hospitalitystyle.com

(July 2010) posted on Fri Jul 23, 2010 EDT

Green prototype to open in 2012 in South Carolina

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Marriott International said The Courtyard Charleston/Summerville in South Carolina will be the first hotel built using its pre-certified LEED green hotel prototype. The new Courtyard hotel will open in early 2012 as a part of a joint venture between Blanchard & Calhoun Commercial of Augusta, Ga., and MeadWestvaco of Summerville, S.C. The hotel will serves as the first phase of The Parks of Berkley, a community consisting of 5,000 acres and one of the largest planned developments in the Southeast U.S.

Marriott unveiled plans to develop a pre-certified LEED hotel prototype last fall as part of its efforts to have 300 LEED hotels by 2015. “This new program packages all the basic requirements for LEED certification in a prototype," said Karim Khalifa, senior vice president, architecture and construction for Marriott International. "It saves our owners valuable time and money in the planning process and allows us to provide a greener portfolio of hotels for our guests."

Marriott officials say the pre-certified LEED Courtyard initiative will save roughly $100,000, six months in design time, and up to 25 percent energy and water savings for its owners. To develop the green hotel prototype, Marriott was guided by the Courtyard Pittsburgh Settlers Ridge in Pennsylvania, which will open this fall and is registered for LEED certification. The company partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council, which oversees the LEED program, and two suppliers – Kohler Co. and Philips Lighting – to test fixtures that save energy and water and measure results.

Based on the results of the Courtyard brand, Marriott has plans to create similar green hotel prototypes for Residence Inn by Marriott, TownePlace Suites by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott and Fairfield Inn by Marriott. Currently, Marriott has nearly 50 hotels across all brands that are LEED-certified or registered by the USGBC.