The Scarlet - Cornwall

The Scarlet may seem an unusual name for a hotel which bills itself as a ‘green’ eco-luxury resort. But the triumvirate of sisters behind the name have ignored convention in much of their development of this gem of a hotel, overlooking Porth Mawgan on Cornwall’s North Coast.

A quirky approach runs in the family. The sisters’ parents, Peter and Mary Whittington, created the Bedruthan Steps Hotel, named after the cliffs from which it now overlooks The Scarlet, in 1960. Bedruthan is very much a building of its time – and not one that would win any architectural awards today – yet in its emphasis on fresh, local food, its inclusive approach to childcare, and its adherence to sustainable principles the hotel was groundbreaking.

Emma Stratton, one of the Whittington’s three daughters, recalls how her parents were growing their own aubergines, peppers and basil for the hotel years before self-sufficiency became the fashionable enterprise it is today. Stratton also recalls how her father – an engineer by trade – adopted sustainable measures such as solar panels, decades before anyone had heard of climate change or global warming.
The Whittingtons were also interested in design, and ran a shop selling the sort of classic Scandinavian pieces that collect stratospheric prices at auction today.

Emma, along with her sisters Debbie and Rebecca, inherited her parents’ passion for hospitality, sustainability and design. Having  taken over the running of Bedruthan, they had been on the lookout for another hotel for some years, looking as far afield as Spain and Greece. It was only when the privately owned Tredragon hotel, just a few steps down the cliff from Bedruthan, came on the market that they realised what they were looking for might just have been under their noses all along.

But the search for a site was perhaps not as arduous as the soul-searching the sisters underwent before deciding on the kind of hotel they wanted to build.
“We set out to build a new hotel because we wanted to show that sumptuous need not mean unsustainable, and that luxury isn’t necessarily a guilty pleasure,” explains Emma.
“Our challenge was to be luxurious without costing the planet.”
But the approach they have taken runs far deeper than the eco-friendly technical aspects of the building. “We wanted to create a hotel that would remind us why we cherish our husbands and friends and love their company,” continues Emma. “Somewhere to laugh and enjoy simple pleasures, where we have time for each other; rarely achieved in our chaos of work, life and family.”

In keeping with this ethos, the entire development process has been very much a family affair, from the name right through to the design. 
Rather than employing an established hotel architect, a local practice – Totnes-based Harrison Sutton Partnership – was appointed not only to ensure familiarity with local planning regulations, but also to ensure the hotel met their desire to create “a truly Cornish hotel.”

The resulting building is, in this writer’s experience at least, the most successful example of a sustainable hotel to date in the UK. With the focus on high levels of insulation, air tightness, utilisation of solar orientation and natural cooling, the team considered all major options for sustainable energy creation before settling upon a combination of different energy sources: evacuated tube solar heating, grey / rainwater harvesting, grey water biomass boiler, and a green roof planted with native sea thrift.

But the true environmental success of the building is the way it harmonises with its surroundings. Even if it does turn its back on its sister hotel (services are at the back of the building facing up the cliff, all other views are orientated towards the sea), the hotel blends seamlessly into its immediate topography. Indeed on the approach to the hotel there are certain points where you would not even know that a brand new building has been constructed on the escarpment just a stone’s throw from the steep winding road down to Porth Mawgan.
The design works around clever use of levels, revealing function and glimpses of views, with a central ‘wall’ to physically anchor the building to the cliff side. The terrain wraps up against and over the lower bedrooms via a green roof that links the natural-fronting ground level to the sea thrift roof beyond. In rejection of the traditional long-corridor hotel plan, the architects have clustered bedrooms together in small groups connected by short spaces, some curved in plan, creating a cosy atmosphere.

The cliff-top location and views are maximised to create a feeling of space and light. Stephan Oberwegner of Max Bentheim, a long term acquaintance of the Whittington sisters, was employed as interior designer. As Oberwegner explains, this role involved taking the strong ideas of three sisters and making them workable in practice, as much as contributing his own design concepts. The internal planning of the spaces within the envelope provided by Harrison Sutton was also carried out by Max Bentheim, working closely with German contractor Bauwerk.
Again, questions of sustainability were as important as any stylistic decisions over finishes and furnishings. Every aspect of the environmental impact of the products specified has been taken into account – not just their manufacture, or their energy consumption when in use, but issues such as transportation and the amount of packaging needed to deliver goods to the site.

The hotel’s 37 rooms are arranged over five levels. Many are open plan spaces with curved internal walls or headboards separating the bedroom from the bathroom. Each one features its own private outdoor space – either as a wrap-around terrace, a private garden or shell-like rooftop viewing pods. These pods are one of the design highlights of the building – crow’s nest like spaces accessed via spiral staircases with huge bean bags where guests can lounge whilst reading, meditate or simply take in the ocean views.

Filled with softly-lit lanterns, and large cocoon-like pods, the hotel’s spa offers a holistic approach to its Ayurvedic treatments, which are four hours long and designed to give guests time to relax. There is also a sauna, steam room, Hammam and meditation room, in addition to an indoor pool, and outdoor wood-fired hot tubs.

In contrast, the bar area has been cleverly conceived as an intimate space, shielded from the otherwise ubiquitous sea views by a large curved banquette. Oberwegner explains that as the bar will mainly be used at night, there was no point emphasising views which will be non-existent after dark. Instead they have aimed for a cosy ‘aprés-beach’ feel.

The adjacent restaurant, on the other hand, features floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the sea, where diners can enjoy local delicacies such as hand dived St. Austell scallops and ‘Cornish earlies’ - the local equivalent of Jersey Royal new potatoes, prepated by Michelin-starred chef Ben Tunnicliffe.
And what about that name? As Emma explains, three sisters, all mothers, trying to name their infant hotel was a process which “started politely but soon felt like a Cornish wrestling match.” From a starting list of 1000 Cornish words it took a long time before the trio settled on The Scarlet.
“Scarlet reflected our boldness, perhaps madness, in trying to build a hotel that might change perceptions of what was possible. We also wanted this hotel to be warm, deeply comfortable and welcoming, very different to the slick but elitist hotels that pass as luxury. We loved the contrast of a rich red colour with our green ethos.”

The Scarlet Hotel
Scarlet Hotel Ltd, Tredragon Road,
Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, UK TR8 4DQ
Tel: +44 (0)1637 861800
Web: www.scarlethotel.co.uk

Rooms 37 guestrooms and suites
Dining Restaurant
Drinking Bar
Leisure Ayurvedic Spa, Indoor and outdoor swimming pools

The Scarlet Hotel
Max Bentheim
48 Amwell Street
London, EC1R 1XS, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7323 4228
Fax: +44 (0)20 7323 4229
email: Stephan M. Oberwegner
studio@maxbentheim.com
www.maxbentheim.com