1992: the Case of Marks and Spencer Jessica Anne Gray
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Business, the Environment and the Consumer 1968 – 1992: The Case of Marks and Spencer Jessica Anne Gray Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of History September 2015 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2015 The University of Leeds and Jessica Anne Gray The right of Jessica Anne Gray to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Acknowledgements I would firstly like to thank my supervisor Professor Richard Whiting for all his support and guidance throughout my PhD. Appreciation must also go to both the University of Leeds and Marks and Spencer for their financial support of the research. I am also in debt to the Marks and Spencer Company Archive team for their assistance and insight into the collection. The following archive teams have also graciously allowed access to their collections and have given permission for the reproduction of a number of sources within the thesis: Sainsbury Archive John Lewis Partnership Archive The National Archives Bath Preservation Trust Finally, I would like to thank my family, without their support and inimitable sense of humour I would likely have lost my sanity a long time ago. Abstract The research addresses a central tension of modern society between materialism and retail expansion on the one hand and growing environmental awareness on the other, during the 1970s and 1980s. It does so through a study of the operations of Marks and Spencer, with comparative reference to other leading retailers, principally Sainsbury’s and the John Lewis Partnership. Marks and Spencer experienced a complex renegotiation of its relationship with the environment and resource use as it underwent rapid expansion and changes in the period 1968-1992. This has yet to be addressed by academics, especially in relation to the notable growth in environmental concern at this time. It is this changing retail context, as experienced by Marks and Spencer, coupled with the evolving significance of the broader environmental agenda, which this thesis addresses. It makes extensive use of the Marks and Spencer Company Archive to address the importance of the company’s changing commercial operations, its relationship with consumers, the government and British society more broadly, in shaping its approach to the environment and resource use. The thesis contributes to existing academic literature concerning retailing and the environment by illustrating the extent to which the environment was a highly constructed and negotiated retail concern, which invariably predated the environmental fervour of the late eighties and early nineties and the subsequent commercial clamour to be seen to be green. The research addresses Marks and Spencer’s response to environmental issues, its energy conservation efforts, its retail store development, as well as the internal and external environments of its stores. It shows how the relationship between retailers and the environment was shaped as much by the outlook and operations of individual retailers and the changing nature of modern retailing, as it was the wider environmental agenda and growing popular concern. Table of Contents Page List of Illustrations 6-7 Abbreviations 8-9 Introduction 10 Chapter One: 39 The Environment: From the Fringes to the Mainstream Chapter Two: 85 The Commercial Need to Conserve Energy Chapter Three: 117 Save It: Is “Energy Sense”, “Common-sense”? Chapter Four: 150 Out-of-town retailing: Who Moved Out and Why? Chapter Five: 176 Negotiating Retail Environments Chapter Six: 207 The Aesthetics of Commerce Chapter Seven: 239 Commercial Efforts to Control Retail Environments Conclusion 256 Bibliography 263 Appendix One: Marks and Spencer Chairmen 1967–1999 289 List of Illustrations Page Fig.1: Electricity used per sq. ft. of building area 99 MSCA, Subject file for Marcus Sieff: Energy Conservation, R/4/3/9, G. Colman, ‘The St. Michael Approach to Energy Conservation’ (23 April 1982) Fig.2: How Marks & Spencer saved energy worth £500,000 * 106 MSCA, R/4/3/9, Department of Energy, ‘How Marks & Spencer saved energy worth £500,000’, Daily Mirror , 11 March 1975 Fig.3: This Easter, you could save yourself £20 a year. Interested? * 127 and Fig.4: “It may not be my house, but it’s my heating bill” * David J. Crossley, ‘The role of popularization campaigns in energy conservation’, Energy Policy (March, 1979), 57–68 Fig.5: Refrigerated provisions gondola with modified lip profile. 140 MSCA, R/4/3/9, Building Division, ‘Energy Conservation 1974–1982’ (November, 1982) Fig.6: Marks & Spencer store development breakdown 1968-1985 157 MSCA, Annual Reports, CR/D, Marks and Spencer Ltd (1968-1985) Fig.7: Marks & Spencer store development breakdown 1986-1992 157 MSCA, Annual Reports, CR/D, Marks and Spencer Ltd (1986-1992) Fig.8: Yeovil Store Front (1975) 214 MSCA, Photograph Album Yeovil Store, P2/87/285 (1975) Fig.9: Andover Store Extension (1985) 214 MSCA, Photograph Album Andover Store, P2/87/5 (1985) Fig.10: Ayr Store Front (1974) 218 MSCA, Photographs of Marks & Spencer Ayr store: Exterior, P1/1/9/2 (1974). Fig.11: Oxford Store Front (1978) 218 MSCA, Photograph Album, Oxford Store, P2/87/193 (1978). Fig.12 and 13: Exeter Store Front and Side View (1981) 223 MSCA, Photograph Album, Exeter Store, P2/87/104 (1981). Fig.14: Sainsbury’s Green Park Development (1983) ^ 226 ‘Branch opening Bath’, JS Journal (January, 1983), The Sainsbury Archive: JS Journal Online. Web. [accessed 10 September 2015], 3 Fig.15: Sainsbury’s Wolverhampton Store Front (1988) ^ 230 ‘Branch opening Wolverhampton’, JS Journal (March, 1988), The Sainsbury Archive: JS Journal Online. Web. [accessed 10 September 2015], 5 Reproduced with permission from * The National Archives ^ Sainsbury Archive All other images - Marks and Spencer Company Archive. 8 Abbreviations Main Text ACBE Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment ACEC* Advisory Council on Energy Conservation ATCM Association of Town Centre Management BEU Business and the Environment Unit BHS British Home Stores BSA British Social Attitudes BTCV British Trust for Conservation Volunteers CBI Confederation of British Industry CES* Centre for Environmental Studies CFCs Chlorofluorocarbons COI Central Office of Information CPT* Central Place Theory DC Distribution Centre DTI Department of Trade and Industry EC European Community ECD Energy Conservation Division ECO Energy Conservation Officers EDC* Economic Development Council EEO Energy Efficiency Office ENCORD* Energy Conservation Research and Development EPIA Eel Pie Island Association Planning Sub-Committee FES Family Expenditure Survey FoE Friends of the Earth FRAME Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments GHS General Household Survey HCFC Hydrochlorofluorocarbon HMIP Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution ICSC International Council of Shopping Centres INCPEN Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment IRA Irish Republican Army LPA Local Planning Authority NCC Nature Conservancy Council NEDO National Economic Development Office NEEF National Energy Efficiency Forum NRA National Rivers Authority 9 OPEC Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries PPG* Planning Policy Guidance TCM Town Centre Management UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNEP United Nations Environment Programme Footnotes BPT Bath Preservation Trust EG Department of Energy FJ Commission for the New Towns INF Central Office of Information JLPA John Lewis Partnership Archive MSCA Marks and Spencer Company Archive PLUP Planning Land Use Policy Directorate PREM Prime Minister’s Office SA Sainsbury Archive TCPSS Town and Country Planning Summer School TNA The National Archives * Appear in the main text and in the footnotes 10 Introduction I At the dawn of the 1970s, to listen to environmentalists would be to believe that we were on course to hit the proverbial iceberg; the rapacious and unbridled demands of modern society were in danger of sinking the ship. Brian Harrison claimed that ‘every generation finds something different to worry about’; this generation had invariably found its something. 1 By 1990 Marks and Spencer had released an Environmental Policy Statement and declared that ‘caring for the environment is too important to be just a sales gimmick’. 2 The emergence of a company document explicitly outlining the company’s approach to the environment marked a notable turning point in the way in which Marks and Spencer conceived of the environment as a commercial issue and it was not alone in making such a move. Sally Eden has noted that ‘the green banner was raised over many companies in the late 1980s as the rising tide of public environmental interest made the environment a topic for mainstream companies to build campaigns around’. 3 Nevertheless, whilst a shift in presentation and focus undoubtedly took place within Marks and Spencer in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a closer assessment of the company’s environment policy highlights a more enduring concern on the part of the company with many of the issues included. Along with the more headline inducing issues, such as the company’s efforts to phase out Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and its development of biodegradable detergents, Marks and Spencer also identified its commitment to energy conservation and its policies regarding store development and design. The latter concerns were not conceived of in the heated environmental fervour of the late eighties and early nineties, but were longstanding commercial concerns for the company, which played a significant role in shaping Marks and Spencer’s relationship with the environment and resource use. A detailed assessment of how such policies evolved within Marks and Spencer and the degree to which the environment and resource use took on a greater importance in the period 1968-1992 for the company, has yet to be undertaken by academics.