B&Q ‘eco-learning’ store incorporates Zenon Evolution

The new store at Cyfarthfa Retail Park in Merthyr Tydfil is the first eco-learning store for B&Q and hosts a number of innovative eco-friendly features including an ecologically diverse plant rich green roof. The 55,000 sq. ft. flagship store opened last autumn with developer Hammerson and B&Q working collaboratively to achieve low energy, low carbon and high recycled targets. This resulted in the project winning the Sustainability Achievement Award at Property Awards 2015.

The standard of the store’s environmental performance is 50% better than the industry benchmark (2010 Part L), achieving a Band A Energy Performance Certificate rating, a BREEAM rating of ‘good’ and a 23% reduction in embodied energy relative to industry bench mark standards for similar retail developments.

Hambleside Danelaw’s low carbon rooflight – Zenon Evolution, was specified for this project by B&Q due to meeting the safety, durability, sustainability and life expectancy objectives of the client coupled with a significant carbon reduction saving. Zenon Evolution offers the best solution for environmentally conscious buildings as it uses less resin in the manufacturing process, is thinner, lighter and with less embodied carbon. Other benefits include a better profile definition to suit the surrounding metal sheets, more reliable sealing and a non-fragility performance which equals or betters that of heavier conventionally reinforced products.

The store includes a 45,000 sq. ft. warehouse and a 10,000 sq. ft. garden centre incorporating rooflights to 15% of the roof area achieving a U-value of 1.3W/m²K. For the extensive areas of green roof, the specification called for rooflight openings above the surrounding vegetation, and here Zenon Archlight barrel vault rooflights were installed on site constructed kerb systems. For the remaining areas of roof, in-plane Zenon GRP rooflights were supplied to match the profile of the cladding system.

Dave Humphrey, Design Manager for BAM Construction commented “The Hambleside Danelaw rooflights were simple to integrate into the design of the congested roof on B&Q Merthyr Tydfil. They provide excellent light transmittance values and allowed us to maximise the natural light from the limited amount of area available to us. They were installed into two different types of roofing products – Steel & Aluminium with a Green Roof over. They play an important part of the overall Sustainability Award from Property Week.”

This project was developed by Hammerson, designed by Powell Dobson Architects and built by BAM Construct UK with Zenon Evolution rooflights fitted by roofing contractor ABS Elbrow as part of a Euroclad building envelope system.