Boris Johnson's green transport policies were boosted today as the UK's largest, greenest bus garage was officially opened in London.
"The garage, paired with our bus fleet, which is the greenest in the country, is yet another part of our continued drive to reduce polluting emissions and improve air quality for Londoners"
Kulveer Ranger
the Mayor of London's transport advisor

The garage, paired with our bus fleet, which is the greenest in the country, is yet another part of our continued drive to reduce polluting emissions and improve air quality for Londoners

Boris Johnson's green transport policies were boosted today as the UK's largest, greenest bus garage was officially opened in London.

The garage, in West Ham, boasts a range of eco-friendly features, including a wind turbine and will house some 320 buses.

It has been built and designed to help staff recycle as much as possible, and to avoid the wasteful use of natural resources.

Cut emissions

The garage is predicted to cut CO2 emissions by 27 per cent compared to a building built with traditional materials.

David Brown, Transport for London's (TfL) Managing Director for Surface Transport officially opened the garage, accompanied by Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London's transport advisor.

They were shown a living green roof, planted with sedum, and a 100kW wind turbine producing 10 per cent of the bus garage's energy needs.

Any excess of the clean, green energy generated by the turbine but not used by the bus garage is sold back to the national grid for general use, delivering genuine energy cost savings.

Bus travel is the most popular form of public transport in the Capital, with 2.2 billion passenger journeys last year - representing nearly half of the total bus journeys in England.

Improve the environment

David Brown, Managing Director of Surface Transport, said: 'This clearly shows TfL's commitment to producing new buildings with genuine sustainability to deliver both financial and energy efficiencies.

'This vital investment in infrastructure supports the most widely used form of transport in London, currently delivering 2.2 billion bus passenger journeys each year.'

Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London's transport advisor, said: 'The Mayor is determined to not just improve transport but also the quality of London's environment.

'This, and other schemes like this, are the result of us putting sustainability at the heart of our transport policies. It is so rewarding to see a bus garage like this one which produces almost a third less CO2 and has so many innovative eco-friendly features.

Air quality

'The garage, paired with our bus fleet, which is the greenest in the country, is yet another part of our continued drive to reduce polluting emissions and improve air quality for Londoners.'

Key 'green' features of the bus garage include:

  • Laminated timber roof structure
  • Living green roof, planted with sedum which will help to reduce flooding by collecting rain water and releasing it slowly to drains
  • Rain water harvesting which collects water from the roof and is used to flush toilets
  • Natural ventilation that minimises the need for air conditioning
  • Biomass boilers and combined heat and power units which reduce the reliance on fossil fuels
  • Sky lights to allow natural light to be utilised and reduce energy consumption
  • Bus washing facilities designed to recycle 70 per cent of the water it uses

London's bus fleet is already the cleanest in the UK and is on track to become even less polluting to improve air quality.

By 2012, all new buses entering the fleet are expected to be hybrid and the New Bus for London will be 40 per cent less polluting than diesel equivalents.

Later this year, the bus fleet will also welcome five hydrogen buses which produce only water vapour from their tailpipe.


Notes to editors:

  • Photographs of the new bus garage are available on request from the TfL Press Office
  • TfL leases the bus garage to East London Bus Group (ELBG) who also use the site as their head office building with areas for staff training, canteen and welfare areas
  • Five hybrid buses also operate out of West Ham bus garage on the route 276 (Newham Hospital - Stoke Newington Common)
  • The bus garage was designed by Pringle Richards Sharratt Architects, with structural, mechanical and electrical design by Arup
  • Project management and cost management was provided by Capital Projects Consultancy Limited with quantity surveying provided by Tillyard
  • Planning advice was provided by NTR Planning
  • The construction of West Ham bus garage was carried out by Mansell Construction Services Limited
  • Up to date information on the performance of the wind turbine is available at http://northernpower.kiosk-view.com/westhamgarage