Tesco-owned Dobbies is set to unveil a new model store at the beginning of next month in Aberdeen as part of ambitious plans to quadruple the number of shops to 100 over the next 10 years.

The Dobbies Garden World centre covers over 4,400 square metres, cost GBP11.7 million (USD18.99 million) to build and claims to be the most environmentally friendly garden centre in Scotland. Eco features include a biomass boiler, water recycling and an intelligent control system that changes temperatures and lighting to suit different conditions.

Designed by Edge Architecture and Design, the store includes a farm food hall, which sells locally sourced produce, health and beauty products based on natural ingredients, related books and CDs, as well as plants and gardening equipment.

Dobbies Chief Executive James Barnes said: “The Aberdeen store is a concept for a new generation of garden centres in the UK and the benchmark from which the company will launch all future stores.” He said that all future stores “will be built with timber frames and have renewable energy systems,” adding that Dobbies’ “future vision” is “to create stores that are entirely carbon neutral.”