Parkdean Resorts, the UK’s leading holiday park operator, has introduced a trio of new energy-saving initiatives as part of its ongoing commitment to caring for its people, parks and planet, reducing its environmental impact while also driving cost savings.
The trial, which includes the introduction of electric vehicle charging points and electric vans, and the installation of solar panels, will be used to help the business determine how best it can save energy across its 66 parks nationwide, and will help guide future business decisions.
The new initiative will see over 1200 solar panels installed at Parkdean Resorts’ two Sustainable Parks of the Future, Warmwell and Sandford in Dorset, to enable the holiday parks to start generating their own energy. Set to be fully installed and functional by January at Sandford, and by February at Warmwell, the new solar panels will be located on top of the main complex roofing.
As part of Parkdean’s Resorts’ commitment to reduce its carbon footprint and to help its holidaymakers and holiday homeowners do the same, electric car charging facilities have been introduced at seven of the business’ holiday parks across the UK.
As well as Sandford and Warmwell, Cayton Bay, near Scarborough, Fallbarrow, in the Lake District, Lizard Point in Cornwall, Southview, in Lincolnshire, and Trecco Bay, in Porthcawl, will all benefit from the new charging points, which will be trialled throughout the next year to help the business understand their potential environmental and economic impact.
The holiday park operator is also replacing a total of 25 diesel vans with electric vehicles as part of the trial. The vans, which are used by maintenance teams on park, will be trialled at Warmwell, Sandford and Trecco Bay Holiday Parks, and have been in use since the start of December.
The introduction of the electric vans is expected to save approximately 21.5 tonnes of carbon at the parks per year*, which is the equivalent to planting over 85 trees.
Jane Bates, Director of Procurement and Sustainability, Parkdean Resorts, noted, “These new projects are really exciting and important steps forward for us as a business, and the trials will give us a great opportunity to test, learn and start to understand how we can reduce our energy usage and what we can roll out more widely across the business.
'We have carried out detailed forecasting to estimate the return on investment through these initiatives, however it is only by carrying out trials that we can accurately measure the impact of what we’re doing.
“We want to put sustainability at the heart of staycations at Parkdean Resorts, and we’re committed to caring for our people, parks and planet, so we’re really excited to see the results of the trials next year and to implement these findings into our future decision-making.”
Parkdean Resorts has committed to achieve a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2025, and earlier this year switched its energy supply to Calor Futuria Liquid Gas, a co-product of biodiesel production made from a blend of waste, residues and sustainably sourced materials, to improve the sustainability of the business’ gas supply and reduce CO2 emissions.
By the end of 2022, we estimate that more than 14% of the total LPG supplied by Calor to Parkdean Resorts will be Futuria Liquid Gas, with an ambition to raise this to nearly 25% by the end of 2023.
With 3,500 acres of land in some of the UK’s finest beauty spots, Parkdean Resorts is also dedicated to protecting these areas of outstanding natural beauty.
A number of the business’ holiday parks recently participated in the Great British Beach Clean, a week-long event run by the Marine Conservation Society to aid conservation work and help keep our seas clean, with volunteers coming together to pick up litter found along the coast.
Earlier this year, Ruda Holiday Park, in Devon, joined forces with local artists, charities and school children to create a temporary art installation on Croyde Beach, highlighting the amount of unwanted beach tents, chairs and windbreakers left on the beach each year.