Providing a home for nature

At a time when much of the UK’s urban wildlife is in decline, we’re proud to be taking steps to pioneer a nature-friendly approach to home building; crafting beautiful homes that enhance and support the environment.

Committed to boosting natural habitats for wildlife, we must continue to take positive steps to build nature-friendly housing developments, doing all that we can to increase the population of British wildlife.

There are many ways that we encourage local wildlife to thrive in our developments. Not only do we plant an average of 20 trees or shrubs for each home that we build, we strive to use the best types for wildlife, and to retain and enhance as much green open space as possible across our communities.

We are also helping to save British wild bees by continuing to introduce bee-friendly plants across acres of gardens and open spaces within our developments.

We have worked with the RSPB to boost the number of swifts in the country. With the UK’s population of swifts in serious decline, building new homes for the birds was an important goal of our partnership. The innovative brick, which is also a nesting box for swifts, is now being installed on our developments across the country.

Find out more about our swift bricks in this brochure:

Now is a great time to enjoy nature and encourage wildlife to your outdoor space, whatever your gardening experience.

From putting up a nest box, planting a tree or going on a nature walk to explore and collect seeds to sow at home, Nature on Your Doorstep is full of ideas to try.

Just visit Nature on Your Doorstep for inspiration.

 

We've been awarded Best Housing Partnership at the 2021 British Homes Awards, for our work with RSPB.

Together we've created the UK’s first truly wildlife-friendly housing development at Kingsbrook, a 306-hectare site on the outskirts of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, with the aim of “Giving Nature a Home”.

The 2,450 home project built the care of the natural environment into the scheme at the earliest stages, including keeping ancient hedges, creating a 250-acre nature reserve and visitor centre, and concentrating homes in areas with the least biodiversity.