Océano Patagonia: Wild Coast Residence was honoured in the Hotelería Sustentable contest within the Hotelga 2017, the national hotel and gastronomy event recently held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The boutique hotel in on the beach in Patagonia took second place over Hotel Faena in Buenos Aires, which won third place.

Recognized not only for its policies, Oceéano Patagonia utilizes many modern systems and techniques in is construction in order to make the project sustainable and protect the resources and environment of Peninsula Valdés, a UNESCO World Heritage Reserve.

Océano Patagonia had already been awarded by the Ministry of Production of Chubut, as the most innovative project of the year in 2017 in the Eco Hotel category, recently published in the Chubut Innova 2017 guide.

Marcelo Battilana, one of the hotel’s owners, highlighted the hotels sustainable features, which work with modern systems for heating, electricity and water reuse. He explained that, “when we decided to build the hotel we wanted to be sustainable” and it is for these characteristics that “we were awarded in the national contest.”

“Building this way costs us 30% more than traditional construction, but we believe that it is well worth the investment made. Hopefully, our hotel motivates and helps other entrepreneurs see that it is possible to carry out a business in harmony with the care of the environment,” he said.

He stressed that “we implemented a geothermal system in the hotel, and we made eight drill hosed 50 metres deep that are connected to pumps that give us hot water and heating. A very green system that is seven times more efficient than an electric boiler.”

In addition “we invested in a gray water treatment system, which reuses the water that comes from the kitchen, sinks and showers,built a special cistern where we collect and reuse it in the toilets.”

“This system reduced our water consumption by 50%,” he explains.

Océano Patagonia also hired a consultant to plan the lighting design of the entire building using LED.

“The hotel is bio climatically efficient in addition to our other actions, because we used special bricks for construction with excellent thermal and acoustic insulation,” explains Battilana. “We registered the project with LEED, an international body, and were influenced to follow their standards. There are very few buildings in Chubut built to this standard.”

For these reasons, “we were distinguished in this important national hotel contest,” he emphasized that “it is an honour for us and the province of Chubut to be recognized as having a hotel of this type, sustainable with modern systems.”

For more information: http://www.chubut.gov.ar/portal/wp-organismos/medios/2017/09/08/hotel-boutique-de-chubut-salio-segundo-en-destacado-concurso-nacional-de-hoteleria-sustentable/