Sustainable investment: with emotion or reason?

Making large investments usually requires a somewhat rigorous analysis of the costs and benefits.

In the medium to long term and high sustainability demanding contexts, the balance between emotion and reason gains a special place when making decisions.

 

From the moment the land was bought, in 2010, to its implementation, the Craveiral Farmhouse project always had one question in mind: emotional or rational project?

 

From the rationalist point of view, to start a nature tourism project in the middle of a crisis, with all the inherent constraints, could only be madness, or at least, an emotional project.

 

It seemed even more crazy or emotional because we were developing a concept that predicted only 38 lodging units with a challenging range of structural options.

 

The investment in a water treatment station that allowed to reuse the dark, grey rainwater for the irrigation system with a fire prevention network and flushing systems, needed a double plumbing network.

Native trees and bushes plantation with an orchard and a vegetable garden that promote the use of local and natural products instead of the charming vineyard and farm animals.

 

The construction having just one floor, despite being possible to have two floors, the absence of rooms without natural light with solar panels installed on the floor, and the placement of wood walkways to keep the soil permeable with a significant distance between buildings.

All of this increased the construction costs and could endanger their functionality.

 

The existence of kitchens in every lodging unit and the use of construction areas as event spaces and an indoor pool – that limits the possibility of having more accommodation facilities – and the use of solutions and materials that allow us to obtain the energy class A, among other options that wouldn’t be so evident in an exclusively cost-benefit perspective.

 

That is to say, since the first moment that most of our options were questionable in the light of the conventional cost-benefit pattern prevailing at that time.

For the same purpose, cheaper solutions came up that allowed a better optimization of the available resources.

 

However, all this context regarding the investment that was made, had an intrinsic value set developed together with the brands Belong, Belong Staying & Feeling, BelongGrowing & Tasting, and Belong To Nature.

These brands support and convey Craveiral Farmhouse housing values, from the garden to the table and in the experiences. Underlying the brand is the emotional side of the experience. Simplicity. Comfort. Authenticity.

These seemingly uncountable values – regarding financial viability studies – have an obvious impact on the implementation and development of sustainable projects in the medium/long term.

 

Ten years after the beginning of the dream, with two years to articulate the concept, four years creating the financial structure of the project, two years building, and almost two years in business, we believe we can now state that emotion is the new reason.

 

Without emotion, resilience wouldn’t last. Emotion is the new reason for projects that have a purpose. Emotion is the new reason for talent retention in organizations. Emotion is the new reason for our client’s loyalty. Emotion is the new rationale.