Bellway signs up to Home for Nature commitment to bring more wildlife into our developments

Bellway has signed up to a major new initiative to support wildlife on its new developments.

The Homes for Nature commitment will see a bird-nesting brick or box installed for every new home built, as well as hedgehog highways created as standard on every new development taken through planning from September 2024.

Our commitment, along with 19 other homebuilders, who between us build more than 90,000 homes a year, represents a major step towards providing the minimum of 300,000 nesting bricks and boxes thought to be required to support swift populations and many more bird species across the country.

In addition to integrated nest bricks, boxes and hedgehog highways, homebuilders are encouraged to incorporate additional features, such as bat roosts, insect bricks and hibernacula. Away from the home, nature-led sustainable urban drainage systems and pollinator-friendly landscaping help to make even more homes for nature on new developments.

Homes for Nature was developed by the industry-led On Site Nature Measures Working Group, convened by the Future Homes Hub, an independent organisation established to enable the new homes sector to meet the climate and environmental challenges.

The commitment is in addition to the recently implemented Biodiversity Net Gain regulations, which require all new developments to achieve 10% more wildlife.

Ed Lockhart, Chief Executive of the Future Homes Hub, said: “Homes for Nature is a fantastic opportunity to create many more homes for wildlife, bring people closer to nature and at the same time provide a helping hand to some much-loved and critically endangered species.

“A commitment to installing integral nest bricks or boxes and creating hedgehog highways as standard is a simple but effective way to support our precious wildlife, including the iconic swift and hedgehog.”

The scheme will come into effect in September 2024 for all new planning applications. The initiative will run until at least 2030, with annual reporting to track progress and to identify further suitable measures that could be introduced to support other wildlife.

We are delighted to become a signatory to this voluntary commitment, which builds up on the excellent work Bellway already undertakes on its developments to help the environment.

Neil Beamsley, Group Head of Biodiversity at Bellway, said: "We are delighted to become a signatory to this voluntary commitment, which builds up on the excellent work Bellway already undertakes on its developments to help the environment. We are already installing hedgehog highways and bird and bat boxes on many of our developments as part of our sustainability commitments, as well as many other biodiversity initiatives on our sites.

“It is positive that the industry had come together to ensure a consistent approach to tackling environmental issues and bring homeowners closer to nature in their own home.”

The On Site Nature Measures Working Group is now working with organisations such as the RSPB, Action for Swifts, Hedgehog Street, and the NHBC to develop the technical and customer guidance for installation of the nature measures across development sites.

Nigel Symes, Head of Business Conservation Strategy at the RSPB, said: “We are delighted to have been asked to help to develop this initiative, which will make a huge difference for wildlife in the built environment.

“We know that these measures work, and are truly encouraged that the home building sector is coming together and committing to delivering them at scale. Meanwhile, providing for nature will, we are sure, create better places for people."

Supporting nature is a key part of the homebuilding sector’s overall sustainability roadmap, ‘Future Homes, One Plan’, which sets out the industry’s pathway to building a generation of high quality, affordable and sustainable homes and communities.

You can find more about Homes for Nature on The Future Homes Hub website here.