Inspired Villages

PROMOTING SUSTAINABILITY

Saving the environment has become one of the biggest global issues of our lifetime. The work of people like David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg, initiatives like the Duke of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize, and events like COP26 are helping address the issues of climate change, but much more still needs to be done. With the housing sector accounting for 40% of the UK’s carbon emissions, it was important for us at Inspired Villages to do our part.

So with great pride we broke ground this year on the UK’s first two net zero carbon regulated energy retirement villages – Millfield Green near Caddington, Bedfordshire and Ampfield Meadows near Chandlers Ford, Hampshire. We also bought a site in Horndean, Hampshire for our third.

Our aim is to deliver many more net zero carbon retirement villages within our ambitious pipeline of sites. This focus on sustainability is a key commitment of the joint venture agreement between Legal & General and NatWest Group Pension Fund to invest £500m into Inspired Villages to grow our portfolio to 34 villages.

What does net zero carbon regulated energy mean? It means the sites will produce zero carbon for the energy usage we can control and/or reasonably predict the usage of, such as space heating and cooling and lighting. Through measures like ground source heat pumps, on-site photovoltaics, improved building fabric and ventilation, and mechanical heat vent recovery units, we can reduce the energy usage we control to zero or negative. EV charging points will help make it even easier for residents to live a carbon neutral lifestyle.

Our commitment to helping save the planet doesn’t just stop there. We take into account waste minimisation strategies when designing villages, we work with our supply chains to reduce packaging waste, particularly of single-use plastics, we prioritise recycling and re-use of materials during construction and refurbishments, and producing as much food on site as possible.

All these industrial initiatives are complemented by the beautiful green environments we design for our villages, from the 78 acres of woodland at our Great Alne Park to the wildflower meadow and lake at Durrants Village. Promoting natural surroundings also benefits the wellbeing of the people who choose to live with us. This was especially seen during lockdown when being able to walk in the grounds of our villages, or indeed help with creating a woodland walk, as was the case at Great Alne Park, really helped make a challenging situation more manageable for residents.

At Inspired, we firmly believe that people can enjoy the best years of their life during retirement in one of our communities. Making that environment as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible is a natural next step on that path for us as well as happily being the right thing to do for the planet. We hope many more in the housing sector recognise the correlation and follow suit.

Jamie Bunce CEO, Inspired Villages