The Rubens & Hotel 41 Sustainability Initiatives

At both The Rubens at The Palace and Hotel 41, our commitment to environmental and social responsibility has a multifaceted approach, find out more about our holistic dedication to creating a positive impact on both the environment and the community below.

CLIMATE 

We are undertaking a number of different measures to reduce our carbon footprint. All our lighting for bedrooms, public areas and staff use LED lighting, which have a longer lifespan, better energy efficiency, no heat or UV emissions and low voltage operation. Additionally, flow restrictors have been installed by our maintenance team in our 200 taps in the building, meaning that we are able to reduce water flow, providing an aerated flow that increases water efficiency. 

Sergio, our Chief Engineer, has installed new condensing boilers to give a better energy performance. Condensing boilers are at least 90% energy efficient, making them up to 40% to 50% more efficient than old non-condensing models, they can reuse heat in flue gases, are better for the environment and help to reduce heating bills. 

Our living wall has a plethora of environmental benefits which you find out more about here. Providing a home to 10,000 herbaceous plants and an insulation layer to the wall, keeping the building warmer in winter and cooler in the summer. 

FOOD

Reducing Food Waste

All coffee grinds and raw fruit and vegetable trimmings from our kitchens are now being converted into compost via Winnow, a food waste solution technology. Between June and December 2021, Red Carnation Hotels increased their organic suppliers by 15% and their local suppliers by 9.5%.

Local and Organic Produce

In total, 23 out of our 24 suppliers are local to The Rubens at The Palace and Hotel 41, and five of these are fully organic. The benefits of using local and organic suppliers include reducing the environmental consequences of long-distance transport of materials, as well as supporting the business economically to contribute to its ongoing success. 

WASTE

Eliminating single-use plastics

At The Rubens at The Palace and Hotel 41, we have eliminated as many unnecessary single use plastics as possible and work with Floris, a luxury bath and body products brand who are committed to social and environmental responsibility. Floris provide decanters made from 100% recycled plastic, which enables us to remove wasteful single-use miniature toiletry bottles from our bathrooms.

EXPERIENCES

MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®

Our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience is available to guests at both The Rubens at The Palace and Hotel 41. This experience, creating a plant-based menu, involves guests wandering through the 12th century passageways of historic Borough Market, where the hotel’s Executive Chef, Ben Kelliher, sources plant-based delicacies before incorporating them in bespoke tasting menus.

DIVERSITY 

Both Hotel 41 and The Rubens at the Palace have an internal IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equality and Action) committee, who meet quarterly to discuss actions taken internally and externally to break barriers, cultivate equity, empower change, and champion diversity for collective progress.

Volunteering 

Between Hotel 41 and The Rubens at The Palace, employees have completed 312 volunteer hours of an 80-hour target. These hours have included charity walks, beekeeping, community gardens, litter picking in the neighbourhood, ranger unit and girl guides, bake sales, soup kitchens, and charity tennis matches.

The Victoria Business District (BID) is a business-led and business-funded body formed to support economic growth in Victoria and support the area itself. The BID collects a levy from local businesses, which is reinvested into the area. The district's activities cover sustainability, security, CSR, public space improvements and marketing, offering free events for local employees and a local discount card available to all who live and or work in SW1. The sustainability team at The Rubens and Hotel 41 regularly litter pick with the Victoria BID team to help the local neighbourhood.