The Tanzania-based Bakhresa Group has tapped South Africa’s Verde Hotels to oversee the total overhaul and upgrading of the former Mtoni Marine Hotel in Zanzibar, close to Stone Town. When the renovations are complete, the new property will be known as Hotel Verde Zanzibar, and both Bakhresa and Verde (who will manage the property) want it to be the archipelago's greenest hotel.
Bahkresa has commissioned the Verde Hotels Group to manage the development and operate the 142-room hotel as a certified-sustainable property that will be carbon-neutral. Verde Hotels will work with Estim Construction to update the existing structure and bring it in line with the new standards.
Once it opens in mid-2017, the Hotel Verde Zanzibar will pursue independent certification, utilizing the Green Star rating tool from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).
Sustainability strategies to be implemented in the redevelopment phase will include renewable energy generation; regenerative drive elevators, a grey-water recycling system, responsible procurement, waste minimization and management as well as indoor environmental quality optimization.
Verde Hotels is a sustainable hotel operator behind the Hotel Verde in Cape Town, South Africa, the first hotel in the world to be certified with a Platinum LEED Green Building certification for both design-and-construction and operations-and-maintenance.