As one of its locally supported charities the Wildlife Trust BCN were thrilled to be invited along to the Kagami Biraki ceremony to mark the opening, which involved breaking open the wooden lid (representing happiness) of a sake barrel with wooden mallets thus breaking open good fortune. That good fortune spills over to the local area and community.

Fujifilm House is home to Fujifilm UK’s 300 employees over three storeys working across its business areas in photography, healthcare and medical diagnostics, life sciences, print, data storage, and industrial products.

Sustainability is at the heart of the design with 80 solar panels installed on the roof, which will generate 63,000 kw/h of electricity a year and save 29 tons of CO2 emissions. Rainwater harvesting is used for all toilet flushes in the building. Electric car charging points have been installed in the parking area with the provision to install more in the years to come. Bug hotels reside amongst the trees and seeded wildflower beds surrounding the car park, with bird feeders and bat boxes to come in the hope that, over time, nature will be encouraged to flourish.

We were also impressed to find out that the building is cleaned using highly ionised water, treated to a high pH, making the use of bleaches and chemicals unnecessary in the on-site cleaning regime – an important improvement for sustainability.

A beautiful touch is the decorative panels installed all around the building, influenced by screens in Japan known as shoji and based on a Japanese woodworking design of cherry blossom – a sign of ‘new beginnings’. The beautiful lattice design work is a tribute to the lacemaking history of Bedford, where company operations have been based for almost 40 years.

Well known for their cameras and lenses, Fujifilm also leads the way in medical imaging, including medical MRI and CT, X-ray imaging diagnostics, endoscopes, ultrasound diagnostics and in-vitro diagnostic systems. The new premises incorporates testing, development and training areas, and includes the Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan Demo Suite, a fully equipped suite showcasing its healthcare portfolio.

Also showcased at Fujifilm House is Fujifilm’s print technology utilised in partnership with a leading high street greeting card retailer, to offer a kiosk where greeting cards are selected and printed in situ and on-demand, negating hundreds of printed cards displayed in retail outlets and resulting wastage.

Investment has been made in staff wellbeing; a free-to-use gym, refreshment areas, break-out pods and a prayer and reflection room feature. The latter is used for quiet time and contemplation and overlooks the nearby river.

We look forward to watching the area develop over the years and hope that other businesses looking for new spaces will also look to make sustainable choices as Fujifilm has done.