As the UK’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer with stores across the UK, we have an important role to play in delivering and constructing sustainable and low carbon buildings.

Coinciding with the first year anniversary of a brand new store that we built in Scunthorpe, we’re thrilled to announce that it has been awarded an ‘Excellent’ rating from the world's foremost environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings – the BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) accreditation scheme.

This store, based on the new North Lincolnshire Retail Park is leading the way at Boots UK and amongst other retailers in energy, sustainability practises and product innovation during its construction. Examples of how we have improved its energy efficiency include;

• Solar panelling to generate over 16 percent of the electricity needed to run this store

• Natural lighting – the in store lighting automatically adjusts to how bright it is outside meaning less energy is wasted

• Smart heat – the store extracts heat from where it’s not needed to heat parts that are too cold

• LED lighting has cut energy usage by 50 percent

• Sustainable wood cladding on the outer building

With the new store, creating an innovative, sustainable and energy efficient building was an important driver from the outset. With the incorporation of new methods of conserving energy we have been able to successfully reduce the energy consumption of the store by over 45 percent.

Sophie Longmate, Energy and Carbon Reduction Manager, Boots UK, said: “We’re thrilled that our store has been recognised with the BREEAM accreditation – this is our most energy efficient store at Boots UK, and being given the opportunity to build it from scratch with property solutions business, Simons, means that we have been able to massively reduce its energy consumption. We’re committed to supporting the communities we operate in, and have been delighted by the positive reception this new store has received.”

Why is the BREEAM rating so important?

BREEAM is the world's foremost environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings. It encourages designers, clients and others to think about low carbon and low impact design, minimising the energy demands created by a building before considering energy efficiency and low carbon technologies. A BREEAM assessment uses recognised measures of performance, which are set against established benchmarks, to evaluate a building’s specification, design, construction and use. The measures used represent a broad range of categories and criteria from energy to ecology. They include aspects related to energy and water use, the internal environment (health and wellbeing), pollution, transport, materials, waste, ecology and management processes.

This award is a first for Boots UK, and it will be marked with a permanent plaque displayed at the store, which was unveiled by Boots UK and the Simons Group together on Tuesday 10 November 2015.

BREEAM assessor and Sustainability Manager for Simons Group, Rosi Fieldson said “Stores designed like this are pushing the boundaries in reducing waste and energy demand to the absolute minimum and still providing an attractive and comfortable shopping experience. Being involved with Boots UK during the design, development and construction phases has been not only a pleasure, but incredibly rewarding for all involved who are now able to see the benefits of their forward thinking. A huge congratulations to all involved at Boots UK; a great achievement indeed!”