The 25,000sqft store which opens on Thursday will incorporate pioneering new features to benefit the environment and reduce carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions by around 80%.
It will be the first Waitrose to showcase a host of biodiversity features, building on the retailer’s efforts to conserve and enhance the natural environment.
Waitrose recognises the retail site on Bond Way as an important habitat and its new shop features a ‘green’ roof covered with wild grass to improve drainage and provide an area for wildlife. There is a ‘living’ wall to promote wildlife movement around the site, hedges instead of conventional fencing and nest boxes for bats and swifts.
There’s even a ‘bug hotel’ situated in the car park, constructed with the help of local primary school pupils to provide a safe haven for hibernating insects. The hotel is the size of a telephone box with individual rooms inside designed to encourage different insects.
From next year, as part of its Responsible Development programme, all new Waitrose shops and major refurbishments will incorporate a biodiversity action plan.
Waitrose already recognises the importance of biodiversity through its work with LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) and the WildCare stewardship schemes in place on all of its UK dairy farms.
Source: Waitrose
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