Winner
Wilson Connolly
The cornerstone of Wilcon's environmental strategy is a 30-page report, carried out by independent assessor AEA Technology Environment, setting out 25 objectives across the range of the housebuilder's activities, from collecting energy data from buildings, transport and processes and reducing waste per house built from 8 tonnes to 6 tonnes this year. But the judges were most impressed by Wilcon's site auditing system, the Wilcon Index. Developed by the housebuilder with planning consultant Roger Tym and Partners, the index allows a site to be scored against ten key areas, covering such factors as access to employment and impact on areas of ecological value, and is being used to appraise present and future land. "It takes the rhetoric out of an emotive subject and allows us to demonstrate that we are buying the right site," Martin Leyland, strategic land director with the housebuilder told Building Homes at the system's launch last year.
Wilson Connolly
The cornerstone of Wilcon's environmental strategy is a 30-page report, carried out by independent assessor AEA Technology Environment, setting out 25 objectives across the range of the housebuilder's activities, from collecting energy data from buildings, transport and processes and reducing waste per house built from 8 tonnes to 6 tonnes this year. But the judges were most impressed by Wilcon's site auditing system, the Wilcon Index. Developed by the housebuilder with planning consultant Roger Tym and Partners, the index allows a site to be scored against ten key areas, covering such factors as access to employment and impact on areas of ecological value, and is being used to appraise present and future land. "It takes the rhetoric out of an emotive subject and allows us to demonstrate that we are buying the right site," Martin Leyland, strategic land director with the housebuilder told Building Homes at the system's launch last year.
Equal second
Laing Homes
Last year Laing launched a campaign called Building to Enable a Sustainable Tomorrow, based on its own housing-specific environmental management system. BEST is being applied throughout the company's sites in initiatives covering: land use and ecology, waste, water conservation, energy saving, materials use, transport and working with the community. The campaign has a steering group that includes senior management including the chief executive, to ensure policy is met and knowledge shared. A dedicated intranet site has also been established to give companywide access to the BEST EMS manual.
Their land strategy could deliver a result that helps improve the image of the whole housebuilding sector
Source
Building Homes
