Furniture retailer opens eco-store in Knaresborough

Furniture retailer Barker and Stonehouse has invested £4m in a new store in Knaresborough.

Twelve highly-skilled Yorkshire craftsmen spent six months working on the new 35,000 sq ft store, which has been described as the greenest furniture store in the UK.

It contains a ‘living roof’ which will soon be bursting at the seams with healthy vegetation, making it home to a range of insects and wildlife.

Other sustainable features include natural ventilation, low-energy heating, an innovative heat recovery system and a unique lighting system specially designed by Barker and Stonehouse.

To guarantee that not a single watt of electricity was wasted, an energy-busting £50,000 was spent on insulation materials – resulting in the building being insulated to a much higher standard than required under building regulations.

James Barker, managing director of Barker and Stonehouse, said: “Customers told us they wanted more responsible retailing and we’ve invested heavily to meet this demand.

“We’ve worked with The Carbon Trust to significantly reduce our carbon footprint in the new store and across all our stores and operations.”

Barker and Stonehouse is no stranger to introducing innovative eco-friendly features. The unique lighting system has already been introduced in the retailer’s other stores and has resulted in savings of up to 60% on the company’s annual fuel bills.

The Knaresborough store is the latest chapter in the colourful history of Barker & Stonehouse, which began life in Stockton, Teesside in 1946 and has since added eight stores to its portfolio.

The company is now the largest independent furniture retailer in the UK with stores in Knaresborough, Leeds and Hull.