The new Marks & Spencer distribution centre in Castle Donington, Leicestershire will feature Europe's largest solar wall.
The carbon neutral facility, set to open next year, incorporates a 4,334m² SolarWall transpired collector that will absorb the sun's energy to heat and ventilate the warehouse.
The wall is bigger than 16 tennis courts and is expected to provide energy savings of 1.1GWh, the equivalent energy use of two large M&S stores. It will achieve an estimated 250 tonnes of CO2 savings each year.
"There's a compelling case for renewable energy, both from a business and environmental point of view, when we build large, out of town sites,” explains Roger Platt, M&S project manager at Castle Donington.
“At our store in Cheshire Oaks, a biomass boiler provides 70 per cent of the store's heating and at Castle Donington, the solar wall was the best possible option with such a large, south facing wall. The technology offers one of the fastest returns on investment of any solar technology currently available."
According to M&S, the distribution centre will be the UK's largest dedicated e-commerce warehouse. It has been part-built using concrete from the old Castle Donington Power Station formerly on the site, with no site waste going to landfill. The centre will distribute two million clothing and home products every week to M&S stores and customers across the country.
