Co-op Launches New Store in Steeple Claydon

On Friday May 27th, we were delighted to see the opening of a new and improved Co-op in Steeple Claydon. The store has been carefully designed by Aew Architects, alongside a team of specialist consultants, to reduce carbon and energy use.

The 2,500 sqft store will support 16 local jobs and benefits from a wealth of sustainability features. Notably, 80%-100% of the foundations, superstructure, glazing, cladding and insulation materials used in the construction are fully demountable and able to be used again. Externally a living/green wall is incorporated to provide a local habitat for wildlife and lightweight PVs are installed on the roof to generate 24 MWh of electricity.

Further promoting sustainability to its customers, the store accommodates a recycle unit for ‘soft plastics’ where the community can recycle various packaging. Compostable carrier bags are also available for shoppers who forget their reusable bag.

Following it’s opening, the store’s energy performance will be monitored on an ongoing basis, with learnings taken from the build. The ambition is for learnings from this project to be used on future stores as part of the activities and measures in place to enable Co-op to achieve its ambitions to be net zero for its direct and indirect carbon emissions by 2040.