UK venues and locations correspondent Kristyna O’Connell sat down with Danny Pecorelli, managing director of Exclusive Collection who is bringing a new chapter to Ansty Hall in the Midlands. They discuss how its facelift and how a multi-million-pound investment has redefined the term luxury for its conference and meetings offering.
Ansty Hall is one of seven venues in the Exclusive Collection group, the UK’s first B-Corp hotel company which has a focus on creating destinations for the meetings, conferences, and incentive market. The 62-bedroom hotel employs a team of nearly 100 and features four main event spaces. The spaces include the Cedar, with a capacity of 100; Orangery Suite with a capacity of 160; Henry’s Library with a capacity of 18; and Gilbert Scott with a capacity of 40. Ansty Hall is in an area known for its history in arts and crafts and innovation, and each of the event spaces has been restyled to present a home of discovery that reflects this proud heritage.
The first phase of its refurbishment consisted of the ground floor meeting rooms, bar, lounge space, and restaurant, being completely gutted and restyled. The meeting and conference spaces have had their capacity’s increased, with a large patio area added to an existing room to form an outdoor breakout space with access to the gardens.
The goal of the redesign was to create a special ‘meetings journey’ inspired by the past and present of Ansty Hall and wider region and reflecting it within the new interior. The Gilbert Scott meeting space is a great example of this, named after the renowned architect who designed the St. Pancras hotel and train station in London, and who also redesigned the St. James church just behind the house, which was once part of the Ansty Hall estate.
While it is good news for the conference and meetings industry that businesses are showing bold ambition with reinventing their event spaces, the investment should not be purely a financial exercise. The industry has a duty to be sustainable as standard, and Ansty Hall – along with the rest of the Exclusive Collection – takes this very seriously as reflected by their B-Corp accreditation.
Ansty Hall is Exclusive Collection’s new Midlands outpost and part of the UK’s first B-Corp hotel company. Ansty’s new chapter means that the hotel is enhancing its reputation and expanding into high-end leisure and conferences with innovative technology collaborations and partnerships all underlined by a focus on sustainable luxury.
Pecorelli emphasises a modern take on luxury that intertwines sustainability, particularly in the complex hotel supply chain. He said: “Our on-going extensive audit across our supply chain ensures that supplier partners have a likeminded approach to using business as a force for good. It ultimately decreases carbon footprints and environmental impact and helps local communities.”
“This focus encompasses not just achieving carbon neutrality in scopes one and two but also addresses the more complex scope three,” he added. “Replacing traditional delivery methods with more sustainable alternatives, such as shipping wine from Portugal via sail, significantly reduces carbon emissions even if the final leg of delivery still requires a lorry.”
In addressing food sustainability, Pecorelli noted that while traditional items like beef are still served, sourcing is hyper-local to ensure quality and minimise transportation impacts, a concept he refers to as “food metres”. This approach extends to their corporate menus and partnerships with platforms like OLIO and Klimato to eliminate food waste and carbon count menus, thereby supporting the local community and enhancing sustainability efforts. Overall, the strategies represent a shift in luxury hospitality towards a more sustainable and locally focused operation.
“As a certified B-Corp, Ansty Hall commits to the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability,” Pecorelli noted. “The collection is currently undergoing its triennial recertification, and we aim to improve our score by demonstrating our tangible contributions to sustainability. This includes achieving carbon positivity in scopes one and two by 2026 and showcasing eco-initiatives such as planting 2,650 trees across our 800 acres of land.”
Pecorelli added that the benefits of B-Corp accreditation have been evident in the corporate meeting sector. He said: “Increasingly, companies with robust ESG and CSR frameworks view the hotel’s B-Corp status as a marker of integrity, significantly influencing their purchasing decisions. This has not only improved the hotel’s conversion rates but also allowed them to expand their market share with key corporate clients who value a comprehensive approach to sustainability in every aspect of their meetings.”
Ansty Hall, along with the rest of the Collection, ensures that while offering a high-standard service, it also embeds visible and impactful sustainable practices throughout the customer experience, appealing to companies and delegates eager to be involved in genuinely responsible hospitality.
Delegates will no doubt enjoy an A-class experience at Ansty Hall, with a B-Corp journey towards sustainability.
