The Sainsburys at Greenwich was the first of its kind in Britain and paved the way for future energy efficient development in commercial, retail building design. The success of Greenwich led to Sainsburys deciding to build a second low energy, environmentally driven supermarket in Dartmouth. Also since the building of their green supermarket Sainsburys have announced new targets to reduce CO2 emissions in all their stores. The supermarket in Greenwich, ahead of its time acted as a test bed for many of the technologies now being used in Dartmouth and other sustainably built and designed stores. The wind turbines for example which power the external lighting in Greenwich have been replicated in Dartmouth but now also power the checkouts inside. Other features that have been duplicated are the drainage and irrigation systems and the occupational lighting inside the store. Despite the store in Dartmouth being built years later with the knowledge and lessons learned from the build in Greenwich it is in fact not as energy efficient as the original green supermarket in Greenwich. The supermarket in Dartmouth produces 40% less CO2 than a standard store but still more than the Greenwich branch of Sainsburys.
The supermarket in Greenwich has acted as a flagship and proven that sustainable, environmentally aware design can be utilized in store design and works well and efficiently. The supermarket was received positively by the residents nearby in the millennium village development with them nominating it for the Stirling Prize. The success of the building can be put down to several factors, the location and timing o the build undoubtedly aided its success. The store was completed at the turn of the millennium during a positive thinking and forward moving time. Also its placement within the millennium development ensured its funding and the attention to detail because of its high profile location. Despite this the success of the store is undoubtedly due to its carefully developed eco-technic design and employment of technologies that help to reduce its energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Recently the Sainsburys in Greenwich underwent redevelopment to update the technology and systems incorporated to lower the CO2 emissions and energy use even further.
The success of the Greenwich Sainsburys could be replicated elsewhere, the technologies used and design are not dependent on the location except for the inclusion of the wind turbines and Photovoltaics which are relatively minor aspects of the build. Sainsburys as a corporate power has the opportunity to continue building these sustainable stores in other locations and set the benchmark for ethical, environmentally aware supermarket design.
