YOU might imagine that retailing would be one of the least environmentally friendly forms of business, After all, isn’t it based on persuading people to buy things they often don’t need, usually in extravagant packaging?

Yet Poole’s Dolphin Centre says it is putting the environment high on its agenda – and that the results have been good for its balance sheet as well as its conscience.

John Grinnell, manager of the centre, says sustainability is a high priority for the centre’s owner, Legal & General, and the centre has to report quarterly on its sustainability plan.

One of the most dramatic changes has been a huge decrease in the amount spent on heating and cooling the centre.

“We decided air conditioning in shopping centres is not really a benefit because it makes the shopping centre nice and cool but as soon as the doors are open the cool is gone – exactly the same as heat,” he said.

“We don’t put on the heating unless it gets to minus figures. We know people have got to keep taking their coats off indoors and putting them on when they get outdoors again.”

Recently-installed signage bearing the centre’s new branding uses energy-saving LED, while motion sensors are used in parts of the building to control lighting.

Most waste is recycled and the rest does not go far from the centre.

“The parts of the waste we’re not able to recycle gets burned for energy at Bournemouth Hosp-ital,” said Mr Grinnell.

“It gives a sustainable benefit to a local company.”

New retailers in the centre are given templates for environ-mentally friendly fit-outs, with materials from sustainable sources.

But one of the biggest innovations is the elimination of chemicals from cleaning the centre.

“We used to use various chemical cleaners, floor and window wipes and toilet cleaners. We were conscious of how many different harmful chemicals we were using in the shopping centre,” said Mr Grinnell.

It moved instead to the Orbio system from the Tennant Company, which takes waste water and adds salt and an electrolysis process to create a cleaning solution. The resulting bottled fluid is then used to clean floors, handrails, and even toilets.

“Toilets can be very challenging to keep clean but this Orbio has made the toilets smell fresher,” said Mr Grinnell.

“It kills all the germs and we’ve seen a massive improvement. It’s just water and we’ve turned that water into a cleaning solution and it works.”

The Dolphin Centre is part of a group of shopping centres which share ideas about sustainability. Mr Grinnell said the issue was growing in importance.

“Property companies through-out the whole of the UK have a lot of responsibility when it comes to sustainability,” he said.

“A big property company like Legal & General have recognised that they have to do something and they have made sustain-ability their biggest challenges.”