'Carbon-storing' tree marks new science building

£5 million centre honours Moretonhampstead engineer

A new £5 million building built to net zero carbon standards has officially opened at Exeter Science Park.

In the time-honoured way, they've planted a tree to celebrate - and mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at the same time.

The Japanese green case tree to celebrate was chosen for its capacity to store carbon.

The George Parker Bidder building is named after a Moretonhampstead-born civil engineer who turned out to be a mathematical prodigy. He is bst known for his work on the development of the railways in the nineteenth century.

It provides office and laboratory space for maturing science, technology, engineering, maths and medical (STEMM) businesses and is already home to businesses including Remit Zero, Securious, Edson Tiger, Rx-info, Quanterra Systems, Concept First and Dashboard which have all moved from the nearby Science Park Centre.

Dr Sally Basker, CEO of Exeter Science Park, said: “Exeter Science Park’s mission is to help innovative STEMM companies to deliver extraordinary growth and offer space for each stage of the business lifecycle, which is being realised here as we’ve seen many tenants grow and move across the road from the Science Park Centre.

Exeter Science Park tenant Treeconomics provided the tree. Director Kenton Rogers explained: “Over its anticipated ideal lifespan, the Japanese Green Vase tree will sequester approximately 5,341kg of carbon. This gives the tree an ‘A’ rating in carbon efficiency, which can be seen on its dedicated carbon efficiency tag, provided along with the tree.

“This tag is much like the energy efficiency ratings tags shown on domestic appliances and indicates the efficiency of the tree based on the amount of carbon it will absorb from the atmosphere and store within its woody tissues over its anticipated ‘ideal’ lifespan.”