Morrisons to open UK's greenest supermarket

A new Morrisons store in Kidderminster will be the greenest supermarket in the country when it opens its doors in September – having become the first to be awarded a prestigious environmental rating.

Morrisons Kidderminster store received a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating under the 2006 retail scheme – the highest BREEAM Retail Assessment scoring for a supermarket to date, and one which provides the company with a ‘greenprint’ for stores of the future.

Chris Evenson, Development Director at Morrisons, said: “No other supermarket has ever achieved such a high environmental standard. Morrisons Kidderminster sets a new benchmark for environmentally sustainable design. We are delighted to have achieved a highly respected and sought after ‘Excellent’ rating from BREEAM under the 2006 Retail scheme.

“The Kidderminster store highlights the potential for an environmental design, housed within a traditional and attractive building that suits the area.

“We have taken into account everything from energy management and insulation, to building products, construction methods and new cycle ways and care of the local otter colony. The rating is a tribute to the quality of design and construction we have put into our buildings over many, many years.”

Martin Townsend, BREEAM Director at BRE Global, said: “We are delighted to be able to award Morrisons with the first BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating under our 2006 Retail scheme. This is a real achievement for Morrisons and demonstrates the dedication and commitment from the design team towards sustainable design. We hope this is the first of many for them.” 

The development will include extensive landscaping, ecological improvements and woodland management to enhance the look of the local area and benefit local wildlife including birds, dragonflies, otters and fish.

The location of the new building in relation to the River Stour is a key element of the store design. The scheme’s main elevation looks over the river and the customer café has been sited so that it faces the banks of the river taking advantage of the fantastic views. Two new bridge walkways will span the river, linking an area of the car park with the main car park and new store.

In addition to the store, Morrisons is constructing a new carpet museum which will be built within an existing Grade II carpet factory to ensure that the rich, local heritage of the carpet industry and the town’s economic history is preserved for future generations.

Features of the store include:

• To help reduce carbon emissions by 120 tonnes a year , energy efficient Combined Heat and Power systems will generate part of the store’s on-site electricity, with the waste by-product heating the store.
• Solar panels will be installed on the roof to provide hot water.
• Intelligent lighting control systems will minimise the use of artificial lighting required, with lights switching off automatically when there is sufficient daylight or when areas of the building are unoccupied.
• A range of energy efficient measures will be installed in refrigerated food storage areas to reduce CO2 output by 242 tonnes of CO2 a year .
• Controls will be fitted to the refrigeration equipment to reduce power consumption, whilst insulated strip curtains will be fitted to cold rooms, self-closing doors to freezer cabinets and night blinds to fresh food refrigerated cabinets to ensure minimum air spillage.
• Low heat output display lights will be trialled to reduce the amount of heat created and the amount of cooling required. In addition, waste heat from the refrigeration systems will also be used to provide heat for domestic hot water.
• A number of water saving measures will be incorporated into the store’s design to save an estimated 280,000 litres of water a year: including a rain water harvesting system, to collect rain water from the store roof for use in toilet flushing. 
• Aggregate derived from the demolition of the existing buildings on site is being reused in the construction of the new building. 
• Insulating materials specified for use within the building fabric and services avoid the use of substances with an Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and a High Global Warming Potential (GWP). 
• Eco-label paints and varnishes, which have a low environmental impact, have been specified for use on internal areas of the building.

 

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‘Anti-greenwash’ accolade for carbon footprint reduction

Morrisons has been named as one of the first companies to be awarded a prestigious new environmental award for cutting its carbon footprint – as part of a new ‘anti-greenwash’ initiative being launched today [Tuesday, June 24] by the Carbon Trust.

The UK’s fourth biggest supermarket is one of only 12 companies – and the only supermarket – to be awarded the new Carbon Trust Standard, which will be unveiled by the Government-backed body amid calls for other companies to ‘follow the lead’ of Morrisons in making genuine reductions in its carbon footprint.

The award for Morrisons – Grocer of the Year and Retailer of the Year 2008  – reflects the company’s impressive saving of more than 115,000 tonnes  of carbon in 2007 alone through a number of measures, including an award-winning energy-saving training programme for 110,000 colleagues.

The accreditation scheme is intended to put an end to so-called ‘greenwashing’ and  is the world’s first carbon award that requires an organisation to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint and actually make real reductions year-on-year.

Morrisons reduced its carbon emissions by 12.8%  over the past three years – 50% higher than the average for all 12 of the Pathfinder companies who are the first to be awarded the new Standard.

Other environmental achievements to date include:

• A 5% reduction in Group energy use, with over 110,000 colleagues trained in energy awareness through the ‘Switching On to Switching Off’ programme
• Introducing cleaner Euro5 engines to 58% of its fleet to date, with a target of extending that to 80% by 2010
• Retrofitting new energy efficient refrigeration compressors in 100 stores – which will reduce Morrisons carbon footprint by around 3,000 tonnes a year.

Roger Owen, Group Property Director and Chair of Morrisons Environment Working Group, said: "We're proud to be one of the first companies in the UK to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard and indeed, the first in our sector. We've always believed that our focus should be on what we are doing right now, not about promising action in the future, and carbon reduction is an area where Morrisons has been focusing for many, many years now.

“This is recognition of the very real strides Morrisons has made in reducing our carbon footprint in recent years, but we're not complacent. We will maintain our focus on this and carry on helping our colleagues and our customers at all our locations across the UK to continue to drive down our carbon footprint and energy wastage."

Tom Delay, CEO of the Carbon Trust, said: “We congratulate Morrisons on being one of the pioneers in achieving the Carbon Trust Standard and challenge other businesses to follow their example and prove that they too are taking tangible steps to fight climate change.

“Our research shows that, not only do consumers mistrust business’ climate change claims, but that business thinks existing carbon award schemes are confusing and lack credibility.

“What business and consumers both share is a desire for one, credible way to prove an organisation has not only measured but actually reduced their carbon emissions year-on-year without the use of offsetting. The Carbon Trust Standard is the only answer to this.”

Unlike other award schemes, for the new Standard organisations take action themselves by cutting carbon across their own operations and in their supply chain, rather than paying others to reduce via offsetting – a practice seen as credible by only one in ten consumer respondents in a recent Carbon Trust study.

The announcement comes just weeks after it was also confirmed that a new Morrisons store in Kidderminster will be the greenest supermarket in the UK when it opens in September after becoming the first retail building to receive an Excellent rating from sustainable building assessors BREEAM.

And it also comes hot on the heels of Morrisons launching a major communications campaign in-store, backed by a giveaway of 10m free reusable carrier bags. The ‘Today’ campaign aims to tell customers what the company is doing for the environment now rather than promising action for the future.