Developer Urban&Civic has launched a new sustainability framework to help the business achieve operational net zero carbon by 2030.
Chief executive Nigel Hugill said the framework will provide “a structured approach to universal challenges”, including climate change, biodiversity and health and wellbeing.
Head of sustainability Richard Quartermaine will be tasked with implementing the framework. Quartermaine joined the company earlier this year after more than eight years as an environmental manager at Hammerson.
Quartermaine said: “With this new sustainability framework, we have tried to identify what our universal challenges are, what is our reference point in terms of sustainable development goals, and what are we doing to respond?”
The company aims to have net zero operational carbon emissions by 2030 and render its supply chain emissions net zero by 2040. The company is also targeting a 12% biodiversity net gain in its developments.
Quartermaine added: “Sustainable development goals are global issues, but we all face them to different extents at a local level. Having a healthy community puts less pressure on public services and helps achieve government targets around obesity. We try to bring all these initiatives into our strategies and have built our approach to responding to those universal challenges and sustainable development goals.”
Quartermaine was speaking at an Urban&Civic event at its Houlton scheme in Rugby, Warwickshire, where the company developed a landscape strategy with Natural England to protect the great crested newt population at the 5,952-home site. The company designed tunnels under primary roads into which the newt population was placed and protected during construction.
The development includes new schools and 24 hectares of open spaces and sports pitches. The secondary school was formerly Rugby International Radio Station, a Grade II listed historic building retrofitted to form the Houlton School.
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