Our Operations
Every day across the UK, developers and construction companies bring much needed new homes, amenities and infrastructure to communities.
Countryside takes its responsibility to leave a lasting positive legacy to heart. For us, this means how we operate our business every day to minimise any negative impacts we could have.
Our suite of policies ensures our people and supply chain partners are clear on our expectations.
Managing our impacts
When we build new homes and communities, there are many operational aspects to consider. For example, we think about how we manage the protected species on site, the efficient use of materials and recycling of waste, the energy needed to power forklifts or generators, and much more.
All our sites put in place Construction Phase Environmental Management Plans, backed up by clear procedures and training to ensure our site teams and contractors manage all environmental risks effectively. Our system is certified to the international environmental management standard 14001.
We also look at how our offices and fleet are managed. Our people are incentivised to choose fully electric vehicles through our company car scheme and we are exploring how to allow for car charging facilities at our sites and offices. Our head office in Warley underwent a major renovation in the summer of 2021 and was fitted with energy and water-efficient systems.
To find out more about how we manage our operations, the key sustainability risks we have identified and what we monitor each year to measure our performance, please read our 2021 Sustainability Report.
Sustainability Report - 2021You can only manage what you measure
We have taken a whole-lifecycle approach to measuring Countryside’s carbon footprint. This means we have included both the upstream and downstream activities in our footprint in order to have a full picture of our impact.
We calculated this baseline with the help of an external consultancy. To find out more about Countryside’s science-based targets and plans to reduce its carbon footprint, please read our report Pathfinder: Marking out the Route to Net Zero.
Case study – Trialling vegetable oil to power our forklifts
At St Michael’s Hurst, our development on the outskirts of Bishop’s Stortford, we trialled the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (“HVO”) as an alternative to petroleum diesel fuel over the course of our FY21.
HVO is made from waste, residues and vegetable oils and reduces CO2e emissions from our forklifts by 90% (compared to standard petroleum diesel). It is also odourless and helps to minimise the noise from engines when they start up. Following the success of the trial, Countryside will be rolling out the use of HVO across our sites over the next few years.
