Apes Hill Barbados

Sustainability at the Heart of Luxury

A golf course fed with 100% rainwater. Eco-friendly construction materials engineered for low impact. A bioswale network in your neighbourhood. Add to this an eye to preserve natural heritage and it’s clear sustainability lies at the heart of the ultra-luxurious Apes Hill Barbados Golf Resort and Community.

Apes Hill Barbados’ groundbreaking initiatives place it on a trajectory to become the most environmentally responsible golf course in the Caribbean. The creative design has integrated the surrounding gullies to dramatically enhance the golfing experience, using the undulating topography created by these gullies to add beauty and complexity to the fairways.

However, what lies underfoot tends to dictate the impact a course makes on its environment. Maintaining turf grass usually requires an enormous amount of water, fertilizer, and pesticide. But at Apes Hill Barbados, meticulous research led to the selection of an insect-resistant, low-waterconsumption Zorro Zoysia grass. This means that the course requires a smaller volume of water and chemical pesticides to maintain it. With regards to fertilization and keeping pests off the grass, the Apes Hill Barbados Golf Resort and Community team takes a holistic approach, producing their own remedies from natural ingredients such as chicken manure.

100% Rainwater 0% Impact

Apes Hill Barbados uses a rainwater catchment system to irrigate the course, grow fruit trees and nurture livestock, among other uses. This reservoir is located in a farmland area and can hold 58 million gallons, harvesting 360 million gallons annually. The water is pumped into an 8 million gallon lake on Hole #16 that also provides a stunning feature.

Due to the drought friendliness of the specially selected Zoysia grass, Apes Hill Barbados has benefited from an approximately 44% drop in the number of sprinklers required for irrigation to support the course, without affecting the enjoyment of the game.

Environmentally Conscious Construction

Water preservation techniques are also in play across the residences. For instance, rainwater collection tanks for individual homes are provided to irrigate their gardens.

Another example of how the architecture of these homes embraces sustainable modern practices is the bioswale network in the Hilltop neighbourhood. This is designed to concentrate and convey stormwater runoff while removing debris and pollution, beneficially recharging groundwater.

The Courtyard Villas use Enviroshake shingles on the roof, a truly realistic cedar shake, made from sustainable materials that are 100% recyclable. It is a durable, eco-friendly product that also has an elegant aesthetic appeal.

The homes in the Apes Hill Barbados Golf Resort and Community have been designed to encourage natural ventilation, through the thoughtful siting of the homes and the arrangement of windows and doors, minimizing the reliance on air conditioning. Energy efficiency has also been taken into consideration with the introduction of variable speed pumps, LED lighting and energy star rated kitchen appliances.

Homes can also benefit from photo voltaic electrical generation and electric golf cart and vehicle charging ports.

Farming

To supplement sustainable architecture and design in the communities, the clubhouse will use fresh produce grown on property following a ‘farm to fork’ concept. The agricultural land to the eastern side of the resort has been earmarked for agriculture, including the farm to fork initiative.

Education is already underway with team members learning beekeeping to support the thirty beehives that have been established on site, and that number is scheduled to rise to 100. The thousands of palm trees, fruit trees such as soursop, cherry, breadfruit, and coffee trees; pollinating insects, such as butterflies and bees, are a crucial part of the Apes Hill ecosystem.

From the vantage point of Apes Hill Barbados, your eyes feast on the ancient landscape of gullies, indigenous forest and lush woodlands of the incredible Scotland District. This district is critical in Barbados’ history: the area is part of an underwater mountain range that emerged from the ocean millions of years ago.

At Apes Hill Barbados Golf Resort and Community, you can live, eat and play happily knowing that in and among all of the natural heritage, you haven’t interrupted the ecosystem; in fact, you’re sustaining it.