Wolseley UK has achieved an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM rating for the building management of its head office, which features a bio-diverse meadow to aid plant growth and nurture wildlife.
This was a debut Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) assessment for Wolseley UK, which is part of Wolseley plc.
A variety of habitats occupy an outdoor space of approximately 3000sq m, which links the Wolseley UK head office and national distribution centre in Royal Leamington Spa. This includes a pond, woodpiles, trees and shrubs, bird boxes and bat boxes. The meadow has also been allowed to grow long to encourage ground-nesting birds and voles, and will be seeded in the new season with indigenous flowers.
BREEAM In-Use is a scheme to help building managers, investors, owners and occupiers to reduce the running costs and improve the environmental performance of existing non-domestic buildings. It consists of a standard, user-friendly assessment methodology and an independent certification process that provides a clear and credible route-map to improving sustainability credentials of existing buildings.
The site facilities team at Wolseley UK carried out an ecology survey in order to develop the Biodiversity Policy. The purpose of this was to describe and map the habitats on the site. The presence of any protected or notable species was then identified and recommendations were made for habitat enhancement where possible.
There are many reasons why we wanted to achieve a BREEAM rating for our site, the main one being that it provides us with an industry standard to showcase our existing green credentials,” explained John Page, site facilities manager at Wolseley UK. “We believe this standard provides a management tool to help keep delivering achievements.”
Over the past six years, Wolseley UK has implemented a number of successful initiatives on the Royal Leamington Spa site as part of its corporate social responsibility, such as zero waste to direct landfill for the entire site, and installing 8,000 solar panels on the roof of the national distribution centre to reduce dependency on grid electricity.
Wolseley UK’s biodiversity plan adheres to the Warwickshire Biodiversity Action Plan in partnership with Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Wildlife Trust.
“We are extremely pleased with our ‘excellent’ rating and have worked extremely hard to achieve it,” Mr Page concluded. “Wolseley UK is committed to protecting and enhancing the built and natural environment of its operational locations and we will work to encourage our supply chain to support us in working to our Biodiversity Policy.”
