Sustainability and landbuying
The land we buy and develop is our most important asset. We select land in the places our customers want to live with good connectivity to infrastructure and facilities.
Climate resilience
Our business will feel the physical impacts of a changing climate and be affected by climate change regulation and other risks and opportunities. Natural Resources and climate change is one of our Principal Risks and we have conducted climate scenario analysis. More information on climate risks and opportunities is included in our Annual Report and Accounts on pages 53 to 68.
We build our homes and developments to be resilient to the impacts of a changing climate. For example, we have a rigorous process for managing flood risk.
We identify potential flood risk as part of our site selection process. We use the Environment Agency’s flood mapping tools, and take account of their input during our planning consultations. We carry out a flood risk assessment on all our sites and do not buy land unless we can mitigate flood risk. We integrate sustainable drainage systems (SDS) that decrease flow rates to watercourses, increase infiltration into the ground and improve water quality such as ponds, swales, permeable paving, retention basins, wetlands, green roofs, infiltration trenches and soakaways. Many of these features also contribute to good placemaking. Our green infrastructure guide helps our teams to manage water on site.
We minimise overheating risks by reducing the potential for solar gain through the design and positioning of windows and use of ventilation systems. This is addressed by Building Regulations Part O.
Many parts of the UK are already experiencing water stress and this will increase with climate change. We are starting to see an impact on the planning system through issues such as nutrient neutrality. We estimate that around 42% of our plots are built in areas of high water stress, based on the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Water Risk Atlas tool, Aqueduct.
Greenfield and brownfield sites
We often transform previously developed, derelict or contaminated land (brownfield land) into new communities, which helps support urban redevelopment and regeneration. Around 21% of our homes in 2023 were built on brownfield land (2022: 17%) which includes infill sites.
Every site we develop – whether it’s a greenfield or previously developed site – is built to our environmental and placemaking standards, and complies with environmental and planning regulations and social and environmental standards set by the local planning authority.
We aim to use land efficiently and to have regard to on-site constraints and prevailing planning policies. Our plotting efficiency template tool helps teams to make best use of available land while enhancing design and placemaking. We estimate that densities on our suburban schemes range between 32 and 45 dwellings per hectare, with an average of 36 dwellings per hectare. City centre developments have a higher average density of around 200 or more dwellings per hectare.