Environmental Social Governance Policy

Our Policy Aim

Our ESG policy outlines the impact we aim to achieve environmentally and socially, and how we conduct ourselves as a responsible and compliant hotel business. Our people are at the heart of everything we do so we are committed to operating in the best possible environment, and in doing so facilitate a positive image both inside and outside of work. 

Environmental

Our environmental policy outlines our commitment to reduce any negative impact that our business may have on the environment. We recognise that our hotel operations may have a direct or indirect impact on the local, regional and global environment, and we are committed to do whatever possible to manage and reduce any harmful effects. This policy provides a framework for setting objectives and targets to improve our overall environmental performance.

We aim to:

• Understand the impact our operations have.
• Follow and implement best environmental practices.
• Encourage our team, suppliers and guests to assist us in our environmental objectives.
• Achieve independent recognition from Green Tourism

Introduction:

Our environmental policy is overseen by the owner and driven by the hotel manager. The individual hotel Heads of Department are responsible for delivering environmental excellence within their own departments on a consistent basis.

Objectives:

We have specific areas of focus that form the basis of our Environmental Policy:

• The efficient use of energy and water
• Optimum use of recycling schemes
• Minimising waste
• Responsible purchasing
• Use of non-toxic materials
• Management of noise
• Working with clients and suppliers to encourage high environmental standards
• Raising awareness, communicating with, and training of team members on environmental issues with mantra or Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Different departments and areas of the hotel have their own specific objectives, and these are summarised below:

Kitchen:

• LED lighting in the kitchen wherever possible
• Kitchen team training to ensure that dishwashers are filled to the recommended capacity and at the coolest possible water temperature whilst still delivering excellent cleaning standards
• Review and adjust usage of kitchen appliances, including operating times of kitchen ventilation.
• Ensure that waste can be split into sperate bins for glass, paper & card, food waste and general waste.
• Recycle cooking oil through nominated supplier.
• Head Chef to consistently monitor and record levels of food waste, and adjust operations accordingly.
• Food waste collected separately for Bio composting
• Look to use local food providers where commercially viable.
• Grow some crops in our kitchen garden

Housekeeping:

• Ensuring lights and plug sockets are all turned off after servicing a guest room
• Ensure AV equipment is not left on stand-by mode.
• Politely remind guests to re-use towels whenever possible.
• Team trained to check for and report visible leaks from bathroom fixtures (toilets, taps, showerheads, etc.) and training to conserve water whilst cleaning (e.g., not leaving water running, etc.)
• Use recyclable cleaning products
• Move away from single use plastic bottles of bathroom supplies and reusing/refilling bottles only.

Guest Rooms:

• Create a turn off culture for the team and our guests
• Look to switch to more sustainable energy providers
• Fridges in room turned off between guests
• Electric towel radiators turned off when rooms serviced
• CH bedrooms – operate on key card wall mounted switch
• CH bathroms – operate on sensors

Offices:

• Setting all PC’s to auto-sleep after period of last use
• Think before you print – swap folders for online drives
• Reuse non confidential one-sided printed paper for internal use
• Investigate procurement of recycled paper
• Ensure all office waste is recycled whenever possible.

Front & Back of House:

• Installation of motion sensor lighting for nighttime hours
• Appropriate signage to remind staff and guests to keep water usage to a minimum
• Create a turn off culture for both team and guests
• Glass recycled and collected seperatley
• Back of house signage to remind teams to be environmentally aware and recycle

Social Responsibility and Commitments:

Our important commitments here relate to our team members, our guests and the local and wider communities of Beechfield House. This policy provides a framework that forms the basis of the social principles with which we wish to adhere:

• Looking after our team members
• Ensuring the welfare of our guests
• Protecting the environment
• Engaging in a positive manner with the local community
• Team ideas for continued social improvement for all

Introduction:

Our Social Responsibility Plan is overseen by the owner and driven by the Hotel Manager. 

The Senior Hotel Management team will analyse, consider and develop social improvement opportunities which arise on a regular basis.

We will collectively ensure that there is full compliance with relevant environmental, health & safety and employment legislation to ensure our team members feel protected and valued at all times.

Our Team:

We are committed to maintaining an excellent working environment in order to both retain our loyal and productive team members, and to become known as the first-choice employer in the local and regional hospitality sector. We wish to create a culture where all our team members feel valued, engaged and stimulated.

• Training and Development. We aim to give all team members the opportunity to learn and develop a range of appropriate skills to allow them to highly perform and to also prepare them for any promotional opportunities as they arise.
• Equality and Diversity. We will work to develop relationships locally to promote employment or work experience for disadvantaged groups and provide leadership in promoting respect and positive behaviour.
• The Hotel Manager will be the Environmental and Social Champion who will be responsible for local targets and communication activity.
• All team members are provided with the necessary Fire and general Health & Safety training during their induction and at regular intervals throughout the year.
• We have a list of benefits available to team members displayed in back of house areas. These include – staff food on duty, complementary stays, discounts on food and beverage
• To demonstrate our commitment toward full staff engagement, we intend to carry out from 2026 an annual Team Member Engagement Survey. All entries are anonymous, and all results will be openly shared across all departments, with corrective action planned where necessary.
• A nominated Mental Health First Aider will be available as a first point of contact for any team member who is experiencing a mental health issue or any element of emotional distress.
• Meals on Duty, tea, coffee and squash are provided FOC for staff

Our Guests:

We stive to look after all our guests to ensure they have a positive and lasting impression of our business and our team. ‘‘We never get a second chance to make a first impression’’

• We focus on a significant amount of activity to ensure our guest services are always on point
• We strive to enhance the guest experience whenever possible
• We support team members in proactively resolving a guest problem immediately and to exceed their expectation.
• We are always pleased to discuss and provide any specific food or dietary requirements wherever possible. We stock items to provide for requirements such a gluten free, vegetarian or vegan, and allergen information as requested.

Our Local Community:

We wish to become known locally as the hotel business that does more for the local community than any other.
Activity in this respect may include any of the following:

• Supporting the local community by employing local people wherever possible
• Working with local and regional schools and colleges from a work experience perspective and to provide important young persons employment opportunities.
• Support of local initiatives such as team participation of volunteering days – eg a local litter pick initiative.

Corporate Governance

To ensure we have reliable and sound corporate governance practices in place within the hotel is essential. We fully intend to focus on risk management, development of a fully effective control environment, and delivery of goals to fully meet the expectations of our internal and external stakeholders. We will engage with external professionals as necessary to deliver these objectives.

Our Corporate Governance commitment is based on the below principles:

• To act with integrity at all times. All senior Beechfield team members will consistently behave legally and ethically, and only in the best interests of the business.
• We always conduct our business affairs with necessary due skill, care and diligence
• We will always take care to organise and control our hotel affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems in place.
• We pay high regard to the interests of our clients and always treat them fairly and with the utmost respect.
• We pay due regard to the information needs of our clients and will only communicate information that is both truthful and clear.
• We ensure that all management reporting and financial record keeping is accurate, unambiguous, and not misleading in any way.
• We take all reasonable steps to ensure that the business complies fully with all requirements of UK law and external Auditors
• We regularly self-audit our business activities to ensure we consistently deliver on the high expectations of ourselves and stakeholders.
• Our business standards are designed to deter any wrongdoing, and to promote full compliance with applicable laws and governmental rules and regulations.

Our Corporate policy is about how the senior management team sets the values of the hotel, and these values are consistently cascaded throughout the team.

This ESG policy will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure it remains valid and fit for purpose.