Family-owned house builder Cavanna Homes has become one of the first SME businesses in the construction sector to commit to a sustainability strategy, reducing its impact on the environment, improving the positive social impact it makes on communities and extending the care and support it provides to staff, suppliers and contractors.
In a ground-breaking move that recognises the pressure house building puts on the environment and the challenges facing the sector, Cavanna Homes has put in place targets which provide a clear roadmap to a more sustainable operation across its whole business, against which it will measure and publish its progress annually.
A strategy document explaining the concept says: “As a family-owned business with over 100-years of house building history in the South West, we have maintained our core values through decades of change, adapting to new challenges while caring for our customers, our communities, our staff and the environment surrounding us.
“Our second century promises to be just as eventful as our first and we are determined to approach it with a clear commitment to shaping a better future, for the people who buy our homes, the places where we build and our colleagues and partners in the business.”
The Torbay-based company, which consulted with its employees and shareholders in producing the strategy, described the document as “the blueprint by which we operate, setting out clear goals and the actions we will take to achieve them, across all aspects of the business.”
It includes reducing the company’s carbon footprint, increasing the energy-efficiency of its homes, repurposing materials and developing a more effective waste management strategy, while striving to maintain the company’s five-star status which is awarded annually by the Home Builders Federation and consistently meeting and exceeding customer expectations.
As a long-established family business there is also a strong focus on boosting the well-being of Cavanna Homes’ extended family, maximising training opportunities, increasing the number of mental health first aiders and supporting employees’ financial well-being.
In the communities where Cavanna Homes builds the company pledges to make a positive environmental impact, where possible enhancing current 10% Biodiversity Net Gain requirements, creating spaces for wildlife and incorporating sustainable urban drainage solutions.
The company, which used a third-party to measure and set its baseline figures, has already recorded that 68% of its targets are ‘on track’ or ‘progressing’ towards its 2030 goals. It has already hit its target for 2025 of diverting 90% of waste from landfill.
Grayham Tucker, Cavanna Homes’ Group Managing Director, said: “As a leading housebuilder we are acutely aware of our impact on the environment, communities and society as a whole. Our commitment to sustainability remains unwavering and we are proud of the strides we have made to date.”
Cavanna has worked with experts in sustainability and the environment at Coreus Group to produce its strategy and will continue to do so to ensure the delivery against the targets it’s set.
Coreus Group Director of Sustainability and Growth Emma Sueref said: “Cavanna Homes has made a significant commitment to this process, in answer to many of the challenges facing the construction sector as we tackle global climate change, issues around waste management and the need to properly care for staff.
“Cavanna’s long history as a family-owned business that takes its responsibilities to its customers, employees and the communities it serves extremely seriously, underpins all the commitments it has made, matching and even exceeding some of the pledges from far larger businesses in this sector.”