Holiday letting agency, Island Escapes, has opened the Isle of Man’s first solar-powered laundry facility, bringing new jobs and opportunities to the island.

Opened at the end of last month by Lieutenant Governor, His Excellency Sir John Lorimer, the ‘Managed Services Hub’ is the long-term project of Island Escapes, the Castletown-based holiday letting agency that manages almost 200 properties across the Isle of Man.

The firm has described the hub on Balthane Industrial Estate as the operational heart of the business, where all property management tasks are undertaken. The firm now employs more than 60 island staff in a variety of roles.

John Keggin, founder and commercial director of Island Escapes, which became part of the Cornish family-owned Sapphire Holidays group last year, said: ‘Bringing this in-house has been a goal for a long time to provide resilience to the business and allow for future growth, and with the support of Sapphire Holidays, we were able to move ahead with the project, acquiring the perfect building at Balthane Industrial Estate near our office in Castletown.

‘It’s really important to us to continue the island’s sustainability goals, so making the facility solar-powered was part of the plan from early on.

‘Luckily, we worked with Martin Coyle and his amazing team at Manx Solar Electrical to build a facility that will meet our needs for many years to come.’

The solar array is 44 kilowatts peak, coupled with 81 kilowatt-hours of Tesla Powerwall battery storage.

At peak performance, it can produce up to 250 kilowatt-hours per day and over 41 megawatt-hours annually.

This equates to an annual CO₂ saving of more than eight tonnes, the equivalent of planting 368 trees every year.

The investment benefitted a number of businesses across the local supply chain.

Alongside the team at Manx Solar Electrical, Island Escapes was supported by Hill Robinson to procure bed linen, towels and machinery; S&S Technical for the installation of equipment; and Collins Steel, T&M, the Venetian Plaster Company and Danny Shimmin for help completing the fit-out of the unit.

Island Escapes was founded in 2018 and has since become the main self-catering accommodation provider in the island.

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