Sustainable luxury is all about the constant, conscious choices we make to preserve rarity and beauty and to enjoy well-being without depleting natural resources. By using creative design and harnessing local resources, true sustainable luxury sets new standards of uniqueness, efficiency and quality while ensuring minimal impact on the environment.
Today, it is possible to aspire and to achieve a high level of sustainability when developing and operating an upscale resort. The path and the decisions you take to reach that goal depend on the ultimate degree of sustainable development you want to reach.
In my case, the idea of developing and designing a sustainable resort emerged toward the end of the 1990s, when I was traveling regularly throughout the world for business.
These travels included several countries where I was perplexed and astounded by the amount of electrical power and water available for and consumed by travelers staying in hotels compared to supply available to local residents, who, in a number of countries, lived with limited access to resources. Those that were accessible were most often produced by burning fossil fuels.
This reality was the starting point of my investigation into the concepts of self-sustainability for small communities and real estate development in the hospitality sector.
I started looking for potential sites around the world where I could design a research project leading to the implementation of the necessary technology and architecture that would make these sustainability concepts a demonstrable and viable reality. This project came to fruition with the design and construction of Coulibri Ridge resort on the island-country of Dominica.
From the start, the objectives for Coulibri Ridge were set very high:
- To build and operate a resort in an exceptional natural setting;
- To offer sustainable, high-end comfort and amenities;
- To be entirely off-grid, using solar power for electricity and harvesting rain water to be self-sufficient.
It is not a necessity to be 100% off-grid to begin improving the sustainability aspects of a resort or real estate development. However, producing all the electricity required for a project’s operation, via renewable energy such as solar and wind, is key in locations that rely on fossil fuels for electricity production.
Building and operating an off-grid luxury resort is not a simple task, and you cannot cut corners, but it is achievable.
Every detail must be evaluated from the start, and a careful analysis of the projected electrical power and water needs of the property and its occupants has to be determined and adhered to.
From inception, every aspect of Coulibri Ridge was carefully designed, researched and implemented to minimize impact on the environment. This started with the architecture of the project, construction planning, material choice, technology selection and the careful implementation of each element. Every decision was made with the goal of reaching maximum efficiency and comfort while minimizing Coulibri Ridge’s immediate and long-term environmental footprint.
Several of these choices oriented toward self-sufficiency had a direct effect on the physical appearance of the resort. For example, the slope of our roofs were designed to ensure optimal collection of both solar energy and rainwater. Once harvested, rainwater is stored in a network of underground cisterns, where it is UV purified, without the use of chemicals, and distributed throughout the property.
It was important to us to ensure that our solar power and rainwater harvesting systems were so well-integrated into the design of each building that guests would never notice.
Coulibri Ridge was intentionally built as if it was a small community, where each building independently produces enough energy and harvests enough rainwater for its own needs while also producing a surplus used for other areas including the dining rooms, gym, administration offices and laundry.
It is crucial to determine how sustainable technology will be incorporated into a resort well in advance of development, as it is very difficult to implement as an afterthought. Doing so will also reduce operational costs over time, despite significant investment upfront.
We expect that our sustainable building practices and day-to-day operations at Coulibri Ridge could be recuperated within five years. It is also our hope that this model will be reproduced other places in the world with high electricity costs — either for hospitality projects or within communities.
By far, the best part of operating a unique resort like Coulibri Ridge is seeing our guests enjoying high-quality comfort and service, while knowing their stay with us will help reduce their overall travel-related carbon footprint and promote environmental conservation on our beautiful island home.
The best part is seeing our guests enjoying the high-quality comfort of the resort and its unique design. Knowing that their stay at Coulibri Ridge reduce their overall travel carbon footprint and does not impact negatively the surrounding natural environment is an important factor in our guests’ level of satisfaction with their stay.
Daniel Langlois is founder and owner of Coulibri Ridge, an eco-resort located in southern Dominica.
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