The bright green blocks that cover part of a large hanger-like building on Tata Steel's Shotton site in Wales certainly make the building stand out, even on the vast acreage. However, the panels, as we soon learnt, aren't simply there to catch the eye but are at the heart of a new project the firm is embarking on, in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government, and the UK's Low Carbon Research Institute. The building, the Sustainable Building Envelope Centre (SBEC), which was unveiled on Thursday, will be used to develop and demonstrate low-carbon, low-energy construction technologies, which will turn buildings and their walls, roofs and floors into structures capable of capturing, storing and transmitting energy.