| Housebuilders apathetic to climate change |
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| Wednesday, 31 October 2007 | |
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No UK homebuilders have a climate change policy in place, according to research by environmentalists and social housing providers. The report ranked The Berkeley Group and Taylor Wimpey as the greenest housing providers, but was a stark warning for Galliford Try, Bloor Holdings and Gladedale Holdings.
Building a Sustainable Future ranked the UK’s top 20 homebuilders according to their sustainability performance. It named The Berkeley Group, Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey (now merged to form Taylor Wimpey), Countryside Properties and Crest Nicholson as the top companies. However, Gladedale Holdings, Bloor Holdings, Cala Group and Galliford Try were bottom of the table. The Housing Corporation, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature and Insight Investment, backed the analysis. The report’s authors concluded there is a large gap between where the industry is now and where it needs to be by 2016 to achieve the government’s vision for a quarter of a million zero-carbon homes a year. It found 60% of homebuilders recognise climate change as a significant issue to the sector, but none has a climate change policy in place. It also found only 25% have an understanding of the carbon footprint of their operations and 15% have sustainable procurement policies. Amy Ford, Innovation and Development Manager (London) for the Housing Corporation said: “Although it is still early days, it is encouraging that leading UK home builders have made good progress in driving up standards. The government have clearly set out the challenge for industry, and we look forward to seeing significantly more progress in the years to come.” Top 20 overall performance 1. The Berkeley Group 2. Taylor Woodrow 3. George Wimpey 4. Countryside Properties 5. Crest Nicholson 6. Inspace 7. Barratt Developments 8. Miller Homes 9. Redrow 10. McCarthy & Stone 11. Bellway 12. Fairview 13. Bovis Homes 14. Persimmon 15. Kier Residential 16. Lovell 17. Galliford Try 18. Cala Group 19. Bloor Holdings 20. Gladedale Holdings |