Environment
How could we be anything other than committed to the highest principles when it comes to the environment?
If nothing else, Natural Retreats is about truly appreciating just what Nature can offer in its infinite glory. Once you've experienced even a small amount of that variety, you view the commitment to sustaining it in a whole new way.
Our philosophy is simple. Wherever it is physically possible, we do the right thing for the environment. That doesn't mean slavishly following every trend, but rather understanding the environments we inhabit and finding ways to minimize our carbon imprint locally. Building for the future.
Our desire to minimize our impact is achieved in many ways, not least of which is the fact the residences are raised from the ground, as a suspended timber floor which is heavily insulated with recyclable materials. This creates a void underneath as opposed to a large concrete slab, allowing a form of habitat to exist under the building to minimize our impact on the space. In addition, the use of the Sedum roofs, which allows further growth above the residences, ensures the footprint that has been taken up by the building has been re-born on the roof!
Even from a construction point of view, there is in fact very little concrete or stone of any type in the residences. Wood is the most sustainable building material available. Timber can be re-grown stone cannot and all our timber comes from sustainable well managed sources and will all carry FSC (Forrest Stewardship Council) Certification. http://www.fsc.org/en/
Even insulation is achieved using recycled materials, currently in the form of newspapers. And our commitment to finding new and innovative ways of creating better insulation has resulted in the testing of recycled glass and even sheep wool!
Of course energy consumption is a major factor in ensuring we achieve our objectives and currently all electricity is courtesy of Good Energy (http://www.good-energy.co.uk/ ).