AnnualReportFinancialStatments2023

Annual Report &

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 Implementing our Partnership Model Cont. Strategic Report Sustainable development design Our focus is to deliver sustainable communities, embracing change and striving towards continued improvement in the delivery and performance of our homes, quality of placemaking and meeting the needs of our customers in delivering integrated neighbourhoods that complement existing local areas and promote health and wellbeing. Over the last 12 months, we have been on a journey to enhance the quality of the urban and natural environments we deliver, producing design guidance for use both internally and externally and investing in business wide training to embed the principles of Building For a Healthy Life and Streets for a Healthy Life. Full design reviews, as a tool for evaluating the design of communities, are undertaken at key stages of the predevelopment process. To supplement this, a process of external design review has been embedded within our procedures to ensure a consistent approach is taken to maximise design opportunities and to deliver the principles of sustainable design into all of our developments. We continue to reinforce our commitment to support the principles outlined in Decarbonising Transport and Gear Change by actively promoting safe cycling and walking routes within our developments and to ensure the design of streets are considered as public realm in balancing the needs of motor vehicles, people and cyclists. Safe cycling and walking routes We continue to reinforce our commitment to support the principles outlined in Decarbonising Transport and Gear Change by actively promoting safe cycling and walking routes within our developments. Biodiversity net gain The incorporation of integrated SUDs, biodiverse planting and play areas are considered as a key opportunity for any development, with focus being given to multipurpose design and the reduction of future maintenance costs for customers. Best practice biodiversity training has also been developed for roll out across the business to ensure all developments submitted for planning will identify a minimum biodiversity net gain (BNG) of 10%, in alignment with the mandatory requirement from January 2024, and to require the early involvement of landscape designers to form part of the concept design team. In partnership with the Future Homes Hub, we are committed to working with local authorities and policy makers to make this transition as smooth as possible and have hired an internal Ecology Advisor to assist us with biodiversity net gain strategy and preliminary calculations, particularly as they apply to brownfield sites and the potential constraints caused by habitats that develop over time on such sites. Even before the introduction of legislation, we consistently strived to achieve a minimum of no net loss on developments currently in progress and have also worked to provide nutrient neutrality on sites where it is required. With the legislation having arrived in early 2024, we are committed to: • Incorporating biodiversity into our planning proposals as early as possible, to ensure the maximum benefit for our environment and customers. • working with our landscape, social value and architecture teams to deliver biodiversity net gain as successfully as possible, while maintaining transparency with our customers, partnering with management companies to ensure the successful delivery of biodiversity net gain throughout the 30-year commitment for establishment. 62 KEEPMOAT.COM 63