For some time now, we at BHL have been promising ourselves a trip to Wolseley’s Sustainable Building Center (SBC). Recently we made the pilgrimage, and it was well worth the wait.

Opened in April 2008 the £3.2m SBC is, in the words of Wolseley’s  marketing ’designed to be “dynamic” and to showcase the most practical available technologies’

Located on the edge of Wolseley’s sprawling site in Royal Leamington Spa, the SBC is a unique, modern building dripping with solar panels and oozing ’sustainability’

After a quick  refuel, we were presented with an audiovisual demonstration which highlighted mankind’s destruction of his enviroment.

As always, for effect the worst case scenario was presented. We were informed that a 3°C temperature rise would melt the icecaps to such an extent that we would all be living in houses on stilts. Closer to home, and perhaps more tangible is the fact that Yorkshire’s landfill sights have only nine years left before bursting point! – scary stuff.

After our presentation we were let loose on the array of sustainable products displayed on the SBC’s two floors.

The SBC is a fantastic showcase for a variety of Eco products, showcasing (working) solar panels, photovoltaics, heat pumps, biomass, wind turbines and building products – (more about these products in further details in future blogs)

Wolseley have demonstrated great vision with their SBC. They have acknowledged the failings of the industry that they represent, failings that make the construction industry leading contributors to global warming and waste.

The SBC attempts to introduce products that have less enviromental impact than previously available choices, which it is hoped will lead to lower emmisions, waste and carbon usage.

A big thank you Chris Booker for your informative presentation and entertaining demonstrations.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 1:51 pm and is filed under BHL visit Wolseley Sustainable Building Center. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.