Built Environment

Aspects of sustainability

We use innovative construction solutions and products designed to increase building energy efficiency, with our 10-point sustainable project criteria (10SPC) target to improve energy performance certificate (EPC)-rating demonstrating our commitment to achieving this. It determines how sustainable they are against our list of priorities and sets our targets for year-on-year improvement to ensure we reach our pre-determined goals for sustainable construction by 2014.

We have tailored each plan for our three major contracting businesses, Construction, Housing and Interiors, (links to table in above page) to reflect their markets and ensure we deliver our low carbon, zero waste goals. Our plans are essential to being a sustainable business. So bonuses earned by onsite and support staff are partially dependent on the number of criteria their company’s projects have met. Additionally, our commitment to undertake post-occupancy evaluations (POEs) on projects from January 2009 gives us greater understanding of end-user energy consumption within these buildings, and will provide invaluable information and data to feed into the design and build of future projects.

External assessment

Many of our projects are assessed on external measures such as BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH). As of 2011, Willmott Dixon Housing has carried out 3,521 CSH or eco-homes “very good”-rated houses out of 3,857 built, including 854 code 4 and 19 code 5-rated. Code 4 , 5 or 6-rated schemes include the Swindon Triangle, Staines Road, Bellingham Road and Cotney Croft

Retrofit and refurbishment projects

Willmott Dixon is gearing up to help both private and public customers in the domestic and non-domestic markets take advantage of opportunities provided by the Green Deal and other retrofit programmes. A pilot project retrofitting 13 private homes in Rampton Drift, Cambridge won praise from energy minister, Greg Barker, for its willingness to engage with homeowners, existing homes and cost issues. Other high-profile refurbishment projects are Northumbria police HQ, Singleton Hospital, Cardiff and Castle Park Primary School, Caldicot.

We continue stay close to the Green Deal’s development through director, David Adams, who was behind the original concept. This retrofit activity comes alongside a growing commitment to creating energy-efficient buildings that work in-use as the design intended. Our Partnerships division takes care of nearly 150,000 homes and around 2,000 other buildings and we have just formed a strategic alliance with the UK's largest facilities management firm, Mercury FM.