hospitalitystyle.com

(January 2010) posted on Mon Jan 11, 2010 EST

Green is the color of luxury at Emirates Hotels & Resorts’ Blue Mountains retreat.

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By Mary Scoviak

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Australia's new Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa drives home the message that sustainability is joining exclusivity and privacy as an essential element of ultra-luxury leisure design. The $116 million retreat, opened last October, seamlessly integrates the tech side of environmentalism (full recycling of all domestic water, heat exchange systems, the use of solar panels and windmills) with an eco-conscious aesthetic built around natural colors, local materials and the work of the region's artists and craftsmen. That blend gives this six-star hotel something unique to sell to been-there, done-that high-spend travelers looking for a distinctive kind of pleasure with no environmental guilt.

Dubai-based Emirates Hotels & Resorts applied an eco-friendly filter to both processes and products throughout the planning, construction and installation. “We're seeing strong local and international interest from both the leisure and business markets,” says Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and ceo, Emirates Airline and Group, Dubai. “The feedback has been that this property is unique. It combines an iconic location, privacy, understated luxury and conservation. Its active protection of its surroundings combines with that to usher in a new era of luxury travel.”

In keeping with that philosophy, Turner + Associates Architects, Sydney, used just two percent of the 4,000-acre conservancy reserve for the resort itself. Public spaces housed in the Main Homestead and all 40 suites are oriented to minimize heating and cooling needs. State-of-the art insulation envelopes complement traditional wide verandahs to increase air flow and shrink the carbon footprint. To lessen the visual interruption of manmade building, Turner sourced natural and recycled building materials within a 62-mile radius whenever possible.

Recycling, reuse and repurposing link the architecture and design. At the heart of the resort is the Main Homestead. Turner and interior designer Chhada Siembieda Australia, Sydney, worked with Ian Kiernan, an Australian builder who specializes in the stabilization and restoration of endangered and historical buildings and recipient of the United Nations Environment Programme Sasakawa Environment Prize, to rescue what had deteriorated to a condemned building and restore it to its original state.

Using UNESCO Burra Charter guidelines, which provide guidance for the conservation and management of places of cultural significance, the historic home that once played host to Charles Darwin transitioned to public space. Even with propping, jacking, removal of termite-infested timber and a little tweaking, 90 percent of the all the windows and doors were conserved.

A mix of the building's 19^th century Federation style with a rustic feel inspired by the retail design principles of iconic Australian outfitter R.M. Williams informs the reception, conference space, business center, casual and formal dining rooms and the Valley Bar & Terrace. Chhada Siembieda Australia thought “local” when designing the interiors. Local carpenters crafted the resort's signature furniture collection using recycled Australian hardwoods, including fallen oldwood eucalyptus trees found on the reserve. Ironworkers from the area created lamps, door knockers and furniture. The region's artists designed original hand-made porcelain jugs, colonial-style headlight windows and lamps from recycled industrial artifacts.

That level of commitment not only produced a worthy sister to the group's 10-year-old, six-star Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai; it gave Emirates Hotels the distinction of being the only Australian resort in recent history to receive permission to build its resort adjacent to a World Heritage Area.