Making a world of difference collectively to future-proof our planet
Our natural world is under threat. Species are declining and habitats are shrinking. What’s more, there’s a need to tackle the twin crises of climate change and the extinction of different species known as biodiversity loss as part of a holistic approach to reduce our impact on the environment.
We at Abri understand that the climate is changing and as a housing provider, we have a duty to tackle both climate change and the shortage of housing that we face. Our commitments include, building more sustainable homes that are affordable, decarbonising our existing housing and reducing our operational emissions to net zero by 2030.
We’re ambitious to utilise the footprint offered by our 50,000 homes and assets to protect our communities’ ecosystems and wildlife for the benefit of our 114,000 customers and beyond. As we work on lowering our carbon emissions whilst protecting biodiversity, we want to involve our customers in the process. One way of making sure that this happens, is through creating space for nature in all our new developments. Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural ecosystems and Abri will maximise these solutions through our own land use, but also recognising the dependencies on biodiversity throughout our supply chain.
Working to balance housing with important habitats
In the last twelve months, Abri has been working closely with water and sewage company, Wessex Water to launch a water saving scheme that’ll tackle both the cost of living and the climate crises’, benefitting our customers and the environment. The partnership will see Abri customers in over 7,000 of our properties in Somerset being offered the opportunity to receive a free water saving home visit. The service involves a full assessment of their property, fixing any leaks that are found, offering specific behavioural change advice and the fitting of water saving devices. A fifth of energy use in the home is connected to hot water usage, so customers can see reductions on their energy bills as well as water bills.
In addition, the amount of water saved supports ‘nutrient neutrality’, which refers to the process of reducing the nutrient quality such as phosphates and nitrate in water catchment areas, providing a cleaner water supply.
Our valuable new partnership empowers customers to reduce household water usage to aid in the reduction of wastewater flows into sewers, where it travels to a nearby water recycling centre for treatment. This in turn reduces the volume of treated wastewater being released into surrounding rivers and wetlands in Somerset. The process minimises water pollution which better protects the natural habitats on customers doorsteps and helps them save some money along the way. Dynamic partnerships like this one provide opportunities to explore solutions that tackle the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss in tandem; this approach is key to ensure that we can continue to build more affordable and much needed homes.
Taking action to sustain the planet so that we can look after our communities better
The Environment Act 2021, legislation created by the UK government, has mandated a 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) for all new developments. BNG aims to create new habitats as well as enhancing existing habitats in a measurable way. With the guidance and support from the UK government, Abri stands ready to implement BNG as a condition of planning permission on our new developments. We’ve been integrating BNG assessments into our developments for some time now in support of the full implementation for this legislation by mid-February 2024.
Focusing on the greener and greater vision
By working together, a leading housing provider such as Abri can play an important role in protecting and enhancing the natural world in a way that benefits those in our communities. We’ve developed our own blueprints to take action on biodiversity, environment and climate change. If you’d like to know more about Abri’s sustainability journey, a good place to start would be reading our environment and climate change strategy.
Ben Earl is Head of partnerships and sustainability at Abri
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