Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort on Hawaii Island, achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification.
Global real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson partnered with design firm Walker Warner Architects and architect of record Delawie following a 2011 tsunami to turn the property’s 81 acres into a Hawaiian resort. The renovation maintained original features, including a 150-guest hale spread across several village-like crescents, the Shipwreck Bar and a petroglyph field, respecting archeologically significant sites while embracing an environmentally friendly design.
Sustainability consulting firm VCA Green is shepherding several of the resort’s amenity spaces through the LEED v4 Building Design & Construction process. LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world that promotes healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings.
“LEED continues to provide a meaningful, global framework for advancing sustainability within real estate and helped to guide our sustainability strategy throughout our innovative redevelopment project,” Alex Spilger, head of global ESG at Kennedy Wilson, said in a statement.
Kona Village is a water-neutral site that utilizes native plants, ponds that help the island’s natural biodiversity thrive and a reverse-osmosis non-potable water irrigation system. Solar panels and battery storage are designed to subsidize 100 percent of the site’s energy use, while the all-LED lighting design reduces light pollution. Bike facilities and on-site amenities reduce reliance on fossil-fuel-burning cars.
“All over the world, the hospitality industry is recognizing that green building works and enhances a company's triple bottom line—people, planet and profit,” U.S. Green Building Council President and CEO Peter Templeton said. “By incorporating green building practices, hotels are raising the bar for the global market, positively impacting the quality of our built space by providing everyone with access to healthy, green and high-performing buildings. Kona Village is a prime example of how the innovative work of project teams can create local solutions that contribute to making a global difference.”