Countryside Properties is a leader in creating sustainable communities. We recognise that innovative, responsible development creates added value and is fundamental to our future. We are totally committed to sustainable development and our culture and values are aligned with it. We offer a wide variety of solutions to meet our partners' sustainability objectives.
Environmental sustainability
We are able to bring extensive practical knowledge and expertise in low energy development, the generation of on-site renewable energy and measures to promote water conservation.
We are very conscious of the impact of rapidly rising energy and water costs on families with low incomes and the concerns of many residents that communal heating will lead to increased costs and reduced reliability. We are working closely with a number of Energy Service Companies and other providers to ensure that residents’ interests are safeguarded.
Social sustainability
Working with local residents has always been at the heart of our community regeneration programme. We believe passionately in the importance of building communities, not just homes.
Our highly experienced Community Development Director ensures that our projects have positive and lasting impacts on the communities involved.
These include:
- Funding the provision of new community facilities.
- The Countryside Community Fund.
- Involving residents in the design and development process through exhibitions, workshops, surgeries and study tours.
- Our resident Focus Group advises us on a wide variety of issues. One of the group’s key achievements was helping us to formulate our Codes of Conduct.
- Provision of site-based Resident Liaison Officers.
- A Schools Programme promoting site safety, careers advice and learning opportunities.
The successful integration of existing residents with new ones is essential to the creation of a balanced and stable community that is able to control and influence its future.
We can help to secure a more socially sustainable development by:
- Providing the new homes on a ‘tenure-blind’ basis where the different tenures are integrated not segregated.
- Helping to establish estate management arrangements, including Resident Management Trusts, which will enable all residents to influence and control the quality of the estate.
Economic sustainability
We recognise the vital importance of working to improve the economic well being of the residents of our deprived estates and neighbourhoods. We are currently creating employment opportunities across all of our regeneration programmes.
Initiatives include:
- Local labour schemes.
- Training and work experience.
- Jobs for local people through new shopping, leisure and industrial development.
- Jobs arising from the ongoing estate management of completed schemes.
- Equal opportunities for women, black and ethnic communities and the disabled.
We have 20 years experience of undertaking Local Labour in Construction schemes on our major estate regeneration projects and currently have 6 in operation. We are securing between 15-20% of our total employment requirements through local people, dependent largely upon the skills of the local workforce and the duration of the project.
To find out more about our approach to sustainability visit our Environmental, Social and Ethical (ESE) Report 2009
Information correct as at 07/10/2010