PLATO: Sustain Case Study: Innovative developer invests in eco-friendly materials
PLATO: Sustain, Oxford Group
Member: Paul Mabbutt, Director, Jennings
Over the last six months Jennings has been a member of Oxford based PLATO: Sustain group, formed to learn from one another in order to improve their green credentials. Jennings has invested in sustainable building materials on their Greenacre park development, and the company is looking forward to impressive results.
Jennings is a real family business. It began as long ago as the 1920s when the Jennings family moved to Garsington and started a poultry business. Economic and social changes have led the business to grow from a traditional farming enterprise to become a thriving, eco-friendly property business interested in community.
In the mid Seventies the nature of farming and the market changed drastically and so the Jennings family began to consider other options away from poultry. In the early Eighties diversification was the only way to survive and the family began to let out premises (converted chicken sheds mainly) which were used as workshops. Gradually they developed more and more buildings concentrating on their site at Chalgrove, which had once been a camp site serving the neighbouring airfield in during WW2. This is where the hub of the business is now based, on Monument Park, Chalgrove, Oxfordshire.
On this site is Hampden House, a purpose built office centre providing fully serviced offices, meeting rooms and conference facilities. Ashgrove House is an extension of Hampden House providing additional offices for business growth. But the most recent addition is Greenacres, the company’s first eco-development.
Greenacres Courtyard is a 4,000 sq ft development in a horseshoe shaped courtyard consisting of 12 workshops or offices. It is in fact the first large building in the region where all the walls are built entirely with Hemcrete. Hemcrete is a building material made of a mix of hemp waste and lime mortar. It is an example of new technology, launched in 2006 by a company called Lime Technology Ltd, based on Milton Park, near Didcot, Oxfordshire.
Hemcrete is eco-friendly because the hemp absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere as it grows, which is then locked up within the building, thus helping to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels.
Greenacres locks up around 130kg of CO2 per sq m of wall, or 70 tonnes for the whole building. To help understand the contribution Greenacres is making to reducing CO2 emissions it is worth noting that :
- A standard Ford Focus produces 1 tonne of CO2 per year (assuming an average of 10,000 miles)
- An average family (with 2 children) is responsible for creating 25 tonnes of CO2 per year on heating, transport, etc.
- An average household emits 3 tonnes of CO2 a year from its heating
Said Paul Mabbutt: “Hemcrete has excellent thermal qualities, and Greenacres needs very little heating. Assuming it needs half the normal then we save 15,000 kw hours per year. According to the Carbon Trust each 1,000 kw hour or electricity from the grid accounts for 0.86 tonnes of carbon, so we would be saving 13 tonnes of carbon per year at least. We were excited by the opportunity to experiment with new materials in this new sustainable building programme”. Additionally, Greenacres has been designed to save energy by using energy efficient lighting and maximising the use of natural light. High frequency, low energy lighting inside the units is complemented by low energy amenity lighting outside where the whole area, including the car park, is lit for less than 100 watts.
In addition to landscaping the surrounding area, a sustainable urban drainage system has being designed, which funnels surface water into a drainage system and a man-made lake. When completed this will attract wildlife and be used as a recreation area for tenants of the business park.
“The opportunity to join PLATO: Sustain was ideal for us. We have a great deal of empathy with its aims,” continued Paul. “I enjoy the exchange of ideas and learning from other businesses and there are business alliances to be made. I have taken some new environmental audit ideas away from Plato already and we are also exploring the idea of partnering with the County Council on a waste collection site.”
Jennings are now landlords to over 100 small-medium sized companies which range from print to plumbing, as well as catering and artificial teeth making companies. Together they form a vibrant community on Monument Park, with the business park offering a variety of additional services such as a day nursery, snack bar, storage facilities, car valeting and dry cleaning services – Jennings deliberately go further than just providing business premises.
“We develop real relationships with our tenants and do everything we can to create a relaxed and supportive environment in which everyone can be successful and grow,” said Paul.
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