Since taking on Beck Hall almost 11 years ago we have been working towards making the business more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
As England’s first plant-based hotel Environmental and social governance is at the heart of what we do. We want to protect our planet and its people to provide.
Team
- We are the only certified living wage hotel in the North of England paying the Real Living Wage and value our staff wellbeing, offering flexible working conditions and staff loans.
- We employ local people wherever possible and try and provide a good work-life balance alongside their other commitments
- We offer apprenticeships, training and progression to our team and an annual loyalty bonus
••Since 2020 we have partnered with Ecologi to offset 100% of our teams’ carbon emissions. Through this scheme we have avoided 723,000kg of CO2 and planted 12,500 trees.
Beauty
Our Building
- We have a 8.8 KWp solar array on our roof providing clean energy to our hotel guests
- our grid energy is from 100% renewable sources
- We use an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) to heat our hot water in the hotel saving around 5,000kg of CO2 emissions per year
- We use mordern energy efficient boilers to heat the hotel
- We use HeatBoss smart heating solutions to heat our bedrooms allowing guests to choose their desired room temperature and ensuring that rooms in the older part of the hotel are not under heated and newer rooms are not overheated. This saves around 20% in energy usage
- We source our own clean water from our own on site borehole 50m underground. This is then filtered and treated to ensure it is safe to drink. This natural water is chlorine free and contains natural minerals
- All our lighting is LED and much of the communal area lighting is operated on motion sensors and timers to save energy and ensure that Malham continues to be known as a Dark Skies area.
- We have placed a number of bird boxes and bat boxes around the property to encourage wildlife.
Rooms
- We use a sustainably laundry supplier, Pressed Laundry, using Electric vehicles to collect our linen. They then launder our sheets using ecological chemicals just down the road in Skipton
- We use Eco towels for our rooms. These are made from cotton and feel like normal towels but dry 20% quicker. These are washed in our state-of-the-art Miele WRAS approved washers and heat pump dryer.
- Towels that are no longer fit for use are donated to local farmers for lambing or local animal sanctuaries.
- We use toilet roll from Who Gives a Crap who use sustainable Bamboo to manufacture the roll and give 50% of profits to charity
- We avoid replacing towels daily when requested to avoid needless washing
- Our shampoos and soaps are 100% vegan and cruelty free and supplied in 100% recycled plastic bottles which are refilled rather than being replaced.
- We provide Oat or Soya milk in bedrooms in reusable vacuum flasks rather than providing single use milk pots
- All cleaning products are ecological.
Food & Drink
- We are England’s first and only 100% plant-based hotel. A plant-based diet is estimated to reduce CO2 emissions, water usage and environmental damage by up to 75% https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/20/vegan-diet-cuts-environmental-damage-climate-heating-emissions-study
- As we don’t serve meat we cut out the highest emission food types: Beef and Lamb. We also don’t serve fish so don’t contribute to overfishing or deforestation for production of animal feed.
- We use local and seasonal produce wherever possible
- We support local food and drinks business wherever possible sourcing our fruit & veg from Class One in Skipton and our beers from Ilkley Brewery and Settle Brewery
••Cooking oil is sourced from a supplier that uses UK farms where possible and collects used oil to recycle into biodiesel.
Community
- We empty the local dog waste bins on a rota
- We sponsor the dog show at Malham Show every year
- We are partnered with local vegan and sustainable artist Mark Butler showcasing his artworks for sale around the hotel.