Shrewsbury’s new £15 million Tesco Extra store is being built with a giant wooden frame dramatically changing the town skyline.
Most new supermarkets have steel structures. But Shrewsbury’s new Tesco will be a “green” store and is made largely of wood - seen as more environmentally friendly.
And store chiefs today unveiled the host of other “green” measures that will set the new store apart.
Up to 12 electric delivery vans will be used to transport shopping to customers who buy their food online at the Tesco.com website.
And a geothermal heating system will be built underneath the supermarket to provide hot and cold water.
Water will be pumped through underground boreholes and the Earth’s natural temperature heats it up in winter and cools it in summer.
Shrewsbury will also become one of the first stores in Britain to have showers for staff. This is to encourage as many as possible to bike to work. North lights, which use the sun’s rays to help light-up the store, are also set to be built along with solar panels, while rainwater collected on the roof will be used to flush the store’s toilets.
Julian Walker-Palin, Tesco corporate affairs manager for the West Midlands, said wind turbines could be built at the Shrewsbury store in the future to help power the supermarket.
But he added they would be put forward in a separate planning application.
“It won’t form part of the package for the store opening, but it is something we are looking at.”
Similar “green” supermarkets have opened at Swansea, Wick, in Scotland, and Diss, in Norfolk.
By Tom Warren
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