A factory now being used by Princess Yachts in Plymouth is the first completed building in the world to be certified CarbonNeutral under Corus’ new Confidex Sustain™ guarantee.

The building envelope was built by CA Group, using its Twin-Therm™ roofing and cladding system – profiled from Corus Colorcoat® HPS200 pre-finished steel. The Confidex Sustain™ guarantee means that Corus has analysed and minimised the environmental impact of the manufacture, lifespan and disposal of the building on a cradle to grave basis, and offset any carbon created in the process.

Initially a greenhouse gas emissions assessment is carried out to establish a baseline Carbon Dioxide emission figure for the planned building. Next, cost effective ways to reduce CO2 levels are proposed and finally global schemes to balance the remaining emissions are developed.

Adrian Mitchell of Mitchell Architects specified the project and oversaw the installation of 3300m2 of cladding 5300m2 of roofing. He said:

“Twin-Therm™ was specified for the Princess Yachts site at Plymouth to ensure minimal CO2 output throughout the life of the building, thanks to its market leading insulation and airtightness properties. The Corus Confidex Sustain™ guarantee complements these considerations perfectly.”

Mark Forrester of CA Group said: “In order to improve Carbon emissions in industry we need to do more than just aim for compliance with guidelines. We need to aim for carbon neutrality which through the development of Twin-Therm™ and River-Therm™, another Confidex Sustain registered product, CA is actively pursuing. CA Group is very pleased to be the supplier of the world’s first Confidex Sustain™ CarbonNeutral building project.”

The site at Langage Park, Plymouth, was completed recently and is already being used as a manufacturing unit by Princess, a producer of luxury boats and yachts. The new building is the largest of three on the site.