A hotel chain is extending its customer base, by providing beds for birds.
Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants have today announced a purchase of over 600 bird boxes from the RSPB to be installed across Premier Inn Hotels across the country, starting with Premier Inn London Stratford.
The installation at Stratford will provide a bird’s eye view of the Olympic Stadium and will create an ecological safe haven for birds, possibly attracting up to 50 different local species to the area.
Incorporated into the hotel design are bird-friendly features providing shelter in the winter season for Robins and Wrens. As both species have a natural attraction to man-made structures and buildings, a green ‘living’ roof was also developed for Premier Inn Stratford, small trees, shrubs, sedum and grasses were planted to provide an additional habitat for insects and other fauna to create an ecosystem to sustain birdlife.
These ‘living’ roofs and walls will also improve internal insulation and energy efficiency helping the efforts by Premier Inn parent company Whitbread PLC, to reduce carbon emissions by 26% by 2020.
More Premier Inns will receive bird boxes across the country, providing further nesting opportunities within local areas. The impact of the bird boxes will be monitored and assessed.
Chris George, head of energy and environment at Whitbread comments: “We’re really excited about our latest green initiative. We recognise that we have a duty to conserve and sustain local ecosystems and habitats, and we look forward to welcoming the local bird life for a good nights sleep.”
