Council leads the way with new green base for the city’s front line waste services

At a formal opening ceremony on Monday 16 May Councillor James Lewis, Leader of Leeds City Council, opened Newmarket House the new home for the city’s refuse and street cleansing services.

The new facility will provide a modern, future proofed operational base for the city’s refuse and street cleaning service, the second largest council run refuse service in the UK.

Uniting the city’s refuse service under one roof, the facility will be home to around 130 operational vehicles and the front-line staff that empty the city’s wheely bins and help keep streets and neighbourhoods clean.

Newmarket house is located next to the Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility (RERF), and will enable the council to design and operate more efficient collection routes, driving down costs as well as the carbon footprint of household waste in Leeds.

The facility's infrastructure has also been future proofed to allow for adaptation of green fuelling options for refuse wagons as technology and fuels change, with an initial 20 electric charging points being installed for refuse wagons and a further 22 charging points for the services fleet of vans. The facility has also been developed with the ability to further convert all bays to either electric, hydrogen or biofuel fuelling in the future.

Newmarket House represents a significant commitment by Leeds City Council to support more efficient ways of working; investing in the staff that have worked tirelessly during the pandemic and providing the residents of Leeds with a more effective and greener service. The facility has been successfully delivered on time and to budget by Leeds City Council and KIER group, despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on construction projects across the UK.

Supporting the council’s declaration of the climate emergency and the need to reduce its carbon footprint has been a key driver in the design and development of Newmarket House. With the building allowing the service to reduce its carbon footprint by 128 tonnes of CO 2 each year.

A sustainable approach has been maintained throughout the design, construction, and production of the depot, ranging from the use of LED lights, to utilising 50% recycled content is all concrete used on site, and the installation of solar panels that will generate over 63KW per hour, allowing the council to export surplus energy back to the grid.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, executive member for environment and housing, said: “It is fantastic that we are able to celebrate the opening of Newmarket House, and the depot facilities that will make a significant difference to the city’s environmental services. The service works around the clock to deliver for the people of Leeds so it is fantastic that we can deliver a brand-new depot to help ensure the service can continue to do so in the future.

“The council recognises the importance of meeting the climate emergency head on and Newmarket House is a great example of the public sector’s ability to lead the way.

"Throughout the depot there are innovative solutions to reducing our carbon footprint and the site sets the foundation for expanding the electrification of our fleet. I can’t wait to see the impact that this depot will have on the service and the people of Leeds.”

Dan Doherty, regional director for Kier Construction North & Scotland said: “Partnering with Leeds City Council to help them deliver their sustainability goals and support them on their pathway to net zero has been a real highlight and we’re incredibly proud to have built one of the ‘greenest buildings in Leeds’.

“Working with our supply chain, our team has made every effort to construct Newmarket House in a sustainable manner, from crushing and recycling concrete on site, to minimising waste to landfill, to replacing diesel in the machines with HVO fuel, the team identified numerous opportunities for reducing CO2 emissions and our carbon footprint.

“This project had the added benefit of being only five miles from our regional Leeds office making this a truly local project and we have also focussed on social sustainability delivering numerous employment, skills and CSR activities which have contributed to a fantastic considerate constructors’ score of 45/45.”