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Kevin McCloud
Brand Ambassador for Green Retreats

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Eco-Policy

Eco-Friendly Garden Rooms

How we care for the environment

At Green Retreats, our mission has always been to create space without compromising on quality or the environment.

Natural resources are getting more scarce, adding pressure to our climate, so it is essential to us that throughout every stage of development that careful consideration is taken to reduce our impact on the environment.

We always source and manufacture our garden rooms with the environment in mind.

Watch our eco-policy film

bumble bee and garden room

Watch our film

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Our Environmental Policy

1. Sustainable Materials

The many materials used to construct our garden buildings have been carefully chosen for optimal performance and superior ecological values.

When we are shopping for building materials and suppliers, they have to fulfil tight criteria.

What’s more, where quality is not compromised, we try to use ‘second life’ materials, which have already been recycled!

2. Landfill Free

Green Retreats sends no waste to landfill.

By carefully recycling our waste materials and off-cuts, we are able to ensure that we contribute zero waste to landfill.

Any waste that cannot be recycled is given to our local recycling centre for incineration. This incinerator creates energy which is used as fuel to produce power for our local village power grid – how cool is that!

3. Solar Powered

Our Buckinghamshire production facility, as well as our showroom and offices, are powered from one of the UK’s largest solar panel farms.

Power from the solar panels contributes to around 45% of our energy, taking care of a large proportion of our usage requirements in a clean way.

There are plans afoot in the very near future for this solar panel grid to expand, meaning we can harness even more clean energy from this local source!

4. Timber

We only use responsibly sourced timber from FSC certified suppliers; with 5 trees planted for every 1 used in our construction. 

Stunning wooden cladding and structural timber play a key role in the design and construction of our garden rooms. This precious resource is essential to sustain the environment, which is why we take our responsibility very seriously.

For every 1 tree used, 5 more are planted in their place – helping to keep our forests full and thriving!

5. Carbon Neutral

Our Showrooms, Offices and Production Facility are completely Carbon Neutral!

We work hard to make sure that our carbon footprint is as small as possible. Any residual carbon that remains from our operations is offset against carbon positive projects around the world.

This final piece of our puzzle means that we can build our garden rooms, operate our offices and run our showrooms with absolutely no negative effects on the environment.

We are certified as a Climate Aware Company by ClimateCare. 

Going the extra mile

Our Eco-Policy has just a few ways we commit to the environment. We are continually looking at areas of our eco-policy where we can improve.

Here are some more areas where we have already made improvements ↓

BUILDING MATERIALS
  • In 2022 we developed an innovative new polymer create foundation system that reduces the use of concrete by 70% whilst maintaining superior structural quality. The polymer used is 100% recycled materials, and also 100% recyclable in the future! 
  • The composite pads we use to level our buildings as part of the foundation system are made from recycled silage wrap from farming.
  • Any composite cladding and decking options used in our buildings is made from 100% recycled & reclaimed materials!

 

OUR FACTORY
  • We moved into our new purpose-built factory in late 2022. This boasts the latest technologies for premium performance. It has been designed to allow for more efficient working and has increased efficiency by a whopping 20x more! We are able to work to a greater capacity which in turn reduces our fuel consumption.
  • Our new factory’s lights are energy-efficient LED powered by solar energy. We’ve also designed the ability to harness natural light more effectively to reduce the need for electrical lighting in the brighter months and to help create a healthier working environment.
  • We have decided to go with smart, localised infrared heating in our new factory. This has reduced the need to heat wasted space – covering only 5% cubic meterage of our factory that requires heat. Our rolling shutter doors are sensor activated, helping minimise heat loss and thus reheating energy.

 

PRINTING
  • We use vegetable inks in our printing as a superb alternative to more harmful inks.
  • The paper used in our brochure is responsibly sourced from FSC Certified suppliers.

 

OUR SHOWROOM
  • We’ve installed electric car charging points for customers and staff.
  • All offices are heated with eco-friendly air-source heat pumps.

 

SALES FLEET
  • Our fleet for our surveyors is 70% electric vehicles, with the goal to move to 90% electric by the end of the year.

 

GOING FORWARD

The Green Retreats Sustainability Committee was formed in 2023, involving the department heads of each team of our company to ensure we are working together to protect our environment. In 2023, our Research & Development teams are investigating new building materials that use timber waste.

Influential Support

“What draws me to this business is the sustainability, ethics, and principles on which it’s founded.”

Kevin McCloud | BAFTA Award Winning Broadcaster, Writer & Environmentalist

Kevin McCloud | Green Retreats Brand Ambassador

Our brand ambassador, Kevin McCloud, choosing to work with us is in no small part down to our ethics regarding the environment.

Kevin McCloud is not only an architecture guru but a noted environmentalist too. Our principles for sustainability align perfectly with Kevin’s, making the partnership a perfect match.

Watch our short film of when Kevin came to visit Green Retreats…

Kevin McCloud supporting our environmental policy

Did you know…

Our Buckinghamshire showroom has one of the UK’s largest solar panel farms! All the energy produced powers our production facility, showroom and offices.

Our garden room buildings are designed to last for over 30 years and come with a 10-year structural guarantee. Does a garden room add value to your home?

Starting from our foundations, we use a concrete pile foundation, designed to use less concrete, resulting in less energy used in production. All of our timber is also FSC Certified, which means it’s guaranteed to be from sustainable forest programmes. Many of the materials we use are also ‘second-life’ recycled to create a strong, durable and eco-friendly composite. The design and construction methods we use are all designed to reduce as much energy consumption as possible in the production of our buildings.

Yes, they are warm enough to use throughout the year as they are all well insulated and come with a free-standing wall-mounted radiator as standard.

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