Supermarket group ASDA has a comprehensive energy efficiency programme that includes identifying sustainable and renewable sources of energy for all its stores and depots.

Its current flagship energy efficient store model, which has recently been opened in Bootle, Merseyside features innovations such as a main structural frame built entirely from sustainably sourced Scandinavian timber, a recycled aluminium roof, and extensive use of natural lighting including Monodraught SunPipes and translucent walls.

A total of thirty-five 450mm diameter Monodraught SunPipe systems are used to introduce natural daylight into a wide area of the first floor mezzanine that includes a customer restaurant overlooking the sales floor, and staff facilities with their restaurant and cafeteria, a communal changing room, a meeting room and offices, all of which now benefit from natural lighting.

Monodraught also worked closely with ASDA’s M&E contractor SIAS on the specification and installation of its latest 750mm dia. Diamond dome SunPipes, which are designed to produce approximately 1000 lux at floor level, making them ideal for buildings of more than 7m in height.

Mark Orpin, ASDA’s project manager for the Bootle Eco-Store, says the sustainability initiative began when Wal-Mart chief executive Lee Scott challenged ASDA to ensure that new model stores would be at least 30% more efficient and emit 30% less CO2 by 2009, compared to 2005 model stores.

“We therefore challenged our internal and external design teams to look for new techniques that would reduce energy.” He says: “And now, thanks to sustainable initiatives such as SunPipes, the 40,000 sq ft Bootle town centre store will be up to 40% more energy efficient and produce up to 50% fewer CO2 emissions than the 2005 baseline.”

Emphasizing that the Bootle store is not a one-off project, he says: “It is a commercially viable model that will save energy and reduce costs for our business. We certainly expect that successful elements of the Eco-Store, such as natural daylight using SunPipes, will be adopted for other model stores.”

Commenting for Monodraught, managing director Professor Terry Payne says: “We are very proud of the fact that SunPipes have been adopted to play such an important environmental role, and are delighted that ASDA has joined the growing movement to eliminate the unnecessary use of electric lighting during daylight hours.”

Professor Payne also points out that some in-depth university reports from the USA, including one from the well known specialist Lisa Heschong, show that natural lighting in supermarkets improves sales by as much as 40%, whilst in schools it has been shown to improve students’ learning – recording 20% improvements in maths tests and 26% in reading tests in one year.

“The use of SunPipes ticks all the right boxes, so we are very pleased to have achieved this recognition” says Professor Payne.

Email: angela.dell@monodraught.com