Work begins on £20m green bus depot in Glasgow

The new facility in Glasgow will provide space for up to 450 buses and more than 1,200 employees, making it the biggest bus depot in the UK.

Funded by Scotland’s largest bus operating company, First Glasgow, the facility will feature renewable energy technologies and efficiency measures, including the introduction of ‘photovoltaic solar cells’ on the roofs.

The solar panels will generate between 175,000 and 185,000 kilowatts per hour of electricity a year – enough to power around 40 houses per year.

In addition, rainwater harvesting will be introduced so that roof water can be used in the bus wash, saving an estimated 2.2 million litres of water per year.

It will also use low-energy intelligent lighting, which will save electricity by dimming when natural daylight is available, through the use of infrared detectors, while a Building Management System will be incorporated that senses when a door is opened and automatically shuts down the heating within those areas to minimise heat loss.

Other initiatives include the fitting of new fuel tanks with intelligent monitoring, which will allow instantaneous readings of all fluids and will automatically re-order supplies. The system orders automatically to avoid overfilling and reduce environmental risks and can also detect any water contamination.

Construction is due to be complete in October 2014 with the site fully operational in November next year.

Leigh Stringer