In conversation with Nicholas Fernandez, Director of Engineering at the Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers on their recent green trysts.
PARTNER CONTENT: Whatever other superheroes you might have heard of, a ‘green hero’ is far more pressing in our hour of need.
So it is definitely a good thing that Nicholas Fernandez is overseeing the realisation of several environment-friendly projects at Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers. With the property making waves on the F&B front, it is reassuring to know of a working conscience at the centre of all the glamour.
While most establishments talk the talk, this one is definitely walking the walk with the multiple projects ongoing in tandem.
“Recently, we introduced the smart bin, which is tied up with a company to allow guests to drop in a plastic bottle and get some form of credit. Scan a QR code and redeem credit [at an outlet in the hotel]. The smart bins create a report so the hotel knows how much plastic it’s accumulating and the partner company then collects it,” says Nicholas.
The bins are currently placed in the swimming pool area, one frequented by guests of the hotel, and residents. Marked with the hotel’s branding, they have extremely clear instructions on them and have proven popular in the previous weeks.
In addition to this, the property has already a massive recycling programme in place. From waste plastic, cardboard, aluminium, batteries, metal, glass, cardboard and more, it is one of their bigger undertakings. In recent times, they have also shifted to rechargeable batteries, which last much longer. The property doesn’t take their recycling lightly either, working with a certified company to verify where it all ends up.
Another major venture is their newest vertical hydroponic farm, making them the first Hilton hotel of its kind in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to roll out such a project. Each plant will be carefully grown and picked less than 100 meters away from the hotel’s plethora of award-winning and MICHELIN-star selected restaurants.
The farm-to-table experience has only furthered the hotel’s ambition to become a zero-waste destination. Gardeners will also work with the kitchen teams to ensure that only exactly the right amounts of each plant are grown and that nothing is left to spoil or go to waste.
Nicholas adds, “The hydroponic farm also ties to the property’s sustainable goals in more ways than one. We collect a lot of water from AC units, and the high humidity months mean more water is produced from condensation etc. We could collect about two to three thousand gallons of water a day during the summer months. And that is free water that is coming in through the air.”
The water line is then diverted to the garden, the back of the house for the toilet facilities for flushing, the hydroponic farm, and more. But what about the sustainability of these processes?
“It is all done in-house using intelligence and costs are low. The ROI is met in a couple of months, so there is no question if it is sustainable and feasible. I am passionate about saving water as in this part of the world, water is got from desalination plants that burn fossil fuels, so when saving water, you are saving energy too. It is a double whammy,” explains Nicholas.
While time and building adventurous projects into retrofitted projects have certainly been challenges, pushing additional work onto teams that are already loaded might be a greater obstacle to tackle. Fortunately in Nicholas’ experience, the teams have always emerged solution-oriented toward the problems, and most technicians seem to love the work.
And their collective success is evident across Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, with the property even applying for a Green Key certification. They have also tied up with the Emirates Green Council in Dubai once more. If one of the biggest hotels in the UAE capital can take green steps in earnest, what is to stop others from following?
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