Sustainability
Environmental
Energy & Carbon
Our homes are designed to be net zero ready with air source heat pumps as standard. This forward-thinking approach future-proofs our homes, eliminating the need for costly retrofits to meet upcoming environmental legislation.
Whilst we wait for the grid to decarbonise, we are looking to significantly reduce the operational emissions of our homes by more than 70% in the next 5 years through the use of improved fabric and solar PV.
To reduce embodied carbon, which is the total emissions associated with the materials and construction of our homes, we are increasingly adopting timber frame construction to reduce our reliance on carbon-intensive materials such as concrete.
Alongside this we are also reducing our Scope 1 & 2 on-site construction emissions with hybrid generators and are working towards diesel-free sites.
But it doesn’t stop there. We’ve introduced two pioneering pilot projects that represent our commitment to carbon reduction across the entire building lifecycle.
Reduced Embodied Carbon
2050 Future Homes
We have developed two low-embodied carbon housetypes with architects Pollard Thomas Edwards, which significantly surpasses current building regulations and sets new benchmarks for sustainable construction at scale.
Waste
As signatories to the Future Homes Standard reduction roadmap, we have an ambitious waste reduction programme. This aims to reduce our construction waste by over 50% in the next 5 years.
To support this, we have partnered with a preferred waste broker to manage our construction site waste and help implement our waste strategy. This focuses on improved resource efficiency and waste prevention in key areas including mixed inert, mixed construction, timber and plasterboard.
When waste is unavoidable, we recycle products where possible through manufacturers’ take back schemes.
Biodiversity
At untypical, we are committed to achieving a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) on all our developments, ensuring that our projects leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than before.
We joined the Homes for Nature initiative in 2024, cementing our commitment to wildlife conservation, ensuring that a bird-nesting brick or box is installed for every new home built, and hedgehog highways created as standard. We are proud partners of Save our Suffolk Swifts and Hedgehog Street and where possible, plant wildflower meadows to provide food for pollinators like birds and bees.
Our homes reduce water consumption through the use of wastewater heat recovery systems and A-rated appliances. Externally, we use sustainable drainage systems in the form of basins and ponds to manage surface water runoff, further bolstering biodiversity.
12% BNG
Tanners Quarter in North Walsham, Norfolk will deliver 350 premium new homes, alongside 4 hectares of public open space including play parks, allotments, a community orchard and areas of green spaces.
17% habitat unit gain and 11% hedgerow unit gain
Bournewood Park in Halstead will deliver nearly 200 energy efficient homes built in timber frame with air source heat pumps and electric vehicle charging as standard. Environmental responsibility stands at the core of this development, with a significant enhancement to the area’s green infrastructure, including 550 new trees.