Whitbread, the hotel and restaurant operator, will open its first 'green' Premier Inn at Tamworth, Staffordshire, in December.

Work on the new site is already underway, and is set to implement a variety of environmental measures designed to reduce energy consumption by as much as 80 per cent. The new hotel will include ground-source heat pumps, which will use the earth's natural energy to cool and heat the hotel, as well as providing hot water throughout. Grey water recycling will provide all of the hotel's toilet water use, saving 20 per cent on water usage, while solar panels are expected provide enough warm water for 1,000 baths every year.

High efficiency thermal and acoustic insulation will also be installed, as well as low-energy motion sensor lighting, and Premier Inn says these technologies will be unparalleled in in the UK hotel sector. "This hotel is truly ground-breaking in that this combination of technologies has never been used before in the UK," said Alan Parker, chief executive of Whitbread. "They were chosen from a range of initiatives that we believe deliver the most positive social and environmental impact on future build hotels."

"Hotel energy use is a complex equation and we have taken a first step in deploying all technologies available to us, in order that we get it just right."