Marks and Spencer (M&S) upgraded its Liverpool Store in 1976/77. It changed from being a ‘traditional store’ to a modern shopping area. The most significant development was moving part of the store underground. This increased the volume while the two-dimensional land use remained the same. Building management also became more efficient. By being underground the lower level had more natural insulation in the winter and was naturally cooler in the summer reducing the need for heating and air conditioning. Street-level windows allowed natural light in. Waste packaging was compacted for more efficient transport and disposal.
The exterior of the building, Compton House, was cleaned, and the adjacent roads were closed and pedestrianised. M&S also made this new service area available to local shops keeping them in contention.
In the citation given on the Liverpool store, the following statement was made by the judges.
“...is an example of a household name taking the lead in establishing new environmental standards, carried out with economy and imagination…”
M&S received a Premier Award in recognition of its ‘human and social responsibility and environmental quality’.
M&S is fast becoming one of the country's most forward thinking and environmentally conscious organisations.
‘Plan A’ is a 5-year, 100-point, £200 million plan that will allow M&S to become carbon neutral and sustainable. The following is the motivation for the scheme’s introduction:
“We’re doing this because it’s what you want us to do. It’s also the right thing to do. We’re calling it ‘plan A’ because we believe it’s the only way to do business. There is no ‘Plan B’”
The focus is in the folowing five key areas:
Climate change: M&S realises that it can reduce its direct and indirect impacts, which is why it is aiming to help customers and suppliers to cut their carbon emissions.
Raw materials: All raw materials will be from sustainable sources where possible.
Waste: A particularly ambitious aspect of plan A in the intention not to send anything to landfill and ensure that customers need not throw any product away.
Fair Partner: They hope to help people in their supply chain by ensuring fair-trading on all of their products.
Healthy Eating: M&S will also encourage staff and customer, across the country to eat more healthily.
To help it achieve these goals, M&S has entered into a unique 5-year partnership with BRE. It aims to implement many of these changes by 2012. In addition to this, BRE will help to reduce the impact of the current refurbishment plans as M&S aims to increase store space by 20%.
This is being run in conjunction with its ‘we’re in this together campaign’. It’s designed to be a ‘partnership’ between M&S and its customers to help tackle climate change. M&S offers a website that allows you find out the progress being made. It also offers a task list for customers to complete, once they do a task it totals the amount of CO2 saved per individual.
M&S has also partnered with other companies such as B&Q, MoreThan, O2, HSBC and British Gas to offer incentives for customers. For example, MoreThan will offer a 15% insurance discount to eco-car drivers as well as offsetting the first 3,000 miles driven, while Tesco is offering half-price compact fluorescent lamps.