Lidl wins award for the world’s greenest new retail building

Lidl’s store in Växjö, Sweden, took home the award for the world’s greenest new retail building at the BREEAM Awards 2017. In order to attain an optimum rating, Lidl called on COWI.

09.03.2017

Eco-zones, solar cells, charging stations for free charging of customers’ electric cars and electric bikes. These are among the sustainable solutions leading to Lidl’s store taking the prize as the world’s greenest new retail building at the BREEAM Awards 2017 in London on 7 March.

There were five nominees in the category for new retail buildings, and Lidl won ahead of entries from China, the UK and Spain.

“Lidl Sweden wants to be a leader within the convenience goods trade when it comes to sustainability, and it’s a fantastic feeling to have won BREEAM’s award for the world’s greenest new retail building. Many people have put in a lot of hard work and effort and have provided both inspiration and innovation to get us all the way to become an industry-leading, green store,” says Johan Augustsson, property director at Lidl Sweden.

Made use of COWI's expertice

In order to achieve BREEAM certification for the building in Växjö, Lidl has made use of COWI’s expertise within BREEAM. COWI has assisted with BREEAM Assessor, BREEAM AP and experts within environment, ecology, landscape architecture, surface water and traffic.

“It’s really great to get to collaborate with such an inquisitive, committed and purposeful organisation as Lidl. This is an exceptional achievement, with many individuals within both Lidl and COWI having been involved in making it possible,” says Torbjörn Larson, Vice President Environment COWI Sweden.

The store in Växjö, Sweden, represents Lidl’s brand new store concept with a strong focus on an enhanced customer experience and fully modernised staff areas. The building is also climate-proofed through sustainable drainage systems and a rain-water reservoir.

In addition to the store in Växjö, two new stores in Upplands Bro and Södertälje in Sweden have also gained BREEAM certification with COWI’s assistance. These will serve as a template for designing the next generation of Lidl stores.

What is BREEAM?

BREEAM is the world's leading sustainability assessment method for masterplanning projects, infrastructure and buildings. It addresses a number of lifecycle stages such as New Construction, Refurbishment and In-Use. Globally there are more than 558,700 BREEAM certified developments, and almost 2,261,100 buildings registered for assessment since it was first launched in 1990.

Read more: www.breeam.com