01 Aug WESTON GROUP COMMITS TO ACHIEVING NET ZERO CARBON EMISSIONS ACROSS ITS HOUSEBUILDING & OTHER BUSINESSES BY 2040 NEW REPORT SAYS
Weston Group, which includes volume housebuilder Weston Homes, Weston Business Centres and offsite construction firm British Offsite has committed to achieving net zero carbon across the business for all three greenhouse gas emission scopes by 2040, including all of the energy that the group uses and the carbon it emits.
In its new Sustainability Statement and Report (published 2023), Weston Group says that this 2040 commitment to net zero emissions is both within the business – at its Stansted headquarters, Essex build-offsite factories and on its development sites and other premises across London and the South East.
As part of this ongoing commitment to sustainability Weston Group is investing in upgrading its headoffice and company car fleet so that it is more environmentally sustainable, expanding its offsite construction capabilities with a new MMC factory in Braintree and rolling out eco-friendly construction and specification features across the group’s residential and mixed-use developments in London and the south east.
Bob Weston, Chairman & Managing Director of Weston Group says: “For over three decades we have continually striven to produce innovative, high quality homes to appeal to purchasers from all walks of life. There is now a strong “green premium” from homebuyers, who are increasingly aware of the importance of environmental sustainability and also want energy efficient homes which are designed to help minimise their fuel bills and running costs. This is why Weston Group is committed to combining traditional building skills with the very latest technologies in an on-going desire to support sustainable living.”
Weston Group was the winner of the prestigious top Gold Award for Best Medium Sized Housebuilder at the annual 2022 WhatHouse? Awards for its commitment to designing and delivering environmentally sustainable projects. Sustainability is an overarching agenda at Weston Group and all developments are designed with a range of eco-credentials and built under a ‘Fabric First’ policy and constructed using elements of group company British Offsite’s innovative UNIpanel system.
Environmentally sustainable design features include biodiverse roofs and brown roofs, ground and podium landscaped areas in order to maximise green open space and planting, buildings electrically powered using PV panels sited on rooftops and all parking bays having access to electric vehicle charging points.
Other features include air source heat pumps and/or District Network Heating systems; home appliances chosen for their high EU Energy Efficiency Ratings and low water usage; thermally efficient windows and patio doors, reducing heat loss and maximising natural warmth from sunlight; high-efficiency ventilation, low energy lighting and sustainable urban drainage systems, which mitigate against water pollution and flooding.
On all group developments windows and doors are double glazed and fitted to exacting specifications, allowing in large amounts of natural daylight decreasing the need for artificial lighting and helping to save on electricity bills. Where artificial light is required properties are fitted with controlled high-efficiency CFL and LED lights both inside and outside. LEDs use up to 90% less energy and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. There are no harmful gasses, very little heat, and a much better lifespan – now up to 50,000 hours. Standard specification includes temperature controlled taps banish unnecessarily high hot water bills and toilets are fitted with dual flush cisterns, reducing water volume and waste.
Although the Government ban on gas boiler installation will not start until 2025, Weston Group took the decision 18 months ago not to install individual gas boilers at all new schemes, to ensure that the business stays ahead of the curve on sustainability issues.
The housebuilder’s ‘Fabric First’ approach includes building components manufactured off-site by group company British Offsite whose highly advanced design and development factories use highly precise automated construction techniques, trailblazing an affordable and accessible approach to British home building off-site, on a large scale.
British Offsite has just launched ‘Horizon’, a new £45 million 137,000 sq.ft. offsite construction factory at the Horizon Business Park in Braintree, designed in collaboration with Swedish robotic engineering firm Randek AB. Their state-of-the-art robotic automated manufacturing delivers a light gauge steel panel system and other components used for the onsite delivery of the superstructure and internal fit out of houses, multi-rise and high-rise developments.
The new factory will be able to assist with the delivery of up to 4,000 new homes per year, with building components provided to both Weston Homes, the Group’s volume housebuilding division, and also sold on the open market to builders and contractors in the construction sector, including local and regional house builders.
The factory-built components are environmentally sustainable. The use of lightweight responsibly sourced steel frames (containing 38% recycled steel), rather than forest timber, is environmentally responsible, enables close monitoring of quality and abides by the new fire regulations. The superior air tightness of the UniSystem, due to the precision manufacturing, increases insulation and helps to reduce household energy consumption. Just in time production methods allow for fewer site deliveries and fewer trades on site, which minimises road miles and energy consumption of deliveries.
The ‘Fabric First’ approach enables the group’s new build properties to typically achieve a high B rating on their EPCs and aims to help future-proof all new homes due to their high levels of energy efficiency and low-carbon heating.
Sustainability is not limited to the group’s development sites and MMC factories. To support the energy needs of its headquarters in Stansted, Weston Group has installed 717 solar panels across the vast roofs of the HQ, which will make a substantial contribution (25%) to the electricity generation and usage of the complex.
Weston Group is shifting the group’s company car fleet to become fully electric. Now 90% through this changeover, every member of the Group Board and most of the wider business employees are now driving electric vehicles. Once completed, there will be over 150 electric cars in the corporate fleet. To power the electric fleet Weston Group has built an additional 127 new electric vehicle parking bays with electric charging points in the HQ parking facility, which are in addition to the 70 existing electric vehicle parking bays already in place.
