UK: Work has begun to demolish a hillside property at Runswick Bay near Whitby in North Yorkshire to make way for the sustainable development of a 20-bed Passivhaus hotel.
Silverstone Building Consultancy is project managing the multi-million-pound construction of the hotel, which is aiming to be accredited as the UK’s first Passivhaus hotel.
Passivhaus is an international design standard for energy efficient buildings. Through construction, insulation and ventilation, these buildings maintain a constant temperature, requiring little additional heating or cooling.
Builders of energy efficient homes and buildings can apply to have projects certified by the Passivhaus Institute.
For the hotel to achieve Passivhaus status, the existing building needs to be completely stripped away. Stainforth Construction, based in Shipley, is undertaking the demolition work which is expected to take eight weeks.
Ben Rennocks, director at Silverstone Building Consultancy, said: “This is a complex and incredibly exciting project to work on. The Passivhaus benchmark is more commonly aspired to by new-build housing projects and is rarely applied to commercial buildings so there is a lot of research and learning involved and we’re enjoying the challenge.”
Octopi Property acquired the site in 2022. Managing director Melissa Tomlinson said: “It’s a huge milestone for us to be able to announce that demolition is commencing. It’s taken a lot of time and effort from all involved parties to make it happen because it’s such a huge process.
“Silverstone fully understand what we are trying to achieve and are highly experienced in delivering new hotels so we’re confident the project is in safe hands,” she added.
