It was a perfect fit for Rachel Lawrence and husband Steven when they moved into their three-storey Kenilworth home at The Green in Horsforth Vale, near Leeds, three years ago.

Since then the couple have added to their family with daughter Phoebe, almost two, who is a welcome addition to five-year-old son Charlie – and now their home suits them better than ever!

“Having our own space on the top floor was key and it has been lovely for me and Steven. Plus it means I can come up and watch EastEnders in peace if I want to – or I can send him up to watch the football!” says Rachel.

“One of the main reasons we chose the three-storey home was for the bedroom space.  We couldn’t have afforded a four-bedroom home across two floors because they were more expensive, but we got all the room we wanted by going up a level.

“Each child can have a bedroom of their own, which is what we always wanted, and we have got a much-needed study for when Steven and I – both high school teachers – need to get on with work, whether it’s marking books or preparation.  It’s perfect.”

Rachel, 38, and Steven, 42, had previously lived in a flat but wanted a real family home in West Yorkshire in which to bring up their children.

When they first bought the home, the couple loved the idea of the top floor master bedroom with its own bathroom so much that they didn’t even look at other similar properties. And it’s turned out to be everything they wanted – and more. 

Rachel explains: “We love having our own space, which we didn’t have when we were in a flat. It’s not that the children don’t come up here, it isn’t out of bounds; but it’s great, for instance, when I’m getting ready in the morning – as is having our own bathroom which isn’t filled with the children’s toys!”

“A few people have asked how we feel about sleeping on a separate floor but the acoustics are so good that if you leave the doors open you can hear everything perfectly. I don’t think we anticipated the challenge of so many child safety gates with the extra set of stairs, but that’s a short-lived issue and one which wouldn’t have changed our minds that this was the house for us.”

The Kenilworth property they live in has a spacious open-plan kitchen and dining area, which two years on Rachel says is still her favourite room in the house, and a good-sized lounge.  And while a two-storey detached home might have afforded more space downstairs, it was the second and third floor space of the Kenilworth that impressed the pair and continues to do so.

“We have used what we originally intended to be the study for Charlie’s bedroom and kept one of the bigger bedrooms for our study because we have a lot of books and, while there’s a desk in there, there’s still plenty of room for the kids to use it as a play room too. It enables us to compartmentalise and organise our lives, and it will do that even as Charlie and Phoebe grow,” Rachel continues. 

“It’s so cleverly designed that we have found it easy to manage and look after. It’s fun, we love it and we are looking forward to enjoying it even more as the children get older.”  

The family is 100% certain they’ll stay at The Green, although Rachel and Steven sometimes joke that as they get older they might have to move down a floor.

“We have lovely views from the front and back and the development itself is better than we’d expected,” Rachel says. “It’s got a local shop just two minutes away and a children’s play area.  We have got a teacher like us on one side, a family like ours on the other, and Charlie’s got about five or six classmates on The Green which means he’s got friends to play with and it’s nice for us to have a bit of support in terms of other parents.

“Steven’s mum is coming to live in Horsforth and has looked at a Redrow home and my brother is thinking of buying one as an investment – everyone is always so impressed!”

For those wishing to embrace the space of going up instead of out to get more for their money, the three-storey options include Kenilworth and York house types.

Redrow, the leading UK housebuilder, today announces that it will be expanding its regional presence by opening a new division in the Thames Valley. The strategic decision to expand into this area comes as Redrow continues to experience growth in outer London and the Home Counties, as well as strong strategic land pull-through in the Thames Valley region. The new division is expected to make a contribution to the Group’s turnover in the financial year ending June 2020.

Based in Oxfordshire and covering the surrounding counties, the Thames Valley division will be headed up by recently appointed Managing Director, Rameen Firoozan, former Regional Managing Director at Berkelely Group’s Oxford and Chiltern division.

The Thames Valley has become one the fastest-growing economies in the country with a forecast GVA growth of 2.3% until 2020 – ahead of London (2.2%) and the South East (2.0%). As a result, demand for new homes is high, with house prices in the heart of Oxford, rising almost 10% since 2015.

John Tutte, Group Chief Executive, Redrow, said: “Outer London, and particularly the areas just outside of the M25, are a growth area for Redrow. Redrow already has a successful presence in Reading, Bracknell, Oxford and High Wycombe, therefore it makes sense to open a permanent regional office within the area. Rameen is a very experienced Managing Director, with in-depth knowledge of the region, and we look forward to working with him to create the new division."

Rameen Firoozan, Managing Director of Redrow Thames Valley, said: “I am very excited to be joining Redrow and I have strong ambitions for the performance of this region due to the strength of the housing market here and subsequent investment in the area. The amount of land availability, coupled with the connectivity of the region, means there is an opportunity for us to offer customers more choice through our award-winning Heritage Collection.”

Rameen Firoozan will be responsible for appointing a new Thames Valley team in due course, as well as finding a location for the new offices. He will report into Matthew Pratt, Regional Chief Executive for Redrow’s southern regions. The new division is set to formally launch in summer 2019. 

Five Redrow site managers from across the country have been awarded commended status in the NHBC’s annual Health and Safety Awards. Now in its ninth year, this is the only health and safety awards ceremony exclusively for the construction industry that recognises site managers who prioritise the health and wellbeing of their teams.

The commended Redrow site managers are Matt Cain (Redrow London), Simon Nix and Daniel Cato (Redrow Lancashire), Ashley Terron (Redrow North West) and Andrew Wilson (Redrow Yorkshire). This year the awards commended 57 site managers who will now go on to compete for the Highly Commended and National titles, to be announced at a Gala Awards evening in Birmingham on 6 July 2018.

Matt Cain is overseeing the construction of Redrow’s flagship scheme in North London, Colindale Gardens. Once complete, Colindale Gardens will feature 2,900 new homes alongside shops, cafes and extensive public open space and will be Redrow’s largest scheme to date. Colindale Gardens was Highly Commended at 2017’s Awards, with Darren Smith receiving the accolade on that occasion.

Simon Nix works at The Hedgerows in Clayton-le-Woods and this is the second year in a row he has been recognised in the Health and Safety Awards. He has previously received the NHBC’s coveted Seal of Excellence Award in 2016 and was named Construction Professional of the Year at the North West regional Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Awards 2018.

Daniel Cato is celebrating his second commendation in as many years for his work at Oldfield Park in Poulton-le-Fylde. It also follows his Seal of Excellence award last year at the NHBC’s Pride in the Job Awards. Ashley Terron, a project site manager at Lancaster Green at Woodford Garden Village, will be adding his award to his existing collection which includes a British Empire Medal for 'services to skills'.

Andrew Wilson has been a site manager with Redrow for almost two years, during which time he won one of his two NHBC Pride in the Job Quality awards. He has previously been Highly Commended in the NHBC Health & Safety Awards with a previous employer and is now hoping to bring that accolade to Redrow on July 6th.

David Ford, Director of HS&E Legal Compliance Assurance at Redrow, commented: “I’m incredibly proud that the hard and immensely important work our site managers, site teams and contractors carry out across our sites has been recognised by the NHBC. All five have led by example and ensure that they maintain the highest standards of workmanship and health and safety.

“At Redrow, keeping our staff, contractors and visitors safe on our building sites is, and will continue to be, a top priority. Having five site managers commended by the NHBC is testament to that and motivates us to continue ensuring the highest safety standards are upheld.”

Stephen Ashworth, NHBC Health and Safety Services Manager, said: “Congratulations to all five Redrow site managers on winning an NHBC Health and Safety Commended Award. To win an award at this level clearly shows that they have a real desire to keep their colleagues healthy and their workplaces safe.

“We wish them all the very best of luck in the next stage of the competition.”

For the full list of winners please visit: www.nhbc.co.uk/HSAwards/

Redrow assistant site manager, Manjeeta Pathak, was named Most Inspiring Rising Star in the ‘30 & over’ category at the Inspire Awards at The Hilton, Deansgate, in Manchester on 5th June 2018.

The Inspire Awards aim to encourage a more diverse and inclusive culture in the construction, engineering and housing industry by celebrating those who are leading the way.

Manjeeta was recognised for her involvement with the Considerate Constructors Scheme on the Lyon Square development in London. She was praised for being instrumental in educating and generating awareness of the programme, which seeks to help developers work more positively with local communities. Manjeeta’s work has resulted in improvements in the local scheme in Croydon, while her excellent work has been included on the Considerate Constructors best practice hub, as an inspirational example for other developments and builders.

Manjeeta has been one of Redrow’s figureheads in efforts to attract more women into the housebuilding industry. With her willingness to talk openly about her experiences overcoming barriers as well as notable success in her chosen career, Manjeeta represents a great example for young women considering professional careers or skilled trade roles in construction to aspire to.

Clare Hindley, Group Learning and Development Manager at Redrow, comments: “It’s wonderful that Manjeeta has been recognised by the Inspire Awards for going above and beyond to get the most out of her own career and support those around her. Since joining Redrow she has made every effort to break down barriers, both culturally and practically. For example, she recognised some challenges with spoken English within subcontracted trades and labour on developments. She volunteered to organise and coordinate basic English tuition for staff which was gratefully received by her peers. She is truly an inspiration to individuals from ethic minority backgrounds and as an ambassador for women in construction.”

“We would also like to recognise the work of Liz Gibbs, a painting and decorating apprentice at Redrow’s Hamilton Park development in Leicester, who was shortlisted for Most Inspiring Star in the ‘Under 30’ category. Liz is a real asset to Redrow and has bright future ahead of her as a professional and advocate for diversity in our industry.”

For the full list of winners please visit: http://theinspireawards.co.uk/winners/

Redrow and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust celebrate next phase of their strategic partnership with educational event at the housebuilder’s Amington Green site. 

Redrow is working with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to introduce nectar-rich plants to its developments and educating customers and communities on making their gardens bee friendly. 

Britain is home to 24 species of bumblebees and urgent action is needed to halt the decline of some species. 

Redrow, the leading housebuilder, and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) have announced a renewal of their strategic partnership to save Britain’s bumblebees. 

The organisations marked this announcement with an educational event for school children on Wednesday 25th April to celebrate Britain’s bumblebees at Redrow’s Amington Green development in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The launch coincides with the arrival of spring and the moment at which queen bumblebees begin to emerge from hibernation. 

Bumblebee populations in the UK have fallen by more than half since the 1980s according to research by the University of Reading. Factors for this decline are largely due to intensification of agriculture, pests and disease in wild pollinators, climate change and increased use of pesticides.   

Over the coming months, Redrow and the Trust will continue to work together at Redrow developments across the country to create habitats that allow bumblebee populations to flourish.  The two organisations will also roll-out their campaign to educate and inform Redrow customers and local communities on how they can get involved in helping the UK’s bumblebee populations. Redrow is creating bee-friendly show home gardens to inspire new customers to do the same and have also been providing free membership of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to customers on selected developments across the country.

Commenting Rob Macdiarmid, Group Sustainability Director Redrow, said: 
“The UK’s bumblebee populations have fallen dramatically in recent years and it is of paramount importance that we do everything we can to prevent further decline. Joining forces with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust is a key way in which we hope to help save our bumblebees. From our celebratory event at Amington Gardens we will work hard to create bumblebee friendly habitats at our developments and educate the public on how they can better support Britain’s bumblebees. 

“At Redrow we are committed to creating communities by building responsibly and that includes establishing developments that enable wildlife to thrive. Ensuring that our sites have a biodiversity net-gain is one of our key priorities and being able to deliver new pollinator-friendly environments to help bumblebees flourish is a key part of this.” 

Commenting, Gill Perkins, CEO Bumblebee Conservation Trust said: 
"There is a surge of support and enthusiasm around the subject of pollination, particularly by the charismatic bumblebee. Through these charming insects, we can inspire young and mature alike to view bees as our friends who pollinate our crops, wildflowers and produce much of our food. Our partnership with Redrow is of great value and will enable us to create more bee-friendly habitats in and around their developments and through their customers making their gardens bee-friendly.”

To commemorate the partnership, Redrow colleague Pauline Turnbull, Sales Director, has written a book for children, Redrow Green: Bumblebee Cottage, which includes information on the UK’s different bumblebee species and the plants that they feed on.  This was read to the schoolchildren by TV presenter Naomi Wilkinson at the educational event and will then be disseminated by Redrow colleagues across the country.  

The housebuilder has already experienced success in supporting bumblebees at its Saxon Brook development in Exeter where it ran a pilot project to create a pollinator friendly environment. Redrow is doing the same at Ebbsfleet Green, part of Ebbsfleet Garden City the first garden city to be delivered in 100 years, by incorporating bee boxes and pollinator friendly plants into the landscaping. Creating an environment that enables bees to flourish.

Redrow, the leading UK housebuilder, has become a Gold Leaf member of the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) as part of its commitment to building sustainable homes and communities. 

Redrow joins over 400 UKGBC member organisations across the construction and property sector, who collaborate to share ideas, produce cutting edge research and collectively advocate to challenge industry standards and influence policy. Entering the membership at Gold Leaf level puts Redrow amongst an exclusive group of the industry’s aspiring leaders, advocating for transformative change.  UKGBC is part of the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) network, a global network of over 70 national Green Building Councils transforming the places we live, work, play, heal and learn.

Rob Macdiarmid, Group Sustainability Director at Redrow comments: Redrow, as one of the UK’s leading homebuilders, is focused on developing thriving communities by valuing people and building responsibly.

“Sustainability is something we take very seriously and joining the UKGBC enables us to collaborate across the industry with like-minded organisations.”

Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive at UKGBC added: “With the government targeting the delivery of 300,000 new homes a year, there has never been a more appropriate time for housebuilders to demonstrate their commitment to building sustainably.

“I’m very pleased to welcome Redrow into the membership as a Gold Leaf member, a category designed to represent those businesses aspiring to sustainability leadership. We look forward to working together with Redrow for a better built environment.”

Redrow is one of the first UK housebuilders to develop a strategic approach to achieving a net biodiversity gain across all its sites by measuring the ecological value of land prior to development. This approach allows Redrow to take steps to enhance the biodiversity of the area following the creation of new homes and amenities. 

In 2015, Redrow was the first housebuilder to be awarded the WWF’s coveted ‘Three Trees’ status for its commitment to using sustainable timber and has just been awarded this accolade again in the second assessment period. Last year, Redrow’s West Country division won an award at the BIG Biodiversity Challenge Awards for its Hedgehog Highways at its Glenwood Park development in Barnstaple. 

At its flagship developments, Redrow strives to create swathes of green open space. For example, at Woodford Garden Village in Cheshire, the housebuilder is creating 50 acres of green public spaces while half a million square metres of landscaped open spaces was delivered at Buckshaw Village in Lancashire. At Colindale Gardens in London meanwhile, Redrow has dedicated nine acres of public green spaces as part of the 49-acre development. Ebbsfleet Garden City, where Redrow is building up to 950 new homes, is the largest pilot in the Healthy New Town Programme led by NHS England, which includes a range of wildlife habitats. 

Today Chancellor Philip Hammond announced at this year’s Spring Statementthat the education secretary will release up to £80m to help small firms take on apprentices and that £29 million will be allocated to a construction skills fund, which will open for bids to fund up to 20 construction skills villages.

Commenting on these announcements, Karen Jones, Group HR Director at Redrow, said: “Apprenticeships are a way of future proofing the UK workforce, particularly in sectors where there is a considerable skills shortage such as construction. More needs to be done to incentivise employers to open up the apprenticeship route to young people, particularly given the fall in apprenticeship numbers seen over recent months since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy. However, it is positive to see that the Government has recognised the need to address the uptake of apprenticeships by giving smaller employers greater funding. It is also important that the Government looks into the Apprenticeship Premium proposed by the Learning & Work Institute. This premium calls for increased funding for business to employ apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds which we support and called for in our recent report on the subject of apprenticeships. We believe this is crucial as it will help to increase the UK’s workforce by unearthing talent in areas not previously explored.

Karen Jones, added: “The Government’s intention to allocate £29 million into a construction skills fund, one that supports the creation of skills villages, is to be applauded. The skills gap remains one of the biggest issues affecting the UK, particularly with Brexit around the corner so it is important to upskill the UK’s labour pool with the necessary tools it needs to grow and prosper. As an example, our recent apprenticeships research discovered that many apprentices struggle to achieve at least a C grade at GCSE maths and English which is taught as part of an apprenticeship programme, leading to a high number of apprentices who fail to complete their qualification. The Government must ensure that subjects are taught in a way that is engaging and relevant to an apprentice’s role. This approach would equip individuals with applied skills rather than theoretical ones, benefitting both individual progression and the UK economy for the long-term.”

Leading UK housebuilder Redrow’s second annual research report, Building better apprenticeships: Delivering skills to drive UK productivity, has discovered that the perception of construction as an apprenticeship pathway has improved with a 14% increase (62%) of young people considering a job in the sector this year.  

Following on from its first apprenticeship report in 2017, Redrow again canvassed 2,000 parents and 15-21 year olds and 167 of its own apprentices and benchmarked the findings against last year’s responses. The results this year show an 8% increase in young women (24%) considering a career in construction compared to just 16% in 2017. This coincides with a 19% fewer young people believing that the industry is dominated by men with only 36% of young people saying this was true compared to 55% in 2017.

When it comes to apprenticeships, 63% of young people this year asserted that someone at school had outlined how apprenticeships work and their associated benefits. This is supported by a 10% increase in young people who said they had received high quality careers advice, information and guidance on a wide range of careers from their respective schools. Last year the figure stood at just 17%.

Karen Jones, Group HR Director, Redrow, said: “This year’s results illustrate that apprenticeships and careers in construction are being viewed in a more positive light. Efforts by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Apprentices and initiatives such as Go Construct from the CITB can be credited with helping to make these encouraging strides. Apprenticeships are a way of futureproofing the UK workforce, particularly in sectors where there is a skills shortage such as construction so it is pleasing to see that progress is being made.” 

This year’s findings, however also bring to light some fundamental barriers that remain in place for young people. Following discussions with construction and training industry experts as well as apprentices, it was revealed that the current tuition of maths and English skills as part of an apprenticeship programme are an additional hurdle for young people to overcome.

Meanwhile, low wages was referenced as the biggest barrier to entry into an apprenticeship with 42% of young people saying that an increase in first year wages would incentivise them into the system.  Further financial implications were expressed by parents with more than one in ten (12%) saying that the loss of family benefits when their child starts an apprenticeship (including cuts to child benefit and child tax credits) was a problem.

Karen Jones, commented: “Theory based classroom learning isn’t the right teaching method for every apprentice and with a third of people failing to complete their apprenticeships, it is more important than ever that we identify why this might be the case. Ensuring that maths and English subjects are taught in a way that is as relevant to an apprentice’s role as possible would be a good place to start. 

“As well as this, money is a barrier for apprenticeship take up. At Redrow, we pay a first year starting wage of £4.75 per hour, 35% more than the standard rate and therefore recommend that first year wages are raised closer to the National Minimum Wage. We also recommend that families keep access to benefits when their child starts their apprenticeship. If the Government wants to increase apprenticeship uptake and wants to advance social mobility, reducing the financial burden for young people and families is vitally important.”

Redrow’s full report and recommendations can be found here.

Redrow has secured the coveted ‘Three Trees’ status from the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) for the second year in a row. Redrow was the first UK housebuilder to achieve the status and has been awarded for its ongoing work to promote responsible forest management and eradicating illegal wood products from their supply chain.

Redrow’s track record for securing Credibly Certified Timber (Forest Stewardship Council - FSC) increased by 24% between 2007 and 2016, and it now stands at 63.47%. Redrow’s Source Assessed and Credibly Certified timber has also had an overall increase of 8.5% since 2007, and at present stands at 99.94%. The accolade places Redrow among the top 40 companies in the country using FSC legally approved timber and paper products.

Rob Macdiarmid, Group Sustainability Director at Redrow, comments:

“We are delighted to once again be awarded the ‘Three Trees’ status from the WWF, the highest score available. Timber is crucial to the construction that we do, so it important that we take the steps to ensure we source it in the most environmentally and socially responsible way possible. Our Group Commercial team’s strategy involves buyers at every level attending regular meetings and seminars conducted throughout the year to drive the importance of credible procurement, discussing areas to strengthen our mission and commitments going forward.

“At Redrow we work to embed sustainable values in all of our operations, contributing to economic development and creating vibrant, healthy communities wherever we work, whilst protecting and enhancing our natural environment. As part of this we have conducted regional workshops for our supply chain and have realigned our procurement policies in line with WWF’s standard. We are continuously working to improve the ecological value of our developments.”

The world’s largest leading independent conservative organisation, WWF, is calling on all UK companies to commit to buying sustainable timber and timber products. As part of their Global Forest Trade Network initiative they have launched the Timber Scorecard which assess 128 companies and awards them with a score from zero trees (no apparent progress on sustainable timber and timber products) to three trees, (sourcing over 70% certified sustainable wood and have policies and control systems in place).

What are Redrow doing to achieve their status?

• Redrow are undertaking regular auditing of timber supply chain and work with suppliers to address issues
• Redrow regularly review and seek to improve their timber purchasing policy
• Redrow are committed to publicising to their customers and other parties the importance of purchasing timber materials form a sustainable and approved source

Click here to find out more about the Timber Scorecard and the work that Redrow having been doing to achieve the status.

Redrow, the leading housebuilder, has been recognised at the National Apprenticeship Awards as a Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer for a record fifth year in a row. With over 1,000 entries to the awards each year from a wide-range of industries, competition to make the Top 100 is fierce. It is understood that Redrow is one of the few businesses to achieve this feat. The awards -  now in their 14th year -  are run by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and celebrate the most innovative employers delivering apprenticeships across the country. 

Redrow’s award-winning apprenticeship and trainee schemes are industry-leading and in 2017 alone 353 trainees joined its workforce, a 19% increase on 2016.  As a member of the 5% Club, Redrow is committed to having apprentices, graduates or sponsored students make up at least 5% of the workforce in the next five years. In practice, the business already goes far beyond this and 17% of the total workforce are trainees.  

Redrow is also committed to supporting more women into the construction industry. Almost a quarter of trainees – 22% – are female – significantly higher than the National House-Building Council’s (NHBC) industry average of 14%.  Redrow’s apprentices can pursue training across all parts of the business including quantity surveying, designing, civil engineering as well as other skilled roles on site and in Redrow’s offices across the country. 

Karen Jones, Group HR Director at Redrow and Trustee at the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), comments: “We are proud that our hard work to develop the next generation of construction industry workers and equip existing colleagues with the skills needed to succeed in the sector has been recognised at the National Apprenticeship Awards for a fifth year in a row. Redrow has a long-term commitment to delivering apprenticeships in a strategic way and we are pleased to be commended.  

“Our award-winning apprenticeship training enables new entrants into the housebuilding industry to develop the aptitude, attitude and skills needed to succeed in a fast moving and competitive sector. Our apprenticeship offer encompasses the whole business. This ensures that young people have the opportunity to kick-start their careers and progress in the role that they are best suited for, from highly skilled trades on site to working in our head office.”  

Elizabeth Gibbs, Painting and Decorating Apprentice at Redrow, comments: “I have loved every minute of my apprenticeship at Redrow and it’s great to learn the business’ apprenticeship programmes are recognised outside the industry too. I couldn’t have hoped to join a better team to learn my trade. I am out on site developing my skills every day and my peers and teachers have been so welcoming and taught me so much. Once I’ve completed my qualifications in painting and decorating I hope to continue my career with the business and progress into management.”

Nurturing the next generation of construction industry talent has been central to Redrow’s business since inception. Founder and Chairman Steve Morgan CBE is passionate about supporting more young people into the sector and recently met with Redrow apprentices and graduates to learn about their career aspirations and to answer any questions they have about the business. With Redrow CEO, John Tutte, chairing the Home Building Skills Partnership and Karen Jones, Group HR Director, serving as a Trustee at the CITB the business is using its experience to help shape skills training in the wider housebuilding industry too.

If you are interested in pursuing a career at Redrow please visit: www.redrowcareers.co.uk 

Redrow, the leading housebuilder, in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and Coleg Cambria, one of the UK’s largest colleges have established the UK’s first dedicated Housebuilding Degree. LJMU have also validated the qualification. 
The first students to embark on the degree programme will be Redrow team members and they will start their course in 2018. Over the coming years Redrow hope to open the degree out to other housebuilders. 

The three-year degree gives candidates a full overview of housebuilding skills; these include housebuilding quality, project management, health and safety, business skills, negotiation, right through to relevant aspects of law, mathematics and economics. Six modules will be completed each year by students. 
Candidates will be assessed in a variety of ways including examinations, coursework and a final year dissertation project. In each year there are six block weeks of classroom learning which will be taught in partnership between LJMU’s Department of the Built Environment, Coleg Cambria and Redrow business experts with the rest of the contact time satisfied through virtual learning, practical site visits and tutorials. This means that students will be able to continue to combine working with Redrow with their studies. 

Any Redrow team member with a level three qualification or a minimum of five years in industry can be nominated for the programme and Redrow expects up to 15 people to participate in each year.  The first two years will form a foundation degree with the final year topping up to become a full degree in Construction Management – Housebuilding. Redrow has already seen success in 2017 through its training programme, announcing a record 353 trainees in its workforce earlier this year, a 19% increase on 2016.

Karen Jones, Group HR Director at Redrow and Trustee at the Construction Industry Training Board, comments: “The housebuilding sector has a real opportunity to innovate the way we develop and deliver skills training to ensure colleagues can fulfil their potential and progress in their careers. Part of that means working in partnership with further education and higher education providers to develop new pathways that enable recruits to develop the aptitude, attitude and strategic nous to deliver communities at scale. This is why we are working with Coleg Cambria and Liverpool John Moores University to deliver the UK’s first dedicated Housebuilding Degree. Participants on the course will be able to learn while they earn and develop the skills necessary to rise through the ranks in the housebuilding sector.”

“We feel it is important to share best practice with other housebuilders and we hope that in the future that the degree programme can be opened up to construction industry workers from across the industry. We believe this new programme will encourage people to enter the sector, as well as imparting crucial skills on those already in the workforce.”

Nick Tyson, Assistant Principal at Coleg Cambria, said: 
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Redrow and Liverpool John Moores University on this innovative and exciting new qualification. 
“As one of the largest providers of education and training in Wales and the North West we are proud to work with a sector leading company like Redrow to provide opportunities for their staff to develop skills and expertise in the housebuilding industry.
“At Cambria we are fully committed to work with employers to serve all the learners and communities in our region, and challenging them to develop the expertise they need to build successful futures.”

Professor Alison Cotgrave, Associate Dean at the LJMU Faculty of Engineering and Technology, said: 
“The development of the BSc (Hons) Construction Management in Housebuilding in conjunction with Coleg Cambria and Redrow, is an example of how the Department of Built Environment at LJMU is proactively seeking to address the education and training requirements of employers with bespoke needs. Our home undergraduate portfolio, whilst diverse, cannot fulfil the needs of all parts of the industry, and as such this type of development helps us achieve one of the Department’s long term aims, which is to provide diverse education and training at all levels, to fulfil industry requirements moving forward. The development of innovative programmes with high calibre partners will help us achieve that aim.”

If you are interested in pursuing a career at Redrow please visit: www.redrowcareers.co.uk 

THE J’s Hospice in Essex is on to a winner after teaming up with Redrow Homes for a charity race night which raised almost £43,000.

More than 120 people attended the fundraising event at Chelmsford City Racecourse. Races were sponsored by Redrow suppliers, contractors, recommended solicitors and financial advisors, who also donated raffle prizes and auction lots.

Alex Stark, regional director for Laindon-based Redrow Homes (Eastern), said: “It was great to see so many of the businesses we work alongside supporting our charity of the year, The J’s Hospice. The hospice provides an important service to the people of Essex and this was reflected in the generosity of those who attended the race night. Special thanks goes to D&B Scaffolding Ltd who donated £5,000.”

The most popular lot in the auction was a signed and framed Ronaldo Real Madrid shirt which sold for £1,050.

In total the event raised £42,805. It will be used by The J’s Hospice to support young adults with life-limiting conditions and their families across Essex in the comfort of their own homes.

The J’s director of clinical services, Beverley Barclay, and the charity’s founder, Denise Whiffin, both spoke at the event about how the money raised will help the charity to transform lives.

Beverley explained: “Thank you to the kind people at Redrow and the team at Chelmsford City Racecourse for organising such a brilliant event. It was lovely to see so many people there and we were overwhelmed by their enthusiastic support for The J’s Hospice.  Raising £42,805 is an amazing achievement. It will help to pay for the vital enhanced care that our patients and their families really rely on - including specialist nursing, respite care and advice, as well as end of life care and bereavement support. Redrow’s support will make a real difference to these young adults at a time when they need it the most so thank you so much.”

Redrow is building across Essex with developments in Basildon, Thundersley and Great Dunmow, with homes also planned in Witham. For details of the developments and the homes available see www.redrow.co.uk.

For more information about The J’s Hospice see www.thejshospice.org.uk.

Redrow Homes South Wales took to the banks of the river Taff last weekend to take part in the Great Taff Tidy. Armed with bin bags and litterpickers, around 300 volunteers, including 17 staff members from the Redrow Homes South Wales Office, turned out to help clean up the Taff and its surrounding area.

As the main sponsor of the Great Taff Tidy Redrow Homes also worked closely with Keep Wales Tidy to organise the event, which took place from the 17^th to the 19^th of February and saw volunteers from local businesses, clubs and community groups come together to give up their time for the cause.

In total the volunteers cleared almost 400 bags of litter from the Taff, its banks and the surrounding woodland, as well as some larger and more unusual items including shopping trollies, bikes, an anchor and even the remains of a car.

Several members of the Redrow Homes South Wales management team were on hand over the weekend with Sales Director Beverley Wookey and Area Sales Managers Kate Lacey and Sian Smith all doing their part to help clean up the iconic river.

Beverley Wookey said: “At Redrow Homes we’re passionate about protecting the environment. Our South Wales office has been involved in several fundraising initiatives in support of Keep Wales Tidy and their incredibly important work, so when we heard about the Great Taff Tidy we decided we had to get involved.

“The River Taff is an integral part of the landscape of South Wales and is vital to wildlife and recreational activities in the area, so making sure the river stays clean and safe for everyone who uses it is incredibly important. The event was a fantastic success and we all had a lot of fun taking part.”

Lesley Jones, Chief Executive for Keep Wales Tidy said: “It was fantastic to see so many people from across Cardiff getting involved in The Great Taff Tidy. It’s vital that we all do our bit to care for our local environment and this weekend has been a perfect example of what local communities can achieve when they work together. 

“We would like to thank Redrow Homes for their support – The Great Taff Tidy 2017 would not have been possible without them.”

Second only to doctor’s surgeries – 98% of people say high-speed broadband is most important factor for social well-being in their community

- Community spirit is alive and well – 87% of people want to be part of a community

- However 25% of people are currently NOT living in a community and 9% of people do not know their next door neighbours’ name

- 81% of people do not think the government is doing enough to prioritise creating communities as part of its housebuilding plans

- Most important factor for community is a GP surgery, followed by high-speed broadband

Nearly 100% of people surveyed by housebuilder Redrow say that high-speed broadband is important for creating a strong community. This is more important than traditional community amenities such as a post office, a village green, and local shops such as a butchers or a fishmongers.

The findings are outlined in Redrow’s latest research report, which comes shortly after the Government’s Housing White Paper highlighting the importance of digital infrastructure and its commitment to achieving full fibre connectivity.

The survey of 2,000 consumers also revealed the top 10 most important factors for creating communities which promote social well-being. A local GP surgery came out at number one – the full ‘top 10’ can be seen in the table below (with urban vs. rural split).

Table 1: percentage of people indicating that a community feature is important (top 10) – source Redrow

Living in a community continues to be very important to the UK population, with 87% of people wanting to be part of a community, but 25% currently do not feel they live in one. Nearly one in 10 (9%) cannot name their next door neighbour.

A significant majority (81%) of people said the government is not doing enough to prioritise creating communities as part of its housebuilding plans.

Rob Macdiarmid, Group Sustainability Director at Redrow, comments on the report:

“Our research shows that people strongly aspire to be part of a community. The reality however is that a good number of people feel a sense of detachment from their neighbours and others in their local area. They also believe that the Government can, and should, be doing more to reconcile communities.

“The Housing White Paper published by the Government in February emphasises the importance of supporting infrastructure to creating communities, but this sentiment can and should go further. Vibrant communities are beneficial to UK PLC as a whole and housebuilders must be gearing their strategies toward helping to create communities; a duty to do this borne out in legislation ought to be considered. The time is right for the housebuilding industry and national and local governments to come together and set out coherent principles for creating better places for people to live. The organisations that build our homes, including all housebuilders, should follow this blueprint.”

Embedding social value in the house building process

Redrow’s report highlights ways in which the housebuilding industry can contribute to building communities that promote social well-being. These include an industry-wide approach to structuring and undertaking post-occupancy evaluation studies (to assess how a place affects its people); creation of an industry-wide social value calculator (to make it easier to assess well-being) and a greater emphasis on welcoming and orientating people into a new community through social media platforms like Facebook, Streetlife.com and WhatsApp.

Redrow is also currently compiling a series of placemaking principles in order to further embed the placemaking ethos internally.  These will distil the essence of a Redrow community and provide guidelines internally across the entire business for helping to create successful communities.

Rob Macdiarmid explains the current thinking at Redrow: “When we create new communities some of the top features we are currently integrating include good access to key local amenities, the ability to walk to schools, shops and social meeting places, such as pubs. Twenty years ago housebuilders tended to think about green areas last, but now these are the very first and central consideration on an upcoming development. As an industry we are also now thinking about how to encourage community integration. New people need to feel welcome for a community to continue to grow, so we are helping residents at new housing developments in small ways, such as setting up WhatsApp groups for social gatherings, like jogging or trips to the park, and welcome packs which inform people about the facilities available to them in the locality. By being made to feel welcome and facilitating social interaction people can start the process of social attachment.”

Creating Britain's New Communities Report

Redrow has achieved a Gold Award in the NextGeneration Sustainability Benchmark - an industry-specific initiative established in 2004 to drive best practice in sustainability into the heart of the UK’s housebuilding sector.

Redrow continues to be steadfastly committed to sustainability and creating a better way for people to live. High level business principles addressing social, environmental and economic aspects have been developed and incorporated into an integrated annual report, placing emphasis on high quality homes and strong, cohesive communities that offer a wide range of local amenities, as exampled with developments such as Woodford Garden Village (Cheshire) and Colindale (London).

In 2016 alone, we invested £142m into community development and created 239 hectares of public open spaces, with a focus on building thriving communities and inspiring healthy living. In addition, through a partnership with the BBCT (Bumblebee Conservation Trust) and other local wildlife organisations, we have supported the creation of essential ecological networks and wildlife-friendly habitats on and around our developments.

Robert Macdiarmid, Sustainability Director at Redrow, said: “Sustainability is core to our business, ensuring we build responsibly and create prosperous communities whilst maintaining and enhancing the natural environment. This outlook is reflected in our strategic business principles – growing responsibly, putting customers first, managing resources efficiently, creating better places to live and valuing and developing our people. We are all extremely delighted to have received Gold Award status, which is testament to the dedication to improvement of sustainability throughout the company.”

John Tutte, CEO of Redrow, outlines his predictions for the property market in 2017:

Housebuilding

“The Government has acknowledged Britain’s mounting need for new homes with various measures implemented to kickstart the sector in 2017. The announcement of a £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, together with the unlocking of a number of brownfield sites, are particularly helpful measures from Government. The supply of land for housing is improving, with many local authorities now taking a more proactive approach in their area by identifying the number of homes needed to meet current and future demand and implementing plans to progress delivery.

“Despite this, family housing continues to be in short supply in some areas and red tape and a lack of planning resource in local authority departments remains the number one barrier to bringing more homes to market. The upcoming Housing White Paper must include measures to target this area which could include implementing an incentive based system to encourage planning departments. While it remains doubtful that the combined housebuilding industry will build 1 million new homes by 2020, with all the impetus currently being achieved, 2017 looks set to be the first year since 2008[1] in which we might build 200,000 new homes.

“Across the country, we are bringing to market thousands of new homes located in some important and geographically diverse regeneration areas. Thousands of new homes will be created over the next decade in just four locations alone which include Ebbsfleet Garden City in Kent, Woodford Garden Village in Cheshire, Plasdwr in Wales and Colindale Gardens in North London. Our focus in 2017 and beyond is to create better places for people to live which means creating true communities which are supported by a range of lifestyle based amenities. To this end, it is positive to see the government announce the locations of 14 proposed new garden villages which will deliver new homes, facilities and amenities. It is important for government support to not only be given to building new homes, but to creating thriving and sustainable communities.”

Demand

“Demand for new homes continues to outweigh supply. Record low interest rates, a competitive mortgage market and government incentives such as Help-to-Buy have boosted demand. The high cost of deposits combined with stamp duty and other moving costs has resulted in people moving further out as they look to get more for their money. Schemes located in prime commuter belt locations which are under an hour journey from the UK’s major cities are popular and this is a trend that looks set to increase in 2017 and beyond. Our buyers want homes that offer all the benefits of a suburban lifestyle – being located near to local schools and green spaces – but with easy access to urban infrastructure and business centres.

“This shift is now acknowledged by the Chancellor who, in a break from prioritising investment in London transport links, recently announced plans for an expressway connecting Oxford and Cambridge in an effort to strengthen the two economic hubs and support residents in and around these historic cities.

“Analysis of our buyers also reveals their habits towards buying new homes. While our buyers favour new homes for the craftsmanship, low-maintenance lifestyle and ten-year NHBC guarantee they bring, they are also keen to live in a bespoke home that offers individuality, and in 2017 customisation will continue to be popular. Tools such as My Redrow offer a range of upgraded product choices and options which allow purchasers to create the home of their dreams. Upgrading standard products is an option many of our customers go for and we’re seeing them favour premium flooring, tiling and kitchen fittings for their new home. In addition, adding a conservatory to the property is also a frequent request from buyers purchasing extra products on My Redrow.”

Skills

“2017 will be the year in which article 50 is triggered, setting in motion the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Of key concern to the housebuilding sector are the implications for the workforce which is already suffering from a crippling shortage of skills. A drive for more homes must come hand-in-hand with a drive to recruit more workers, so the Government must implement measures not only to retain the international talent already attracted to the UK, but to further support the sector to train and upskill the existing UK labour force. The industry itself has a major role to play and it’s essential that housebuilders work together to highlight the benefits of a career in construction and the sheer variety of pathways that exist. From brick layers, to quantity surveyors, to architects and decorators – in 2017 inspiring and supporting people into these careers will need to be one of the industry’s biggest focus areas. At present, 15% of Redrow employees are trainees on structured programmes – a fact that we as a company are immensely proud of and encourage other firms in the sector to match.”

[1] Source: Department of Communities and Local Government – UK housebuilding, Homes completed financial years 1970/1 – 2013/14 

We’ve become an ambassador for The right Waste, right Place (rWrP) campaign to raise awareness of Duty of Care legislation around waste management.

rWrP provides practical information to help businesses from a broad range of sectors to comply with legislation and help keep waste out of the hands of waste criminals. As an ambassador, we will now take up the mantle of raising awareness with our suppliers too.

To qualify as an ambassador, we proved we embrace the principles of rWrP and have an internal programme and policy on waste management. We’ve also demonstrated a commitment to promoting best practice with regard to waste management and to actively engage with rWrP to promote the campaign.

Sam Corp, head of regulation at the Environmental Services Association (ESA), said: “The number of organisations actively involved with the right Waste, right Place campaign, representing a broad range of sectors, shows just how serious an issue Duty of Care waste compliance is. Therefore, I am delighted to announce Redrow as a Campaign Ambassador and champion of the cause of raising awareness of the programme.”

Rob MacDiarmid, Group sustainability director, said: “We’re proud to be actively supporting this campaign in an ambassador role. Managing construction waste is a huge investment for Redrow, running into the millions of pounds each year.

“We are currently developing a new blueprint for reducing waste on site. This will not only strengthen our reputation as a responsible builder but also help us to become a more efficient business. A trial project is underway in our South East division to introduce a selection of new procedures and site controls. Our aim is to develop a culture of resource efficiency and waste prevention that we can then roll out across all 13 divisions within the company.”

The website www.rightwasterightplace.com offers practical advice on how to manage waste safely and efficiently.

A new fairy garden has been unveiled at Hope House children’s hospice in Oswestry following an ambitious makeover project.

The garden, which offers a quiet and peaceful area for families at the hospice to relax in, was given a magical transformation in just four days by a team of graduates from house builder Redrow.

The team of 14 green fingered graduates volunteered their time and asked for support from Redrow’s suppliers to give the fairy garden a sprinkling of fairy dust. Improvements include a new fence, paving, benches, fresh planting, bird and bat boxes, bug hotels, toadstools and fairy houses.

Redrow graduate trainee Alex Shine said: “Hope House is our North West division’s nominated charity so we wanted to do something that would have a lasting impact and benefit the children and their families who stay at the hospice.

“The fairy garden was in real need of a revamp and so we worked hard as a team over four days to firstly prepare the area - which involved plenty of digging - and then set about restoring it into a magical garden for all the children to enjoy.

“It’s fair to say that none of us expected how much hard work would be involved in the project. Equally though, none of us realised how rewarding the experience would be either. When it came to the big reveal to the families and staff at the hospice, their amazed reactions exceeded all of our expectations.”

Hope House Children's Hospices - Hope House in Oswestry and Ty Gobaith in Conwy - provide specialist nursing care in addition to practical and emotional support to terminally ill and life limited children and young people. The charity must raise over £4 million every year to maintain this care. Last year, Redrow’s staff raised £57,000 for the hospice.

Simi Epstein, director of fundraising and marketing at Hope House, said: “When Redrow offered to help us with the fairy garden we never imagined they would produce something so spectacular for the children.

“The children love the garden and have spent a lot of time hunting for insects in the insect hotel and peeking in the hedgehog houses to see if we have any visitors! The new fencing has made the area safe, secure and private which has enabled the children to enjoy it even more.

“Without companies like Redrow and their fantastic graduates we would not have been able to do the work and for that we are truly grateful.”

Redrow’s graduate project promotes team work, problem solving and working under pressure - all essential qualities for a career in construction. The participants are all currently on two year programmes, gaining valuable skills and experience with Redrow.

The graduates that took part in the project were: Joshua Cinna, Amanda Hollins, Sam Davies, Alex Shine, Catherine Gower, Claire Holt, Anthony Iren, Noah Overton, Emily Smith, Rebecca Smith, Michael Stuttaford, Nora Waldendorf, Keiran Wood and Megan Woodburn.

Redrow is extremely grateful to the many suppliers who offered their time, labour, materials and expertise completely free of charge. Thank you to: HSS, Lex Autolease, Reconomy, Hobbycraft, WBP Visual Solutions, Frontline Image Ltd, WAP Lawton & Sons Ltd, Trevor Bridge Associates Ltd, AM Norris Ltd, Paul Sellick Brickwork Ltd, Town and Country Vibro, B&Q, Brandwells Construction Co Ltd, Sign-Build, AkzoNobel, TCL Group, Speedy, Landstruction, P&A Group, Forest Hill Landscaping, Tate Contracts Ltd, S&E Painting Contractors Ltd, JB Cleaning Services, Bob Joyce Joinery, M.B Heating Ltd and Jack Moody Group.

For further details about Hope Hospice, visit www.hopehouse.org.uk.

For more information about career and graduate training opportunities with Redrow go to www.redrowcareers.co.uk/graduates. 

Budding gardeners at Barton Seagrave Primary School in Northants will be able to grow their love for the outdoors in a dedicated space created with help from Redrow and its landscapers.

The school’s previous wildlife garden was built over to make way for an extension to provide additional facilities for the 480-plus children. Teacher Kim Pack was keen to develop a new garden and form a gardening club, but with no budget for tools, seeds or plants appealed to the local community for assistance. 

Among those who stepped in to support the project were Redrow Homes and landscape gardeners TCL Group. Between them they installed new fences – including fencing made from pallets donated by B&M Pallets – and rotavated part of the area so that the children could carry out planting. 

Kim Pack said: “We wanted to create a new garden area where the children could do some gardening and enjoy being outside, as well as having somewhere quiet they could sit. One of the issues we needed to overcome was keeping the area separate from the playground and stopping balls and the like from damaging the flowers, but we didn’t have a budget available for fencing.

“The support from Redrow and TCL has made a huge difference. The children can look over or through the fencing and we’ll be planting up the pallets that have been used for some of the fence to add an extra splash of colour. We’re really grateful to Redrow, TCL and everyone else in the community who’s helped. We’re a community school and it’s great to see the community coming together. We’re looking forward to making a good start on the garden in September.”

The project will develop gradually and will include themed areas such as a herb garden and wildflowers planted on banks.

The Ready Set Grow Club will tend to the garden every Friday.

Tonia Tyler, sales director for Redrow Homes (South Midlands), said: “Barton Primary School is close to our River View and Castle Fields developments and as good neighbours we were happy to be able to assist with preparing their new garden. Hopefully it will help the children develop a love for the outdoors.”

Carl Maddocks, operations manager at TCL Group, added: “It’s great to see a school encouraging children to take an interest in the environment at an early age. Who knows, those who are members of Ready Set Grow could be the landscape gardeners of the future.”

River View and Castle Fields at Barton Park, Barton Seagrave, have both blossomed into thriving new neighbourhoods and feature acres of public open space of their own and 27 allotments. Show homes are open daily, but for more information see www.redrow.co.uk/river or www.redrow.co.uk/castlefields. 

We’re the only major home builder to partner with the trust, and have recently strengthened our relationship by undertaking a pilot project at our Saxon Brook development in Pinhoe, Exeter.  

The pilot project involved creating a tailored pollinator friendly habitat for bees and we will now use this as a blueprint to create similar wildflower areas at all of our developments in the future.  

Our Group sustainability director, Rob Macdiarmid, said: “We greatly value our partnership with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and we’re looking forward to forging a long-term relationship that will enable us to create more and more bee-friendly habitats across the UK in a bid to boost bumblebee numbers. 

“Our work at Saxon Brook is the first project we’ve undertaken on this scale within a new development and it’s expected that the knowledge we gain will be shared across our technical departments in all 14 of our housing divisions to expand the scheme far and wide.”

In the last 80 years bumblebee populations have declined dramatically.

Celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, the BBCT has 9,500 members and has worked with over 400 farmers and landowners to create, restore or enhance over 3,000 hectares of flower-rich habitat for bumblebees.

Gill Perkins, CEO at BBCT, said: “Bumblebees keep us healthy by pollinating our fruit and vegetables. It is vital we reverse their declines and we aim to make new housing developments with Redrow Homes bumblebee havens. Our partnership will lead the way in promoting pollinator friendly landscaping on housing developments.”

For more information on BBCT visit bumblebeeconservation.org

The Liverpool Housing Partnership is a unique collaboration between Liverpool City Council, Redrow and Liverpool Mutual Homes, designed to drive up the range and quality of properties in the city of Liverpool. Redrow Homes and LMH will jointly build 1,500 new homes and LMH aims to bring up to 1,000 back into use as part of a £205 million investment over five years.

Redrow’s focus is to provide high quality family housing which will help keep people in the city who might otherwise be tempted to move elsewhere. Contributing to address Liverpool’s under supply of housing and boost revenue for the city, as well as to reinvest into the housing programme, to enable more affordable homes to be built.

A team of 14 green-fingered employees from our head office in Flintshire has helped Mostyn Kitchen Garden turn over a new leaf with a makeover.

Organised as part of our activities for Volunteers’ Week 2016, the group transformed part of the garden, which grows fresh fruit and vegetables for the local community.

Run as a social enterprise, the kitchen garden regularly welcomes participants from schools and local groups, giving them the opportunity to get involved in all aspects of growing fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers - encouraging exercise, social interaction and new skills.

Our volunteers overhauled two of the main beds; removing undergrowth and weeds, tending to the areas around the raspberry bushes to encourage better growth and create room for extra fruit bushes to be added, and introducing some extra herbs.

Kate Harcus, sustainability and social responsibility advisor, said: “It was great to have a large group of us to blitz a big area and remove a lot of the weeds that had taken over. We’ve specifically chosen plants to attract pollinators to the garden and now they have a much better setting in which to grow.

“We’d like to thank our suppliers, Jewson, who have kindly provided materials to enable the Kitchen Garden to cover two polytunnels and build some raised beds. Some of our volunteers will be returning to fit the polytunnels over the summer.

“It’s a wonderful project that’s encouraging members of the local community to develop a love for gardening and home-grown food. We hope our day’s work will assist the Mostyn Kitchen Garden to generate more income through sales of produce.”

Members of our sustainability, commercial, design and technical and health and safety departments came together to take part in the project, along with our head office Pathfinders team, a group of eco-minded employees who are tasked with building on our company’s sustainability credentials.

Philip Handley, Mostyn Kitchen Garden manager, said: “We are amazed at the amount of work that the team from Redrow managed to complete in just one day. It was a difficult task for our volunteers to attempt but the two borders have now been transformed. The new herbs will be appreciated by everyone and add to the wildlife habitat. We would like to say a big “thank you” to everyone for helping.”

Bringing a wealth of experience from the third sector, we’ve appointed Kate Harcus as sustainability and social responsibility advisor to help us build on our reputation as a company that cares.

Part of our now five-strong sustainability team Kate’s appointment to the newly created position signals our commitment to improving our reputation as a responsible business, by further strengthening our links with the communities in which we build and focussing on the wellbeing of our staff, as we continue our rapid growth.

Kate said: “Initially my focus will be on launching the new ‘Pathfinders’ scheme, which will involve working with groups of employees within each of our 13 regional divisions, to encourage improved sustainability practices, health and wellbeing for staff and partnerships with local charities and community organisations.

“I’ll also be looking to strengthen communication channels within the business so our efforts to operate responsibly are reported and made available for our stakeholders.

“There is already so much good work going on within the company but there’s an opportunity to make a real difference to the wider communities in which we build. We’ll be looking to link up with a network of smaller, local charities. Becoming a more sustainable business is not just important for our corporate social responsibility agenda, it’s proven to be a boost for a business’s bottom line.”

Marine resource management graduate Kate has previously worked for Groundwork in Greater Manchester as an environmental business advisor, working with a variety of commercial business to improve on resource efficiency and corporate social responsibility practices, and Business Supporting Communities, where she encouraged companies in North East Wales to support and work with the third sector. 

We helped a North Yorkshire primary school to gear up for the Tour de Yorkshire with a day of cycling fun and educational activities.

‘Le Tour’ passed through Sherburn-in-Elmet on route from Otley to Doncaster, close to Athelstan Community Primary School and our Saxon Gardens development.

To celebrate, we funded ‘Bikeability’ workshops at the school, which included a bike obstacle course, cycling games, race training and a bike fix challenge. Around 125 pupils took part in the sessions, delivered by cycle training company CycleLeeds.

The school also planned a complementary range of lessons to incorporate various subjects including maths, geography, science and art – but all with a cycling related or Tour de Yorkshire theme.

James Tucker of Athelstan Primary, said: “We are very grateful for Redrow’s generosity and enthusiasm to organise the cycle event taking place at Athelstan. The Tour de Yorkshire passing through Sherburn-in-Elmet is an exciting event, and thanks to Redrow we are able to mark the occasion in an equally exciting way. Children throughout Key Stage Two had the opportunity to take part in fun and enriching cycling activities, ranging from obstacle courses to bike maintenance challenges, all designed to increase their skills and confidence on a bike.”

Rebecca Cliff, for Redrow, said: “When we realised that the Tour de Yorkshire would be coming right past our development we thought it would be great to offer to fund an activities day that would get all the pupils behind LeTour. We certainly had fun and we hope they did too!”

We’ve helped to steer new research into how car clubs can benefit new developments.

By providing funding and contributing a case study, we’ve supported the creation of a new report by Carplus, in collaboration with the University of the West of England.

Car clubs are designed to provide a means of vehicle sharing for residents who are considering deferring a planned vehicle purchase.

The first comprehensive review of its kind, the study looked at the last 10 years of experience of using the schemes on new developments.

Our Group sustainability director Robert Macdiarmid said: “Redrow welcomed the opportunity to contribute to this report, which will be a valuable resource for those involved in planning new developments.

“It assists in the sharing of best practice, helps developers to identify where car clubs will be viable and also highlights potential pitfalls to avoid.”

Our Cheswick Village development, in Bristol, was one of the case studies featured. Designed as a brand new sustainable urban village, built over a number of phases, the development is a prime example of how partnership work with local authorities can achieve an improved standard of development for residents and surrounding communities.

As well as helping new residents that do not own a car to be more mobile, the report concludes that car clubs can reduce traffic congestion, carbon emissions and improve air quality. They can also free up space within developments for added amenities and communal space, particularly vital in urban areas.

For more information visit www.carplus.org.uk. 

We recently invited schoolchildren across West London to create a 60 second audio commercial to explain to other young people how important energy saving measures are in the home and raise awareness of how new homes are built with energy efficiency in mind.

Three Bridges School in Southall won a public vote via our YouTube channel against one other shortlisted school, chosen from a total of 45 commercials entered.

Run in partnership with UTV Media through its ‘ucreate’ Schools Project, successful year 5 students Aneal Panesar and Lois Valério have now had their commercial professionally produced at West Side Radio in Hanwell, while we also contributed £500 for sustainability projects at the school as part of their prize 

Lois said: “As soon as we arrived, the station manager escorted us into studio one where we were interviewed live on air. It was so exciting for Aneal and me. After the interview we then recorded our Redrow commercial professionally.

”Nicola Johansen, sustainability manager, said: “We’d like to congratulate the pupils at Three Bridges on their well-deserved win and we’re delighted with the final commercial. This is the second time we have run such a competition with schools and it’s wonderful to hear from the younger generation about how they value their environment and saving energy in the home.

“Our aim was to raise awareness of how energy efficient new homes can be, helping reduce carbon emissions and our customer’s energy bills.  It was a great opportunity to engage pupils on this important subject.

”For more information on the ‘UCreate’ Energy Efficiency Schools Project visit www.u-create.net.

Photo caption: Competition winners Aneal Panesar and Lois Valério

To mark Fairtrade Fortnight 2016 and bring awareness to ways of helping farmers worldwide get a better deal, we recently hosted a Fairtrade Big Brunch event at our Flintshire headquarters.

Fairtrade supports those who produce our food to feel secure while inspiring people in the UK to use the power of their shopping to choose a fairer deal for farmers and workers.

Being part of Fairtrade means farmers get a fairer price for their products, and a little extra to invest in developing their farms.

To help to raise awareness for the campaign among our own workforce we challenged staff to cook their favourite recipes using Fairtrade ingredients.

Our neighbours at Starbucks at The Village Hotel St Davids supported the event by providing and serving up a range of Fairtrade teas and coffees, while Fairtrade chocolate company Divine Chocolate, 44% of which is owned by cocoa farmers, supplied products for blind chocolate tasting as well as prizes for our best bakers.

Donations at the brunch raised around £120 for our Group charity of the year Claire House Children’s Hospice.

Nicola Johansen, sustainability manager, said: “The event was a great success with lots of people getting involved to raise awareness for a worthy cause. We have some wonderful bakers within our team, with a range of tasty treats served up using as many Fairtrade ingredients as possible, including sugar, honey, bananas, vanilla, coffee and of course lots of chocolate!

“We also challenged staff to try to tell the difference between Fairtrade chocolate from Divine and non-Fairtrade chocolate with most agreeing that the Fairtrade product tasted nicer and was of a higher quality.

“We’d also like to thank Starbucks at The Village Hotel St Davids and the team at Divine Chocolate for their support.”

For more information on Fairtrade visit www.fairtrade.org.uk. 

Our latest research has challenged the long-held claim that customer demand for purchasing sustainable homes is limited.

On the contrary, 63% of the 1,730 prospective new homebuyers we surveyed indicated a desire to purchase a sustainable home and 38% actually said they intended to. In fact, 82% said they were willing to pay more for such a home, with more than a quarter prepared to pay at least a 6% premium. 

As well as being questioned on their purchase intentions we also delved into the factors that influence homebuyers’ decisions.  

Those surveyed ranked lower energy bills as more important than a garden, parking space, amenities, external appeal/design of home, and fittings & appliances when choosing a home; while 78% agreed the purchase of a ‘greener’ home was likely to have a positive environmental impact; and 92% had a positive attitudes towards making such a purchase. Interestingly, more than two thirds believed that ‘significant others’ in their lives would approve of the decision to opt for a greener home.

Our sustainability manager Nicola Johansen explains: “Our findings challenge the long-claimed, but previously under-researched, assertion within the industry that there is limited customer demand for sustainable homes. It also offers new insights into the factors that influence purchasers’ decision making. 

“As a responsible business, the drive to reduce the carbon footprint of our developments is high on our agenda. However, we also want to build the homes our customers want to live in and this research helps us to fully appreciate what purchasers are looking for from their home and their homebuilder.

“We hope the findings will also help the housebuilding industry to better understand the extent of customer demand for sustainable homes and, by doing so, put more effort into communicating these benefits to potential buyers.”

With 60% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing that they would be more likely to buy a new home from a company building sustainable homes, the evidence suggests that constructing more environmentally friendly properties, and promoting their credentials, can add value for our wider business.

Our study also highlighted some areas that can be addressed by housebuilders to assist homebuyers with their purchasing decisions.

While the majority of homebuyers were confident that a more efficient home would save them money (65%) and that it would be more comfortable (62%), a quarter indicated they thought it would be difficult or very difficult to buy a sustainable home and almost half of respondents weren’t confident of how sustainability features work. 

Nicola added: “This new research will hopefully provide a benchmark for homebuilders to gear their building methods and marketing strategies towards catering for what is clearly a significant demand from consumers for sustainable homes.”

Families flocked to our open day held in partnership with the RSPB at our development in the Lancashire coastal village of Banks, near Southport.

To support the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch – the world’s largest wildlife survey - we welcomed visitors to The Coppice, where RSPB wardens from the nearby Hesketh Out Marsh reserve were on hand to talk about how residents can attract birds to their gardens and make a home for nature where they live.

The event also provided information on the sorts of wildlife to look out for in the local area and activities including nest box and bird feeder making, badge making and other fun pursuits and puzzles.

The Big Garden Birdwatch is all about bringing people of all ages closer to nature and helping them discover the wildlife which lives on their doorstep. It’s estimated that more than half a million people across the UK took part in the survey by counting the birds in their gardens over the weekend.

We have partnered with the RSPB since April 2015, when we committed to providing new habitats where birds and animals can flourish around our new developments. We have already built features such as nest boxes and bird bricks into plans for new homes in selected areas, and the event in Banks was another way we have helped to encourage local communities to get involved.

Bethan Procter, RSPB spokesperson, said: “The event at The Coppice was a great chance to speak to families about the wildlife on their doorstep and how they can help make a home for nature in their own outdoor space. With the Big Garden Birdwatch surveys now being collated, we’ll soon have a snapshot of how different creatures are doing in this area and what we can do to help – which will be really interesting.”

 For more information visit www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch

We’ve been rewarded for our efforts to become more sustainable with a silver award from NextGeneration, an independent organisation which benchmarks the UK’s top 25 housebuilders on their sustainability performance.

Launched in 2006, to drive greener development and highlight best-in-class performance within the industry, this year’s NextGeneration benchmark saw us moving up into fifth place in the rankings.

Our above-average score of 71% is up 8% on last year and was calculated by assessing the impact our operations and the products we build have on the environment, society and the economy.

A membership based organisation, NextGeneration delivers benchmarking scores in partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency and UK-Green Building Council.

John Tutte, Group chief executive, said: “We’re proud of the strides we have made in improving our score and are delighted to move up the rankings and receive the silver award, particularly as changes to the scoring system this year have made the criteria tougher than ever.

“We’re committed to being a sustainable business. We will continue to build on this as we work towards achieving our 2018 targets.”

We’ve become the first major UK homebuilder to score a coveted ‘Three Trees’ from WWF for our commitment to using sustainable timber.

The world’s leading independent conservation organisation WWF is calling on all UK companies to commit to buying sustainable timber and timber products and inform their customers of where timber is sourced so they can make informed purchase decisions.

The Timber Scorecard assesses UK retailers, manufacturers and traders that buy timber on their policies and performance.

Each company is awarded a score from zero to three trees, the latter reserved for those who source over 70% certified sustainable wood and have policies and control systems in place.

Just 34 companies nationwide scored top marks in the latest round of results, announced in October 2015.

Our research and sustainability director Nigel Smith said: “We are delighted to have been awarded ‘Three Trees’ from WWF, the highest score achievable. We are the only major homebuilder to receive maximum marks. Timber is an important element of our construction process and we recognise the importance of utilising only timber from credible, certified legal and well managed sources. We are also a proud member of the WWF-UK Forest & Trade Network.”

The world’s forests are shrinking fast – and demand for wood is set to triple by 2050. The UK is one of the largest importers of timber in Europe and, as companies, we all play an important role in influencing the global market.

To find out more about the Timber Scorecard visit: www.wwf.org.uk.

On Friday 25th September, a 12 strong team of competitive-commuters met at Exeter central train station for our commuter ‘Top Gear style’ race to determine the fastest, greenest, cheapest, safest and easiest way to commute across the city to our office in Pynes Hill.

As the clock hit 8.45am, the busiest time for travel, the green chequered flag waved the competitors off in a bundle of chaos, consisting of runners, a cyclist, an electric bike, BMW i3 electric car, a taxi, walkers, a bus and a train to Newcourt, who completed the last leg by walking.

As this is was a green challenge, the winner wasn’t decided by coming first across the finish line. Each mode of transport was also scored on carbon emissions, cost, comfort, accessibility, image rating, safety and the time to complete the journey.

Back in the office, there was a crowded reception ready to welcome their racing heroes across the finish line with another green flag and plenty of cheering!

And the overall winner was… The Cyclist! Well done to Sean Papworth, Head of Customer Services, who not only cycled at an incredible pace, but had one of the lowest carbon outputs, little cost and a good image rating. It helped, of course, that Sean is a keen cyclist, and had the same equipment as Team Sky did for the Tour de France!

The next fastest mode was the electric bike, closely followed by the electric car, who completed the race in an amazing 14 and 17 minutes respectively, but were let down by accessibility and cost. However, with such speed, it proved what a great way of travelling across the city an electric bike can be, especially with its green credentials and pedal assistance.

In last place was the taxi, this was mainly due to its cost, CO2 rating and the fact that there weren’t any readily available taxis at that time of the morning, which caused this method of transport to take the longest.

It also proved an interesting test in to which commuting methods are actually available in Exeter. Whilst the race has helped determine the most effective travel methods, and show where improvements can be made, it has also helped trigger a lot of discussion about sustainable transport and how small personal changes could make a big difference to the city.

"The race has proved a great advert for cycling in Exeter, showing that it is actually the quickest way to get around the city, beating cars and taxis. And to discover that getting a bus from town is only eleven minutes faster than walking has been a real eye opener. The event has generated a lot of discussion about sustainable travel and hopefully posed a few questions, like how can public transport be improved, the price of electric bikes and would electric cars be suitable for the Redrow company car list?” Reuben Cooke, Technical Manager & Head of the Green team for the West Country office

We look forward to organising our next green event within the region, promoting a greener lifestyle in work and at home and continuing to raise awareness on our impacts as a business.

The (very scientific) official results table

We’re supporting ambitious research into the impacts of urban living on people’s health.

Funded under the Wellcome Trust's prestigious new initiative, Our Planet, Our Health, the three-year project will provide valuable insights about current and future health costs and benefits of urban environments in order to inform future design.

As the first volume housebuilder to pledge its commitment to the project, we are offering the research team access to our portfolio of housing developments.

Starting in February 2016, the study will be led by the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) in partnership with urban planning and research consultancy, Daniel Black and Associates (db+a), and the University of Bath, with support from the University of Washington and United Nations University.

“It’s fantastic that Redrow are committing to this exciting research project. The links between health and urbanisation are complex, but there is an increasing urgency in tackling the health challenges that the Wellcome Trust are now focusing on, particularly those resulting from climate change, increasing population and urbanisation. Volume housebuilders play a key role in urban development in the UK and therefore must be central to the discussion.” Daniel Black, director of db+a and research project manager 

By 2050 the planet will need to support nine billion people, the majority of whom will be living in urban areas. Availability and access to essential resources, including food and water, is reducing, while incidence of extreme weather events and trends in non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardio-vascular and respiratory illness, are increasing.

“This is vital research if we are to ensure future development supports the health and wellbeing of those living there. We are pleased to support the research team by offering access to our current developments. We will be following the results of the study with interest so we can continue to be at the forefront of quality design and create sustainable communities for the future.” Nigel Smith, Redrow's research and sustainability director

The project will aim to demonstrate to decision makers the hidden costs to society of poor-quality urban development. In collaboration with partners on the ground, new models of urban development delivery will be developed where health and long-term health impacts are considered and integrated from the start.

For more information on the project visit www.wellcome.ac.uk.

We’re committed to improving timber regulation and have signed up to the WWF Industry Statement to prove it.

As a major purchaser of timber products, we have welcomed the introduction of a regulation that is more effective at stopping illegal timber from being traded on the European market.

You can read the Industry Statement in full here which outlines our pledge.

We’re committed to reviewing our processes on environmental and sustainability issues – from initial design choices at conception to the completed building.

Timber is an important element of our construction process and we recognise the importance of utilising only timber from credible, certified legal and well managed sources. In 2015, 99.82% of our timber was responsibly sourced.

We are also a member of the WWF-UK Forest & Trade Network (FTN).

Our sustainability team is celebrating after Redrow was shortlisted for two awards in the BIG Biodiversity Challenge. 

Run by CIRIA (the construction industry research and information association), the awards invite organisations to ‘do one thing’ to enhance their construction site, development or existing building.

Winners will be announced at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on October 15 and Redrow is a finalist in two different categories.

Efforts to help birds, bees, hedgehogs and other creatures flourish at our UK headquarters in Flintshire are shortlisted in the ‘small scale permanent’ projects category; while an outdoor classroom that nine Redrow apprentices helped to create at a rural village school in Gloucestershire will compete for top honours in the class for ‘community engagement’.

 At St David’s Park headquarters, in Ewloe, we’ve installed 152 homes of a different kind, comprising:
• 60 bird boxes
• 50 roosting pouches
• 10 bat boxes
• 24 bee/bug/insect homes
• 5 butterfly homes
• 3 hedgehog homes.

We’ve monitored and recorded activity in each across the year and noted that around 80% of the new homes have been used. A key feature of the project was a bird box with a camera installed, which allowed our employees to observe the nesting and raising of chicks in the company’s very own ‘Nestwatch’.

The new outside eco-classroom at Ann Edwards C of E Primary School, South Cerney, was created in just seven days with no budget. Designed to help the school’s pupils learn more about natural habitats, biodiversity and provide an area where the school’s eco club can thrive, it includes biodiversity enhancements such as a log pile hibernacula and bug hotel.

The challenge saw the team of Redrow construction site and office-based apprentices work together to source free materials from local suppliers before building the structure on a previously unused bit of land within the school grounds.

“To be shortlisted for one award would be achievement enough, but for two of our sustainability projects to be singled out is truly amazing. We’ve worked hard within the business to be more eco-friendly and to make sure all of our staff recognise the importance of developing homes in a sustainable and responsible way." Nicola Owen, Redrow’s sustainability manager

In a bid to reduce their carbon footprint, employees at our head office have taken part in a ‘green day’, swapping their cars for alternative methods of transport and learning how to drive more economically in an eco-driving simulator.  In total, 765 car-miles were saved by employees opting to car-share, cycle, run, walk or use public transport to get to work.  Everyone who took part was rewarded with a well-deserved breakfast sandwich upon arrival!

NW technical director Paul Sinclair was awarded the prize for ‘most impressive commute’ winning a Fair Trade hamper after cycling and using the train to travel 84 miles to the Ewloe office from Wigan and back, while Group sales and marketing director Dave Bexon cycled the 60 mile round trip to and from his home in Nantwich.  Colleagues also competed to find the most ‘fuel efficient’ drivers using a driver training simulator, with Laura Wood from Group Marketing achieving the best individual score.

Staff also took part in bumblebee walks around the grounds of our head office at St David’s Park, Ewloe to learn more about Redrow’s partnership with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT). Sinead Lynch, a conservation officer from the BBCT led the walks, teaching employees about the pollinator friendly habitats we have planted and their important role in attempting to reverse the dramatic decline of many British bumblebee species. Find out more about our partnership with BBCT on our Partnership Pages. Lots of other activities were running throughout the day, with raffles, an eco-themed cake sale and ‘best green dressed’ competition, all raising money for our chosen charities for the year - Hope House Children’s Hospice and D.A.F.F.O.D.I.L.S.

“It was a fantastic day to raise awareness of the simple steps we can all take to reduce our carbon footprint and help the environment. Organised by our St David’s Park ‘Green Team’, our aim was to get as many people involved as possible. Every member of staff arrived to a pack of wildflower seeds and Fairtrade Green Tea on their desk and everyone who left their car at home for the day was entered into a raffle to win a prize donated by one of our generous suppliers.” Nicola Owen, Redrow’s sustainability manager

To further embed our sustainability values throughout the business, all staff have been undergoing sustainability training, which has been delivered in a suitably eco-efficient way; through the introduction of a new eLearning module that is completed online at a time to suit each individual employee.

Delivered in ‘bite-size chunks’, by the end of the module all learners are able to discuss the key concepts of sustainability and its importance to the planet, people and businesses in general.  They’ll also be able to engage further with our sustainability vision, understanding how the company is working to improve its impacts on the environment and society, as well as identifying ways in which they can get involved with our sustainability agenda.

“The eLearning module is an engaging, interactive way to involve all staff with the important issue of sustainability regardless of their role.  We also provide more detailed, job specific training for our sales and site teams. This includes delivery of the CITB’s (SEATS) to all of our site managers, area construction managers and construction directors.” Nicola Owen, Redrow’s sustainability manager

We are also in the process of ‘threading’ sustainability through all of the training courses we run; even those which, on the face of it, might seem unrelated.

“We ensure that all the training we do, whether it’s time management, leadership skills or customer service, relates back in some way to Redrow’s Aspirations 2018 agenda. Sometimes the sustainability element within a specific training course is quite detailed according to an individual’s role and skills required, but at other times it is more subtle and only represents a small part of the course content. The important thing is that sustainability is embedded at the heart of everything we do.” Jon Chadwick, Redrow’s group learning and development manager 

Separately, members of Redrow’s ‘Green Teams’ – eco champions at different locations across Redrow’s business -  have undertaken IEMA/City & Guilds (level 2) training in environmental sustainability. This course covers the importance of resource efficiency, pollution prevention guidance, the impact of transport and understanding how employees can support environmental aims. It will be rolled out again to newer Green Team members each year.

We are delighted to have been recognised for our efforts in sustainability, by winning the ‘Green Award’ at the 2014 Daily Post Business Awards, which were sponsored by the Welsh Government and Bangor University.  The accolade recognises good environmental or sustainability practice by businesses that are reducing energy costs, minimising waste or otherwise taking steps to shrink its carbon footprint.

We have set ourselves a number of targets to make our business more sustainable and, while we are still working towards many of these, we are delighted that our efforts over the past year have been recognised. This award shows we are on the right track and we want to build on that momentum to take further strides in coming years.