Heritance Ahungalla and Heritance Kandalama bagged the top two awards under the Services category at the National Cleaner Production Awards 2008, organized by the National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) recently.

Sri Lanka's NCPC has been functioning for the past six years promoting cleaner production in over 200 enterprises. It is a member of United Nations International Development Organisation's and United Nations Environment Programme's global network of cleaner production centres.

Heritance Ahungalla was also awarded for Excellence in Water Efficiency and Excellence in Energy Efficiency. Ramada Resort, Kalutara also managed by Aitken Spence Hotels and Heritance Kandalama received Certificates of Merit for Energy Efficiency.

Malin Hapugoda, Managing Director of Aitken Spence Hotels said the pioneering global best practices in managing the impacts on the environment and sustaining win-win relationships with communities and stakeholders have helped the leading resort operator to expand its presence overseas.

Hapugoda, who is spearheading the expansion of Aitken Spence's present portfolio of 25 hotels and resorts in South Asia and the Middle East, made his remarks subsequent to the announcement that three of its resorts have been recognized nationally for championing cleaner production.

NCPC says that "the awards recognize progressive companies and service organizations that have voluntarily adopted cleaner production as a tool for increasing their production efficiency while at the same time eliminating or at least minimizing their wastes and emissions at source rather than treating them after they have been generated'.

Heritance Kandalama is the first hotel in Asia to be certified by Green Globe 21 and the first in the world to be certified under Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED). Heritance Ahungalla, formerly The Triton, is Sri Lanka's first five-star beach resort which had won the Thomas Cook Best Property award and the Kouni Green Planet Award.

Heritance Hotels & Resorts which is steadily building a reputation for bringing the local flavour to life in each of its outstanding resorts is expected to commence operations of its first property in India, the Heritance Madurai later this year.