The Design Hotels Group has opened its flagship eco-hotel The Scarlet on the Cornish coast in Mawgan Porth, blending stunning architecture and interior design, with the highest environmental standards seen in any hotel in the UK.

The design brief was simple;

“to create a unique and sustainable building that blends with and enhances the local environment, utilising the spectacular cliff-top location and views to construct a feeling of space and light.”

Unlike the sister Bedruthan Steps Hotel just metres away up the hillside, and already respected as the UK’s top eco-hotel, The Scarlet has been designed and built from scratch by architects Harrison Sutton Partnership, builders Bauwerk and interior design agency Max Bentheim.

Environmental design factors such as super insulation, air tightness, passive solar heating, natural ventilation and cooling have all been combined with features such as a biomass boiler and solar water heating for the spa to create a showcase for eco-design in the hotel industry. But this isn’t some woolly, basic, hippy hotel - it’s one of the most desirable luxury hotels in the UK.

Take a look at the pictures below. Or watch the video here. It really speaks itself.

Scarlet Hotel Pictures

Tom Greenwood is an O2 UK liaison and a partner in the hotel price comparison business Hotels Fairy.