Every Gruppo Franza business operates according to the highest ethical and professional standards, with a focus on the local area and its community.
Examples of this are the evolution of the ship fleet with LNG-powered vessels, considerable investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency in every accommodation facility and the timely structural interventions to safeguard the Group’s huge real estate assets.
Continous improvement
Always vigilant when it comes to the structural and efficiency-related conditions of their real estate assets, in their properties, Gruppo Franza companies, both as clients, because they own properties and hotels, and in their role as construction and engineering companies, acting as general contractors for the super bonus and eco bonus schemes, have in recent years developed façade decoration and insulation, energy efficiency and energy storage systems, solar and photovoltaic systems, installation of thermal windows and doors, wall boilers and replacement of lifts, in line with regulations on overcoming architectural barriers.
The latest works include the renovation of the Caronte & Tourist offices, the former BNL building and the Royal Palace Hotel in Messina.
Engine of the strait
€300 million is the amount that Caronte & Tourist has earmarked in its business plan for the modernisation of its ship fleet with an eco-friendly focus over the next three years. Five new hybrid/bi-fuel ships, which from 2023/2024 will be shuttling from one coast to the other of the Strait and from Messina to the smaller islands, with investments in sustainability and the green economy which, after the 2018 launch of Elio, the first LNG ship in the Mediterranean, will continue to look with interest at electric propulsion with fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia.
Vertical technology
Still under construction is the futuristic new tower featuring housing, office and commercial space.
Highly-efficient hotels
Following a complete overhaul, the Royal Palace Hotel underwent interventions to improve its energy efficiency, such as thermal insulation, installation of thermal aluminium window frames with laminated double-glazing, installation of a variable gas volume air conditioning system with remote control, LED lighting, installation of a solar panel heating system, an air conditioning system with high-efficiency centrifugal heat pumps installed in the technical compartments of the individual room blocks and hot water production with integrated heat pumps coupled with vacuum tube thermal solar panels. With it the Hotel Liberty, a future humanless hotel managed entirely remotely with modern software and digital applications.
Recyclable Energy
Currently on standby because it is being modernised, ESI is the only lead and reusable component recovery plant for spent lead batteries and accumulators located in Sicily that complies with the ‘proximity criterion’ on waste treatment.
In line with EU directives and Italian legislation, ESI’s material recovery process will take place by applying industry BATs, representing a classic example of a circular economy where recovered products are then put back into the same production chain.
SUSTAINABLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Looking at the past three years, it can be seen that compared to 2019, the increase in annual expenditure on photovoltaic panels was 230% in 2020 and 130% in 2021. Virtuous investments which, combined with a significant reduction in the use of paper materials thanks to the digitisation of all internal company processes, and the use of recycled materials for the production of shipping packaging, aim to make our telecommunications sector increasingly sustainable and eco-oriented. In line with EU directives and Italian legislation, ESI’s material recovery process will take place by applying industry BATs, representing a classic example of a circular economy where recovered products are then put back into the same production chain.
