Supermarket J Sainsbury plc has opened its flagship eco store, which includes 270m3 of glulam in its structure.

B&K Timber Structures supplied the Sainsbury’s Dartmouth store with £450,000-worth of glulam and structural steelwork, which has been used to build “the UK’s greenest store”, according to Sainsbury’s.

The eco store also features a biomass boiler, rainwater harvesting and heat recovery and cold air retrieval systems on its refrigeration units.

“We’ve been keen to experiment with a number of energy saving measures here, from sun pipes, which provide amazing natural light, to using a timber frame rather than steel, which consumes less energy in its production, but looks good too,” said Sainsbury’s commercial director Neil Sachdev.

“We now want to apply all these benefits to the rest of our stores.”

Sainsbury’s said it plans to replant 420 trees in the Dartmouth area as part of the store’s wider environmental commitment, accounting for the trees used in its construction.

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