Sustainable development
The Co-operative Group prides itself on its commitment to environmental sustainability. Since 2003 we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 38%. Since 2007 99% of the electricity supplied to the Group has been sourced from renewable sources. We have our own wind farms contributing to the energy needs of our stores and branches.
Leading the way
Our new head office will continue our leadership on environmental issues by creating one of the most sustainable commercial buildings in Europe and the one of the first in the UK to be built to the BREEAM ‘outstanding’ designation.
BREEAM (The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is now an international standard measure for sustainable design and a building’s environmental performance.
By building to the BREEAM standards we aim to save 40-60% of our current energy costs in the head office complex. Our new home will create a benchmark for every other UK business and showcase what can be achieved through a socially responsible approach to design and construction.
Key environmental features
Featuring a soaring open atrium and a double skinned facade that's key to creating natural heating, cooling and lighting, our new head office is being created using pioneering technology that's set to make it a UK benchmark for environmental sustainability.
The building will have its own source of sustainable heat and power generation using bio fuel and waste cooking oil through a CHP (combined heat and power plant).
Other eco-friendly features include:
-
Heat recovery from the atrium and IT systems to heat the building
-
Low energy IT equipment and systems
-
Combined used water and rain water recycling
-
Low water consumption appliances
-
High efficiency lifts
Going green - Changing our workplace culture
In our current head office buildings working practices are often paper based, using up unnecessary space due to a lack of digital data management and digital remote storage. By looking carefully at our use of paper archives and maximising our digital storage we will create the right size of building for our needs that will also minimise construction materials and our impact on the environment.
We’re also encouraging our employees to consider greener ways of travelling to and from the new head office to reduce our overall carbon footprint on the city. We are providing comprehensive green travel information through a dedicated website Green Travel and looking at ways to help support our staff to switch from single occupancy car travel.
.