Coles has achieved the first Green Star rating for a supermarket, with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) awarding Coles Hallam in south east Melbourne a 4 Star Green Star rating.
Under the rating system, a 6 Star rating represents ‘world leadership’ while a 4 Star rating, represents ‘best practice’.
Coles was determined to develop a ‘supermarket of the future’ – and in doing so, has set a new benchmark for sustainable supermarket design in Australia,” says the GBCA’s Chief Executive Officer, Romilly Madew.
“Coles now has a framework for sustainable supermarkets that are not only more efficient and cost-effective to run, but are also more comfortable places in which to work and shop,” Ms Madew adds.
In 2009, Coles began working with the GBCA to develop a Green Star rating tool able to assess the sustainability of supermarkets. The project aimed to develop a model store with sustainable strategies and technologies that Coles could integrate into construction and refurbishment projects.
Coles Property General Manager Sam Pinchbeck says that Coles is proud to be the first Australian supermarket to develop a Green Star rating tool to support its sustainability initiatives.
“We have already used our Green Star rating tool to guide the design and construction of our supermarket at Hallam, and now have the opportunity to measure and manage continual improvement in the sustainable design of our supermarkets in the future,” Mr Pinchbeck says.
Key achievements at Coles Hallam include:
- 50% more fresh air compared to minimum standards, through high-performance heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems
- 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, with highly-efficient chillers and heat reclaimed from refrigeration cases used to supply heating to other parts of the supermarket
- LED lighting installed throughout, reducing energy consumption and internal heating loads
- 70% reduction in water consumption, compared with traditional supermarkets, from a range of water efficiency measures, including water-efficient fixtures and fittings, and 150,000 litre capacity water tanks
- First supermarket in Australia to undergo a Life Cycle Assessment, allowing Coles to make comparisons between different materials and products to pick the healthy, efficient and sustainable options.