The Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel has taken the lead in environmental awareness and protection, and was the FIRST HOTEL IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE to obtain the ISO 14001 certification.

The International Environment Management System standards ISO 14001, was published and recognised in Sept 1996. The Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel embarked on the programme in February 1997 and was certified in December 1997. The hotel was thereafter recertified after successfully completing the environmental audits conducted by Dekra.

The internal audit was conducted by Madco Formation and the external audit by Dekra Certification Services, an internationally recognised certification body, itself accredited by DAR, of Germany.

The hotel commenced the programme in February 1997 by establishing the parameters within which the Environment Management System would be implemented. Task forces were set up in each department involving every single member of staff, and specific assignments were allocated to them to identify the environmental aspects and impacts of their respective activities. At the outset, they identified their operational activities and related them to the specific impact that this was having on the environment.

For instance, the use of electricity, being a common denominator for all departments was identified as having direct impact on the environment. The overutilisation of energy has a direct bearing on the depletion of natural resources which need to be conserved.

Other areas that were assessed were, for instance, the volume/quantity of paper that was being consumed throughout the hotel and the reduction of same to lead to greater efficiency and less wastage.

The next step in the process was to evaluate and measure the environmental aspects and impact of those activities already identified by the task forces. A steering committee which consisted of all senior executives, was set up to formulate an Environmental Management Programme with specific action plans to mitigate the significant negative effects. Furthermore, the steering committee proposed the environmental policy and the guiding principles for the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel (extracts were taken from the Rio Convention and the International Chamber of Commerce and Industry charter - and amended to allow for practical implementation at the hotel).

In order to achieve certification, the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel initiated a series of activities, which included internal and external events associated with our environment awareness campaign and relationships were developed with organisations and other parties with mutual interests.