Land Securities' shopping centres switch off for Earth Hour
Published: 29 March, 2010
Land Securities’ 14 shopping centres were plunged into darkness on Saturday as the UK’s biggest landlord joined in World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) Earth Hour.
The centres, located from Aberdeen to Portsmouth, had their lights switched off for an hour on Saturday evening along with Land Securities’ entire London office building portfolio and the iconic Piccadilly Lights. The lights, also owned by the landlord, saved an estimated 214kg of CO2 emissions when its advertising screens joined in the switch-off.
It is estimated that this simple gesture will save an estimated total 1,772kg of CO2 emissions which equates to an equivalent volume of approximately 112,000 footballs.
Dave Farebrother, environmental director for Land Securities Group, commented: “We have realised that often it’s the very simple things that make a big difference. That is why we are installing low energy light bulbs across our portfolio and motion sensors for back of house operations while we encourage our occupiers and employees to change their everyday habits to help us reduce our emissions year on year. In just one hour all our participating properties will save almost two tonnes of CO2 emissions.
“Our aim is to demonstrate that everyone can play a part and that significant progress can be made through office workers changing behaviours and tenants and landlords teaming up to ensure the management of a building is precisely tailored to how the occupier uses it.”
At the Land Securities’ Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland, almost all external lighting as well as lights across internal malls and service corridors went out for Earth Hour, which aims to reach over one billion people in 5,000 cities and towns across the world.
Phil Steele, centre director of the Bridges, said: “In just one hour all our participating retail properties will save an estimated 862kgs of CO2 emissions which is an equivalent volume of approximately 56,000 footballs!”
