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Case Study
Westfield Stratford City, the retail gateway to London’s Olympic Park, is set to become the UK’s second largest shopping mall, and the largest urban shopping centre in Europe. As an anchor store, the new 200,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer department store is currently undergoing its full retail fit-out, ready for opening in September 2011.
The Solution
As one of the most environmentally efficient retail centres in the UK, Westfield Stratford City has been designed to achieve excellence in environmental sustainability, with some of the most stringent guidelines imposed on its construction and ongoing management.
Marks & Spencer’s ground-breaking Plan A was launched in January 2007 with 100 commitments to achieve in 5 years. With this now extended to 180 commitments to achieve by 2015, and with the ultimate goal of becoming the world’s most sustainable major retailer, the new store at Westfield Stratford City has stringent sustainability and environmental requirements not only for its products but for the store itself.
This new Marks & Spencer’s anchor store has exacting standards particularly in regard to sustainability. Forest Stewardship Council® certification is necessary for the wood products in order to meet Marks & Spencer’s requirements, as is chain of custody, tracking and information on the origin of the product, all of which MEDITE MDF can provide.
Even among timber-based products, MEDITE is exceptionally resource-efficient. Its principal raw materials are wood residues, sawmill co-products and pulpwood from managed forests, all of which come from locally owned and responsibly managed certified forests in Ireland, many of which are owned by MEDITE’s parent company Coillte, the Irish forestry and forest products company.
The Result
MEDITE SMARTPLY comments “We have long experience working with contractors around the world who need to meet strict criteria, and this is another example where a MEDITE MDF product has been able to satisfy and deliver to specific requirements.
We work closely with specifiers and end-users across Europe to meet and anticipate their changing demands; for example, our FSC certification across the range is now joined by CARB 2 compliance for all MEDITE MDF products – a new ‘best in class’ regulation from California restricting formaldehyde emissions, helping us to ensure that MEDITE products meet the new challenges and new applications of the 21st Century”.
With over 30 years of expertise and ongoing innovation and investment, MEDITE MDF products are recognised as the benchmark for quality, consistency and performance. Specified for projects and products - large and small - throughout the world, the entire range of MEDITE products are FSC certified and CARB 2 compliant, and MEDITE PREMIER is now available in thicknesses up to 45mm.
