor saleswoman in the foyer was lovely, she was totally baffled by our questions about the ethics of the company behind the brand. And the Directions page on the Titanic website only gives instructions on how to get to the spa by car, not by public transport from Huddersfield train and coach station, which are a ten minute cab ride away.
Titanic Spa should be justly commended for its major environmental investments, for using serious renewable energy, energy-efficient and low-chemical technologies and for introducing debates on these subjects into the spa world. And as a destination spa it's well worth heading for (by public transport!) for a top-notch relaxing break. But there are still some changes – and not necessarily big ones - which management could make to achieve ethical perfection. I'm certainly looking forward to going back to see if they've made any of them...
Titanic Spa, Low Westwood Lane, Linthwaite, Huddersfield HD7 5UN, 01484 843 544, enquiries@titanicspa.com. Lastminute.com special offer £129 for two people for lunch, dinner, bed & breakfast, full use of the spa and pool/gym facilities and a half hour treatment.
A version of this article was also published in the Ethicsgirls online magazine in January 2010.
Thursday 17 December 2009
Jutika, Bodywise, December 2009
OK, so I've been tarting it round various other massage providers in Manchester, largely lured by spa facilities and Lastminute.com 2-for-1 offers. But a pilates class just across the hallway and some seriously sore shoulder muscles from hauling myself around on crutches has seen me hurrying back to Manchester's finest.
As usual, Bodywise is just a lovely, calming environment to walk into, with its faint scent of incense and aromatherapy and strangely soothing curved walls. Jutika, as usual, dug out her file of notes on me – now going back the best part of ten years – and checked for any new clinical issues, as well as talking through my general mental and emotional health.
The massage was, as usual, spot on – plenty of pressure point work and good firm strokes using forearms and elbows. The muscles down the side of my neck and along my shoulders were predictably bunched into a big knot, so after trying to get into them with her hands and thumbs out came Jutika's elbows, leaning slowly and firmly into the sorest points, breaking down the tension and pain and returning my shoulders to somewhere around their natural position rather than the previous sense that they'd been stuck somewhere near my earlobes.
And hey, back again tomorrow. Lucky me!
The great addition to this particular massage was that Jutika is currently doing a 20% off recession-busting offer, but I don't know how long for so it's well worth getting in touch asap...
Bodywise Natural Health Centre, Manchester Buddhist Centre, 16 - 20 Turner Street, Manchester M4 1DZ, 0161 833 2528, health [at] bodywisenaturalhealth.co.uk. C. £30 including discount.
As usual, Bodywise is just a lovely, calming environment to walk into, with its faint scent of incense and aromatherapy and strangely soothing curved walls. Jutika, as usual, dug out her file of notes on me – now going back the best part of ten years – and checked for any new clinical issues, as well as talking through my general mental and emotional health.
The massage was, as usual, spot on – plenty of pressure point work and good firm strokes using forearms and elbows. The muscles down the side of my neck and along my shoulders were predictably bunched into a big knot, so after trying to get into them with her hands and thumbs out came Jutika's elbows, leaning slowly and firmly into the sorest points, breaking down the tension and pain and returning my shoulders to somewhere around their natural position rather than the previous sense that they'd been stuck somewhere near my earlobes.
And hey, back again tomorrow. Lucky me!
The great addition to this particular massage was that Jutika is currently doing a 20% off recession-busting offer, but I don't know how long for so it's well worth getting in touch asap...
Bodywise Natural Health Centre, Manchester Buddhist Centre, 16 - 20 Turner Street, Manchester M4 1DZ, 0161 833 2528, health [at] bodywisenaturalhealth.co.uk. C. £30 including discount.
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