Britain’s Greenest Convenience Store Opens
A former tanning salon and metal fabricators workshop at Solihull in England have been converted intoBritain’s most environmentally friendly convenience store after the new Sainsbury’s Local opened its doors. The new store uses cutting edge technology normally not seen in a store of its size to minimise its environmental impact. It boasts a number of industry leading features including:
* 42 solar panels on the roof generating electricity (10.5 kWp photo voltaic solar panels delivering circa 9,000 kWh/annum)
* 30 per cent less heat required due to insulation from double glazing on the shop front and timber structural insulated panels within its construction
* Natural refrigeration (CO2) reducing carbon emissions by 33 per cent
* New highly energy efficient LED lighting used across the whole shop
* The signage in the store for customers is made from recycled materials.
The recycling rate for construction waste was 98 per cent and the store’s innovative design also reduced the actual construction time by four weeks, helping to further reduce its impact on the environment.
Paul Crewe, Sainsbury’s Head of Sustainability, Engineering & Energy, says: “It’s a great achievement to fit all of this technology into such a small store. Each one has been selected to help us reduce our environmental impact and achieve reduced carbon and energy savings. We believe this makes it Britain’s greenest convenience store finished to the very highest standards.”
He adds: “The environmental features in the store will also play a big part in helping us to achieve our stretching carbon emissions reduction target of 30 per cent absolute by 2020. We will be monitoring its performance closely over the coming months and hope it will provide an important blueprint for future Sainsbury’s Local stores.”
Sainsbury’s has ambitious plans for its convenience store network and in 2012/13 it opened 87 convenience stores. Sainsbury’s now has 530 convenience stores nationwide.
Sainsbury’s opened its first convenience store in Hammersmith in 1998. Last year the retailer announced that the continued growth of its convenience stores across the UK would create 10,000 jobs over the next three years.
