World-renowned University of St Andrews chooses Bruynzeel GreenSteel® storage solution

Bruynzeel Storage Systems has contributed to the refurbishment of the library at the world-renowned University of St Andrews in Scotland. The library of St Andrews is one of the largest and oldest research libraries in the UK. The university was founded in 1413 and the impressive library has a collection of more than a million books, some of which date back to the early 15th century. The mobile shelving provided is one of the first large-scale projects with Bruynzeel GreenSteel®. This steel has the lowest CO2 impact currently available. Bruynzeel is market leader and the world's most sustainable producer of storage systems for libraries and museums.

500 new study places in existing St Andrews Library

Like many other universities, the University of St Andrews is facing growing student numbers and limited suitable space for study and work spaces. St Andrews wants to use its existing buildings and spaces wisely and efficiently to contribute to its sustainability vision of achieving 'Net Zero' by 2035. Buildings are responsible for nearly 40% of annual CO2 emissions worldwide, according to the UN¹.

By partially relocating the book collection and by choosing a library with mobile shelving (instead of conventional static shelving), St Andrews could create 500 new study places. This saved a lot of CO2 emissions, money, time and as this resolved the need for investing in an expensive new annexe. Generally, opting for mobile solutions instead of static ones allows for a much more efficient layout of the building, by up to 50%.

Most durable steel

The University of St Andrews consciously chose Bruynzeel GreenSteel®. This steel produces CO2 savings of more than 90% compared to the usual standard in the market. This currently makes it the most sustainable steel. To offer this, Bruynzeel is currently collaborating with Arcelor Mittal and their accredited XCarb® certificates. The next goal is to be able to use hydrogen-produced steel within the next 7 years - Bruynzeel GreenSteel® 2.0. This represents the next major step towards climate-neutral steel. Bruynzeel's ambition is to significantly increase its production mix with GreenSteel® in the coming years.

Alexander Collot d'Escury, CEO of Bruynzeel Storage Systems, said: "We are immensely proud that the University of St Andrews has chosen Bruynzeel GreenSteel®. It is a great example of what our mobile solutions are capable of. They create significant space and flexibility and contribute to an unprecedented 99% reduction in CO2 compared to new construction². And with vast benefits in terms of costs and speed of completion. Besides the University of St Andrews, more and more other customers are consciously choosing Bruynzeel GreenSteel®. Recently, for example, we won the prestigious project with the Royal British Columbia Museum in Canada, where we will be supplying a floor area of around 7,000m² with our solutions. Together with our customers we are increasingly contributing to a transformational change in the entire supply chain and a future with minimal CO2 impact."

Climate neutral

Bruynzeel systems have the lowest CO2 footprint in the industry because the company has been climate-neutral in its own operations (Scope 1 and 2, GHG protocol³) since 2021, audited and assured by Deloitte. As part of the focus on continuous improvements, energy consumption per product produced was reduced by more than 10% last year. This fits with Bruynzeel's ambition as 'The Footprint Reduction Company' to further strengthen its position as the most sustainable producer in the coming years. Bruynzeel has committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi⁴) to achieve 'Net Zero' for Scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2045.

About Bruynzeel Storage Systems

Bruynzeel Storage Systems was founded in 1953 as part of the Bruynzeel Group and became independent in the 1980s. The company operates in the museum, archive, library and office markets, with customers including the Louvre Paris and Abu Dhabi, the Boijmans van Beuningen Depot, the UK government's National Archives and Schiphol Airport. The Netherlands-based company is also growing rapidly in mobile storage solutions for healthcare, retail, industry, office, datacenters and vertical farming.

Bruynzeel Storage Systems is the European market leader for innovative and space-saving mobile storage systems. Bruynzeel supplies mobile storage systems worldwide with the most innovative functionality and safety for users and objects. Bruynzeel helps these organizations use their space as efficiently and effectively as possible. Less space required means lower costs and has a huge positive impact on the carbon footprint. Bruynzeel itself is climate neutral in its own operations (Scope 1 and Scope 2). Its solutions have the lowest carbon footprint in the industry. As 'The Footprint Reduction Company', Bruynzeel's mission is to support organisations in reducing their carbon footprint.

In early 2023, Delta Design Ltd became part of the Bruynzeel Storage Group. A leader in North America for the storage of museum, university and research institution collections, Delta Designs is known for its high-quality custom-made museum cabinets. Delta has worked with leading institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MIT Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, the Smithsonian, the Art Institute of Chicago, Harvard and many other notable Ivy League Universities.

In addition to its own 11 offices in Europe and the United States, Bruynzeel operates through an extensive network of long-term partners & distributors in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, North America, Australia and Asia. All systems are produced at its factories in the Netherlands and America and with its best-in-class manufacturing process, Bruynzeel is able to deliver mobile storage systems of high quality and design with very short production and delivery times.