Ascott's Serviced Residencies in India Embrace World Environment Day

CHENNAI, India - June 6, 2014 - PRLog -- Chennai, 6 June 2014– CapitaLand’s wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has embarked on a global sustainability drive, ‘Go Green @ Ascott’, as it strives to become the world’s leading green serviced residence company.

As part of the initiatives, Ascott commemorated World Environment Day on June 5^th this year. In Chennai, the staff at Somerset Greenways organized a free emission check and certification program for cars of employees, guests and residents of MRC Nagar, where the property is located. Staffs as well as guests staying at Somerset Greenways were also engaged in planting saplings and small plants in the gardens at the 187-unit serviced residence.

Meanwhile, in Bangalore, staff of Citadines Richmond marched up to nearby Richmond Park to clean the park and plant saplings. Guests staying at the 96-unit apart’hotel were invited to plant saplings within the Citadines Richmond premises. Later in the day, the staff also visited Nightingales SandhyaKirana (NSK), a home for the aged and donated old newspapers. The residents of the home use these newspapers to create craft items. These craft items are sold by the management of NSK to help provide a dignified livelihood and source of income for the senior citizens residing there.

Speaking on the occasion, MrAjitKoushik, Ascott’s Area General Manager for India said: “A large amount of resources are utilized in the day to day hospitality operations.  In the process, a large amount of waste is generated. Therefore, it is important that everyonetakesthe issue seriously and acts responsibly.Ascott has implemented and will continue to roll out sustainable initiatives across its offices and properties worldwide and targets to achieve 15% savings in water and energy consumption by 2015, using 2008 as the base year.”

Globally, Ascott will focus on five areas to realise its green vision: green buildings, environment health & safety, green products, water/energy/paper/waste reduction and stakeholder engagement.

1. Green Buildings

Ascott will incorporate energy-efficient green elements into all new properties to be built or renovated. Citadines Richmond Bangalore features gardens and naturally ventilated corridors which lessen the need for air-conditioning. Apartments are also designed to allow abundant daylight, thus reducing the dependency on electrical lighting. Somerset Greenways Chennai features an atrium which allows natural lighting in the 5^th to 11^th floors corridors. The lobby itself is designed with large glass panels that allow enough sunlight during the day so that no artificial lighting is required. 15% of land area at Somerset Greenways is allotted for a landscaped garden.

2. Environment, Health and Safety

Ascott has put in place comprehensive environment, health and safety procedures across its serviced residences. To date, our serviced residences in key countries such as Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom and Vietnamhave received international certifications on environmental management (ISO 14000) and occupational health and safety management system (OHSAS 18000).

3. Green Products

Ascott has established procurement guidelines to increase the use of green products at its serviced residences. For instance, Somerset Greenways Chennai has introduced energy-saving light bulbs, solar water heaters, sensor lighting, biodegradable laundry bags and bathroom amenities with innovative and recyclable packaging to reduce wastage.

Ascott has also adopted the use of Forest Stewardship Council-certified or recycled paper where possible for the printing of office documents, marketing collateral and stationery.

4. Water, Energy, Paper and Waste Reduction

Ascott has implemented green practices to promote the conservation of water, energy and paper as well as to reduce waste.

At Ascott’s serviced residences in India, timers have been installed for lighting and air-conditioning of public areas and corridors. Approximately 600 numbers of 50-watthalogen lamps have been replaced with 35-watt halogen lamps around Somerset Greenways. This translates to savings of over 6400 kilowatt hoursof electricity per month, which can power up to 45 medium-sized housesfor a month. At Citadines Richmond Bangalore, nearly 90% of all light bulbs uses are Compact Fluorescent Lamps. Going forward, all the five Ascott properties that are currently under development in other Indian cities will have only energy-saving lighting using CFL or LED lamps. All external pole lighting will be solar-powered.

Waste water is treated and recycled for flushing. This reduces fresh water consumption by nearly 5000 litres per day at both properties.Other examples of sustainability initiatives at Ascott’s properties include offering long-stay residents the option not to have daily housekeeping, the installation of water-saving devices in toilet cisterns, the use of recycling bins and providing reusable cotton bags which reduce the use of plasticshopping and grocery bags.

5. Stakeholder Engagement

Ascott Earth Day is held every first Friday of the month at Ascott’s officesand properties worldwide. On this day, staff and residents are encouraged to dress down, air-conditioning temperatures areturned up and beacon signage lights and other non-essential lightings switched off for 10 hours from 8pm to conserve energy.

For further information on ‘Go Green @ Ascott’, please visit www.theascottlimited.com/aboutus/gogreen/index.html

Issued by: The Ascott Limited         Website: www.the-ascott.com

For more information, please contact:

Manessa Raghavan

Marketing Manager

The Ascott Limited

+91 98414 72383

manessa.raghavan@the-ascott.com

Gita J

Senior Image Executive

Perfect Relations

+91 9884278333

gitaj@perfectrelations.com