Our environmental commitment

Investors in the Environment Green 2024 logoWe have been accredited to Investors in the Environment (iiE) since 2011 and have been recognised with their highest award ‘Green’ since 2015.

As of 2021-22 we adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing to monitor and evaluate our performance. These frameworks have also formed the basis of our Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy 2023-26, which came into effect in April 2023.

Read our Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy

We monitor the carbon footprint of our head office building and a number of other key performance areas and have set targets to reduce them.

We set a record level for environmental performance in 2021-22 following the move away from a predominantly office based team, with our employees now working from the office, at home, and out and about in our communities. We now measure our performance against this year as our baseline.

How we performed in 2023-24

 

 
How we performed in 2023-24
Resource
Baseline 2021-22
Current data 2023-24
% reduction achieved from baseline
 Previous year data 2022-23 Annual target % change since 2022-23
Head office gas usage (kwh) 239,811 193,799 -19.1% 212,059 -2% per year -5%
Head office electricity usage (kwh) 126,283 106,943 -15.3% 112,059 -10% per year

-8.6%
Head office water usage (m3) 240 183 -23.7% 209 -2% per year

-12.4%
Paper usage (reams) 580  355 -38.7% 560 -5% per year

-36.6%
Fleet vehicle fuel usage (ltrs) 23,008 22,484 -2.3% 24,285 -2% per year

-7.4%
SAP properties below C rating 128 122   126 0 by 2030

 
CO2 (tonnes) 284.3 234.7 -17.4% 248.6 -2% per year

-5.6%

Zero waste to landfill

We are committed to sending zero waste to landfill and work with our waste contractor, Veolia, to maintain that commitment.

In addition to day to day office waste (which is separated into recyclable and general waste), our Estate Rangers collect fly tipped waste from our land, and we also offer our Peterborough residents an affordable bulky waste collection service.

Examples of the materials collected, how much we collected last year, and how they are recycled are listed below:

  •  3.8 tonnes of tyres – recycled into playground flooring etc.
  • 44.37 tonnes of metal – CKH receives a rebate on the metal recycled.
  • 760 mattresses – mattresses are stripped down to enable the metal and fabric to be recycled separately.
  • 53.28 tonnes wood – recycled into a feedstock for animal bedding, made into chipboard or particle board product.
  • 3.24 tonnes glass – 95% of the glass recycled by Veolia is used in creating sustainable roof and wall insulation.

Any non-recyclable waste from both head office and fly tipping is converted into refuse derived fuel (RDF), after being taken away by our main waste contractor, Veolia.

All IT equipment is recycled through Green IT disposal, who carry out certified secure destruction of data and recycle responsibly.

 

 

Two men in hi viz vests standing at the rear of a dropside truck

Building homes

We are committed to building new, affordable, homes to beat the housing crisis. Of course, we are building our homes with the environment in mind and adhere to all the relevant legislation.

Despite the effects of the economy and the pressures on the construction industry as a result of the pandemic, Brexit and the war in Ukraine, we completed 244 new affordable homes last year. Indeed, an external assessment by The Housing Data Lab showed that when compared to a peer group, our last six years performance of Social Housing Growth was more than double the “expected” performance 1,582 homes compared to 778.

EPC rating of the affordable rent homes we built in 2023-24

EPC rating A — 7 homes
EPC rating B — 181 homes
EPC rating C — 13 homes

 

Spotlight on... Wilburton

Illustration of a spotlight and beam of light and the words spotlight on...We have worked with Etopia, a manufacturer of a panelised building system, to deliver 9 Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ‘A’ rated energy efficient homes in Wilburton, Cambridgeshire. These net zero 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes have air source heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicle chargers helping residents save money on heating bills and reduce their household carbon footprint.

Due to Etopia’s innovative panelised building system, the homes are not only efficient to live in, but also in their construction. It took around four days to construct each home using the insulated wall panels with each home saving at least 20 per cent water and embodied carbon during construction.

 

Improving our homes

We know that living in an inefficient home means increased heating costs for residents and an increased risk of condensation, damp and mould. That’s why we are committed to improving the efficiency of our homes. We are now at the stage where 99% of our homes are at SAP band C or above.

There are currently 122 properties that are below the Band C rating, and the majority of these properties are older homes that are more complicated to retrofit. Some of these homes are also off the gas grid.

In April 2023 we secured a grant of £1.7m from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) which was the full amount applied for in our bid. This funding will enable us to improve the fabric of the buildings for all properties below a SAP C band rating.

Work carried out to date or in progress as part of the SHDF grant includes:

44 older cottage style homes on Lincoln Road are in a conservation area and so we are not permitted to fit external wall insulation, as would normally improve the performance of the home. Because of the small interior space we are also unable to fit internal insulation. We have been permitted to fit PV panels to these homes, as well as improving loft insulation. This is a great solution for what are difficult homes to improve, due to factors outside our control.

In the other properties we are carrying out a programme of external wall insulation, PV panels, improved loft insulation and LED light bulbs, as appropriate to each home, such as a programme of external wall insulation taking place at a block of flats in Cromwell Road.

Much work has been done to improve our one high rise block, Cumberland House. We have also done much work on fire safety in this block, in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire. The external wall insulation of the whole building has been renewed, but the six flats on the top floor still struggled with a poor EPC rating as the roof was uninsulated. We now have a plan in place to replace the roof with a new insulated one. We have also installed new efficient electric panel heaters to all flats after removing the gas supply to the building for safety reasons.

We are continuing with this programme of works throughout 2024 and 2025.

SAP (EPC) rating of our current homes

Graph showing the SAP rating of our homes

Improving biodiversity and access to green space

We have two community gardens that enable local people to access green space, learn garden skills, meet new people and improve their mental health with nature.

Our Wellbeing Garden in Dogsthorpe continues to grow. Over the last year we have completed the following projects at the garden:

  •  A new poly tunnel which is enabling garden users to start producing tomatoes, peppers and other fruit and vegetables.
  •  A new pond, built with help from students from Thomas Deacon Academy, which has already started to attract wildlife.
  •  Volunteers have built a bee hotel, made from the excavated grass and soil, and a number of bird boxes to attract birds into the garden.

We have worked with PECT, Caterpillar, Froglife and Flourish Peterborough. Tesco also provided us with a £500 grant.

A group of Catepillar employees stand around a tree they have just planted in the Wellbeing Garden

The WestRaven Community Garden continues to go from strength to strength. It hosts events for people of all ages, from pre-school children to senior citizens. The greenhouse and polytunnel enable produce to be grown year round, which supplies the WestRaven Community Café. The garden is also a wildlife haven, with ponds, bird boxes and wildlife friendly areas.

 

Spotlight on... tree planting

Illustration of a spotlight and beam of light and the words spotlight on...Last year we undertook two tree planting projects to improve the biodiversity in the areas in which we work.

We partnered with Mears to plant 1,000 shrubs, plants, bushes and trees in and around Peterborough.

Throughout the year, our Estate Rangers team together with the Mears’ team jointly completed planting in five neighbourhood areas, bringing raised beds to life and creating green canopies close to the city centre with varieties including cherry trees, conifers, rose bushes and begonias.

This joint initiative was funded thanks to a grant from Mears’ Foundation and Mears’ community chest fund, which forms part of their added value contract agreement with us, enabling a proportion of their profits to be donated back each year as part of their corporate social responsibility commitment. We also contributed funding to the initiative to enable more plants to be purchased. All shrubs, plants and trees were purchased locally from the Tandee Nursery in Thurning.

We also planted twenty-eight trees in Stanley Park, Peterborough near to our flagship Indigo development. We worked with Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) Open Space Management Team on the planting of these new trees and also erected a number of bird, bat and bee boxes, to help increase the local wildlife within the park.

Group of Mears and CKH employees grouped around a tree with one man holding a shovel