Sainsbury’s trials new sustainable store concept

The concept will debut at the 3,716 m2 Weymouth store, which opens today at the new Weymouth Gateway Development.

According to Sainsbury’s, this is ‘the most sustainable Sainsbury’s in the country’.

The store uses a hybrid glued laminated timber and steel structural frame, creating a lower carbon footprint to the normal standard steel frame stores, according to a Stride Treglown spokesperson.

The roofscape was created with locally sourced materials and features more than 100 prismatic rooflights, aiming to maximise the natural light within the store and reducing the need for artificial lighting.

Other new technologies being trialed at the store include an insulating timber roof and a biogas generator to provide the store with both heat and electricity.

The petrol station uses a canopy, which incorporates photovoltaic solar glazing capable of generating some of the energy required to run the kiosk.

Gareth Mason, project architect at Stride Treglown, says, ‘Every year Sainsbury’s looks to provide what they consider a step change. The Weymouth project is one of the stores seeking to push sustainability as part of the 20×20 initiative [20 sustainability goals set out by Sainsbury’s to achieve by the year 2020].

‘Some of the initiatives are to reduce the carbon footprint, so we’re testing these with three stores with the same look and feel.’

According to Sainsbury’s, 100 per cent of the store’s waste will be diverted from landfill; net water usage will be 70 per cent lower than normal through rain water recycling and water efficiency; CO2 is used to run the chillers and freezers reducing the carbon footprint by 33 per cent and 100  per cent of the construction waste has been reused or recycled.

Zebra worked to apply the graphics and signage to the new store, which were initially created by Studio 12.

The two others set to open following the Weymouth branch will be in Leicester and Melton Mowbray, which will take some of the sustainability elements of the Weymouth branch.