Environmental
sustainability

As a landlord, we take our environmental responsibilities seriously. We believe it is our responsibility to improve the sustainability of our homes, our operations and our communities. 

Our aims include:

• mitigate and, where possible, minimise our environmental impact
• become a net zero organisation by 2050
• promote a sustainable and carbon literate culture with colleagues and customers
• provide more efficient heating systems that will help reduce fuel poverty amongst customers
• provide comfortable and warm living spaces and green spaces that can positively impact our customers’ health and wellbeing

Ultimately, we want to become a truly environmentally sustainable business. 

Understanding the scale of and our impact on climate change

Collating and understanding our data is key to making the right decisions on our pathway to net zero. We will use our scope 1, 2 and 3 data to create a net zero strategy. This will define our approach and provide future strategic targets which will lead to meaningful change and align with the UK Governments 2050 target. 

Carbon reduction 

Our current data indicates that our largest environmental impacts are emissions from our housing stock and fleet fuel use.

Work will be needed on around a third of our housing stock to reach our target average of EPC band B. 

In recent years we have benefited from funding through ECO3 and LAD2. We have also been awarded £1.2 million of SHDF to support us in providing energy efficiency upgrades to our homes. 

We have continued to source renewable energy and will need to transition our diesel fleet to electric. We are currently looking into how we will provide charging capacity for our fleet. 

Managing resources 

We’re looking at how we can improve the way that we manage our waste and water resources.  Waste will be managed in line with the circular economy – reducing, reusing, repair, redistributing, maintaining, and prolonging the life of our resources.  We will manage our use of water in the efficient ways possible.  

Sustainable Procurement

We recognise that scope 3 contains our largest carbon emissions. As a result we will develop a sustainability procurement policy which will enable us to work with our supply chain to identify and reduce environmental impacts.  

Improving Biodiversity 

We’re looking to adapt how we work to enhance biodiversity in green spaces. This will support flourishing nature, ecosystems and the well-being of our communities. We have already increased biodiversity measures at some of our new developments. We have also carried out trial at one of our existing sites by planting of wildflower meadow. 

Customer/ Stakeholder Engagement 

As a landlord we recognise the influence that we can have on our customers, colleagues and stakeholders to make positive change towards climate change. We engage with our customers through our newsletters about sustainability themes and keep them up to date with our progress. All colleagues with line management experience are currently undertaking the Carbon Literacy training.