Blue Forest touts itself as a builder of “eco-classrooms and “sustainable luxury,” two words that are often mutually exclusive. I have to raise an eyebrow at any company that labels its products with names like ecoPerch without providing any information on what makes them so “eco” in the first place. The ecoPerch is a “four-bed retreat that offers guests an exclusive, sustainable self-catering experience…It’s natural, organized geometry maximizes the relationship between the inside space and the outdoor setting, ensuring the structure sits harmoniously within the landscape.”
That sounds like a lot of empty ad speak to me, and I was ready to write them off completely until I stumbled across an article about their “eco-classrooms” that actually makes their green-washed website seem more legitimate. The classrooms are constructed primarily from FSC- or PEFC-certified softwood timber and incorporate a sedum roof.
“The building operates without any main power or utility supply. It is serviced entirely by solar energy and even incorporates a methanol fuel cell as a backup should there be a prolonged period without sun. A rainwater-harvesting system collects water from the sedum roof for both the kitchen and composting toilets. The structure is believed to be the first building in the UK which processes harvested rainwater from a sedum roof into hot and cold drinking water using only solar power.”
No word on whether the same is true for their line of luxury tree houses, but why on earth don’t they include that on their site instead of a bunch sustainable mumbo-jumbo? Let’s chalk it up to the fact that this is a new company and whoever is handling their brand strategy clearly doesn’t realize that in addition to the luxury crowd, there’s a large market of folks who get seriously turned on by recycled rainwater and low impact construction.
