By going green from the ground up with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) construction, hotel owners and operators have the potential to increase their properties’ customer base and provide a good return on investment.
One property of such construction is the Best Western Burlington Inn in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, built in 2003. The three-story, 59-room hotel includes conference rooms and an indoor pool area, yet its utility costs are similar to a nearby hotel with fewer rooms and no indoor pool space. Owner Amrat Patel estimates that his hotel has been able to save nearly 20 percent of annual utility costs compared to traditional wood-frame or even concrete block construction. The ICF construction also reduced construction time by two months, allowing the hotel’s shell, including the roof, to be built in less than five months. In the five years since opening the hotel, Patel said he has recovered the additional expense related to the ICF construction.
There are other benefits to ICF construction. Patel’s Best Western is located near the QEW, a major highway through Southern Ontario that handles high traffic volumes—and thus voluminous noise. ICF’s concoction of concrete and Styrofoam serves to drown out the din. “You would never know we were located near a major highway without looking out the window,” Patel said.
ICF’s studio-quality soundproofing blocks noise transmission from outside the building as well as from room to room, said Fenton Groen, president of Groen Builders of Rochester, New Hampshire.
Lock Together Just Like Legos
ICF blocks are made of Styrofoam and interlock with each other in a fashion similar to Legos. The relatively lightweight, hollow blocks, measuring approximately 15 by 24 inches, are first stacked together to construct the hotel walls, Groen explained. Once the walls are set, the blocks are filled with concrete to frame the building, forming a sturdy construction design that can handle extreme weather conditions better than many traditional construction materials. The blocks are attached to concrete footings and secured with steel studs. Once the Styrofoam is in place and the concrete is poured, builders can proceed with installing electrical outlets and drywall. Heavy-duty plastic webbing inside the Styrofoam can be used to hold drywall, siding, and stucco-like materials.
Construction using ICF is relatively new in the Northeast, but has been used in Minnesota, Texas, and Florida for several years, Groen said. It has been successful in those states because it is hurricane resistant, impervious to bugs and rot, and a barrier to drafts. According to Groen, the impermeability of ICF blocks keeps out water and humidity, which could lead to mold formation. These qualities add up to greater safety, efficiency, and (perhaps most gratifying to hotel guests) comfort.
“The ICF creates a uniform heating and air-conditioning atmosphere,” Groen said. It’s not uncommon to stay in a hotel and adjust the heat up during winter months or turn air-conditioning temperatures down when it’s hot. Overnight, however, the room temperature will vary, being either too cold or too warm, which disrupts sleep. That’s because in a wood-frame building a thermostat can be set at 73 degrees and feel cooler than an ICF building set at 69 degrees, Groen said.
Exterior heat or cold can infiltrate through openings in the building because of inefficient insulation, forcing heating or air-conditioning units to constantly operate to maintain a particular temperature, he said. In an ICF building, the natural insulation created from the concrete and Styrofoam blocks serves as an impermeable barrier to exterior heat or cold, which would otherwise play havoc with room temperatures. The result benefits guests with a more comfortable room and owners with lower heating and cooling costs, all compliments of a constant temperature.
Diane Rietman is an associate with the HVS Atlanta-Boston office. HVS is a global consulting and services organization focused on the hotel, restaurant, shared ownership, gaming and leisure industries. Diane earned her bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York College at Buffalo and has front-line hotel experience with AmericInn Hotels; she also has an extensive background in journalism. Diane travels and works extensively in the New England region, with a particular focus on the greater Boston metro area. Contact Diane at (603) 361-0459, or by e-mail at drietman@hvs.com.
