Marks & Spencer CEO Marc Bolland opened on April 14 the retailer's greenest ever store at Ecclesall Road in Sheffield. This is the first of a number of new ‘Sustainable Learning' stores that are part of M&S' drive to become the world's most sustainable major retailer by 2015.

The new 12,400 sq ft Simply Food store, built from scratch on a former brownfield site, incorporates a host of sustainable design and construction features including an LED screen giving real time public transport information, electric car charging points and a green living wall to attract wildlife. Furthermore, 62 different species of plants have been planted on or around the store and 100% of the construction waste was recycled.

Marc Bolland said: “We're delighted to be opening M&S' greenest ever store, providing customers with top quality M&S food and drink products in such a convenient location.”

The store is firmly on course to achieve a BREEAM rating of Excellent, making it one of the most sustainable retail outlets in the UK. Its carbon emissions will be 23% lower and energy usage 30% lower than a traditional similarly sized store.

All employees at the store have been fully trained to understand its environmental features and will be encouraged to share this information with customers.

This store follows three eco stores that M&S opened in Bournemouth, Galashiels and Pollok in 2007. Key learnings from these stores are now used as standard when building or refurbishing M&S stores. Richard Gillies, Director of Plan A at Marks & Spencer, said that this is the first of many that M&S plans to build over the next few years.

Plan A is Marks & Spencer's eco and ethical programme launched in 2007 which aims to make M&S the world's most sustainable major retailer by 2015.