Construction Project at Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Sustainable Best Practice

Boardwalk Boutique Hotel recently added 32 new casitas to the existing 14-casita property during a construction project that stood out for its sustainability efforts and use of insulating materials, many of which are new to Aruba. All newly constructed casitas are so called Green Buildings, built with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF), delivering savings on energy and overall high efficiency. In addition, all casitas and buildings on property, as well as the lush gardens are equipped with 100% LED lights and are powered by 80 solar panels. Water saving toilets, faucets and showerheads in all casitas, along with an extensive water filtration system to water the hotel’s tropical gardens complement the hotel’s energy-saving efforts.

For local hotel owners Stephanie and Kimberly Rooijakkers it was most important to build as sustainable as possible, making use of high-quality, solid materials that are quickly assembled, while keeping the authentic character of the hotel intact. “Local engineering agency HJC, experts in structural engineering, highly recommended the use of insulating materials like Nudura, Insuldeck and Thermochip for respectively the walls, floors and rooftops of our new casitas”, says Kimberly Rooijakkers.

Other sustainability efforts of the hotel to further enhance their environmentally friendly operations include the installation of inverter A/Cs in all casitas, cutting down electricity usage of the air-conditioning system by 60%, bathroom products provided in dispensers in stead of individual plastic bottles, an eco-friendly salt solution to keep the pool water clean and biodegradable and environmentally friendly detergents.