As a favoured Principal Contractor for J D Wetherspoon, McGoff & Byrne Ltd were chosen for The Kettleby Cross. The pub is just a few minutes from Melton Mowbray town centre, in Leicestershire, and has been designed to incorporate the best in contemporary, environmentally friendly systems available today.

Structural Design a reinforced concrete structure, to maximise the efficiency of the heating and cooling systems.

Insulation the pub has twice as much insulation as required by building regulations. A ground-source heat-pump, based on six boreholes, each 100 metres deep, supplies under-floor heating and cooling. This innovative system will heat the pub in the winter and cool it in the summer, with an expected 50% decrease in heating bills.

Condensing Boilers these super-efficient systems bring heat into an air-handling unit which can top up the heating and hot water, as required. Thermal Wheel this device is expected to recover up to 95% of the heat lost through extraction.

Wind Turbine this will supplement the electricity supply, by harnessing the energy of the wind. The turbine, above the pub’s roof, draws wind from all angles and is three-dimensional; unlike the average turbine, it has an attractive sculptural element to it also creating less noise than traditional turbines. This is expected to supply half of the energy needed to cool the cellar and will also supply energy to heat water.

Sun Pipes prisms based inside these pipes will gather sunlight and reflect it to where it’s needed in the otherwise dark internal areas. Rainwater Harvesting rainwater collected at the site will provide the ‘grey water’, used for flushing the wc’s.

Evaporate Cololers these will keep customers cool, whenever the pub’s temperature rises above a certain level. It will also take the heat out of the kitchen and help to cool the staff. The system can quickly lower the temperature in the bar area by up to 5°C.

Solar Panels roof-mounted solar thermal panels are expected to provide a minimum of 33 % of the energy used to heat the pub’s hot water. Photovoltaic Tiles camouflaged roof tiles convert the sun’s energy into electricity, once again cutting down on energy use.

Heat Recovery Systems sited in the air-circulation system, this clever gizmo recovers heat which would usually be blown out of the building. Heat recovery from the ventilation system and the beer-cooling equipment will save energy, is expected to provide 10% of the hot water needed by the pub. Low-energy fittings low-energy kitchen equipment minimises the pub’s effect on the nvironment, as do the low-energy LED bulbs used throughout the pub.

Controls and displays customers and pub staff can see how much energy is being saved by many of the devices listed above. J D Wetherspoon plan to collate this information and then employ the most effective systems in other pubs.