Unified corporate responsibility and management system
ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS: 319 PRACTICES
TOPIC:
Initiative
SUBMITTED FROM:
Objective Action
Mar-Bella Collection: A family-owned group of three five-star luxury hotels, dotted around the Ionian Sea in Greece & curated to suit the ever-changing needs of guests across different stages of their life. The iconic MarBella, perfect for families and multi-generational groups, and the adults-only Nido, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World, are located on the island of Corfu. Elix, on the Ionian coast of mainland Greece, lays above Karavostasi beach in between Parga and Syvota.
Mar-Bella Collection is committed to sustainability and sustainable growth to protect the environment it operates in. This is why it has developed a unified corporate responsibility and management system for the entire company group: MarBella, Nido, Elix and a comprehensive plan for Avali which will open its doors in 2025.
The main purpose of the system development is the creation of two-way conversation with key stakeholders, quantitative and qualitative goal setting and the alignment to corporate strategy to achieve efficient use of environmental resources, better use of raw materials and the minimisation of environmental impact.
Key pillars:
- Ongoing evaluation across all levels and departments for the consistent efficient use of resources
- Compliance with international standards and regulations and the development of company policies relating to the minimisation of environmental impact and carbon footprint reduction
- Compliance with ISO: 22000, 14001, 50001 & 45001
Target Audience
The unified system has been developed by the company’s technical department in collaboration with all operational departments across the entire company group. It is aimed at all internal audiences and key external stakeholders.
Internal audiences
The system is a fundamental part of the operation across all organisational levels and departments as they all play an active part in the company’s commitment to the environment and the efficient use of resources and raw materials. The company undertakes relevant staff training and development to ensure that all internal audiences are aware of relevant initiatives and ways to turn theory into action.
In more detail:
- All departments: Use of system and company targets
- All departments: Energy and Environmental Management and Legionella Infection Management
- F&B, Kitchen and Storage: Food management and safety
External audiences
In addition to internal audiences, Mar-Bella Collection’s initiative is also relevant to a number of external organisational stakeholders including lenders, suppliers and partners, local government in Corfu and Thesprotia as well as governing bodies (Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Hellenic Accreditation System, ELOT, EIM, Ministry of Tourism & Environment & Εnergy), local communities and hotel guests.
Duration
Mar-Bella Collection has been ISO 1400 certified, the internationally recognised standard for environmental management systems, since 2016. The development of its unified corporate responsibility and management system aims to adopt a holistic approach to environmental management, efficient use of resources and energy, waste reduction and the overall efficiency of its operations.
Description
The unified corporate responsibility and management system includes individual organisational processes as defined by ISO 22000, 14001, 50001, 45001, Legionella Infection Management, Food Safety, Environmental and Energy Management and Workplace Health and Safety.
The planning considered the unique characteristics of each hotel and other facilities across the company group to create common practices and unify ways of evaluation and measurement to make the process as effortless as possible and reduce bureaucracy for staff. This also ensures the consistency required to evaluate and measure how to best manage resources and feeds into organisational sustainability target benchmarking.
In more detail, the system supports the processes for:
Resource management
- Monthly lab tests for potable, non-potable and sea water
- Tertiary water treatment to achieve high levels of wastewater purification to reuse in functional areas for ancillary use (MarBella, Elix)
- Reverse osmosis for sea water desalination to produce potable water (MarBella)
- Water usage monitoring per say
- Energy and fuel usage monitoring per stay
- Air-conditioning de-activation when doors or windows are open
- Remote control of air-conditioning, water production systems and fuel tanks to monitor consumption and faults
- Building improvements, purchase of state-of-the art equipment, energy performance evaluation
- Energy upgrade to company buildings and use of energy efficient materials
- Solar panels for water hotel production (MarBella)
Environment
- CO2 Footprint calculation across MarBella, Nido and Elix
- CO2 Footprint calculation for Avali (renovation and operational phases) as part of its environmental impact study
- Monthly seawater lab tests for the preservation of the Blue Flag and the outfall diffuser’s impact
- Detailed environmental impact of Avali - it includes full local ecosystem and life below the sea analysis
- Colour-coded recycling and separation system and private contractor collection agreements
- Purchase and/or use of electrical vehicles and charging point installation both for company and guests’ vehicles
The system enables the effective environmental management and use of resources and supports the adoption and implementation of sustainable behaviours and practices by all staff. As part of the company’s mission for improvement, the system has been designed in a futureproof way thus allowing the company to add further operational departments and practices at a later stage. A thorough and frequent gap analysis strategy is also in place to accommodate for the ever-changing organisational needs.
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Impact on Society
Beyond the harmonisation of policies, operations, standards and initiatives which is required for business continuity, the unified system creates a cross-departmental language that is common to everyone contributing the following:
- Quicker adoption of new practices
- High levels of compliance with international quality standards
- Easier reporting through systemised practices
- Quicker and smoother adoption by new employees
- 360-view and awareness across departments through employee learning and development
- Feedback loop development through the implementation of the system resulting in ongoing optimisation based organisational needs.
Initiative Location
The unified corporate responsibility and management system is implemented across Mar-Bella Collection’s operations and buildings both in The Municipality of Central Corfu and Diapontia Islands for MarBella, Nido, and the renovation of Αvali and in The Municipality of Thesprotia (Elix).
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Working with Organization
For the validation of the unified system and all relevant measurements, Mar-Bella Collection cooperates with The Hellenic Accreditation System (ESYD), The National Quality Infrastructure System and The Hellenic Institute of Metrology.
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Workers Participation
Employees’ participation and daily actions are crucial to the success of the company’s sustainable growth and the successful implementation of the unified system.
Every department plays an important role that completes the environmental impact puzzle. In more detail, each department is responsible for the following:
- HR: Staff training and staff relevant file updating
- Procurement: Supplier evaluation, overall consumption, product certificates and specifications
- Operations: Customer awareness on environmental company policies and their contribution to them (e.g. efficient use of energy) and collection of customer feedback for the improvement of daily operations
- Sales & Marketing: external and internal communication around initiatives across multiple stakeholder groups including guests, employees and other interested parties
- Transformation & IT: data aggregation and extraction and internal communication support
- Finance: invoices, receipts, agreements and contracts
- Technical department: planning and implementation of best practices and standardisation of the processes required for the smooth operation of the unified system
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Benefits for Οrganization
The unified corporate responsibility and management system empowers the organisation to measure and evaluate energy and environmental resources consumption as well as its operation’s overall environmental impact and footprint.
It provides a detailed estimation of the yearly energy performance across all facilities as well as comparisons to previous years and benchmarking by taking into consideration new ways of working and any changes to the measurement parameters.
This results in ongoing performance improvement based on the yearly targets determined by relevant indicators. These indicators are both qualitative and quantitative and are shaped by the application of best practice and the key organisational pillars which they derive from.
An indicative example is the accurate calculation of total waste recycled in 2023 which came to 89,88%. This percentage doesn’t include any approximations or estimates but reflects the accurate amount recycled.
Connection with Global Goals
