Biodiversity, water and environment  

Restoring our environment and bringing nature into communities is a key part of Willmott Dixon’s sustainability strategy, Now or Never.

Our aim is for our all projects to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than before construction. It’s all part of our commitment to do the right thing to support the natural environment and counteract the impact of construction.

Biodiversity net gain

With effect from February 2024, developers must show how they will achieve a minimum 10% biodiversity net gain on, or around the site, and maintain that for at least 30 years. This means measuring losses and gains for flora and fauna to ensure local wildlife is better off at the end of the project than at the beginning.

We committed to deliver environmental net gain on all our projects when we launched our Now or Never strategy in 2020. Since then we have worked with customers to measure and enhance biodiversity on their projects. We have carried out biodiversity net gain pilot studies on over 50% of our projects and continue to use the experience gained to help both current and future customers to optimise their plans to improve biodiversity.

We have produced podcasts (below) on biodiversity net gain which are available to listen to here.

In 2023, we delivered 33 affordable homes for Doncaster Council, which placed nature recovery and biodiversity at the core of their design brief. Plans to safeguard the environment on each site were submitted and agreed by the Local Planning Authority before work commenced, with the developer choosing to offset offsite in a nearby wooded area.

At the Broad Marsh Green Heart project, for Nottingham City Council (above), we are delivering one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe, transforming the 20-acre site of an old shopping centre into a green space and public realm at the heart of the city. Nature and biodiversity are central to the project as we look to reintroduce the area’s famous marsh alongside ecologically rich planting and diverse natural spaces to provide habitats and food for wildlife. Local charity Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust suggest that the project could deliver a biodiversity net gain of up to 30% in the city centre location.

In June 2023, we began work at St Edburg’s CE Primary School, in Bicester (below), to increase pupil places by 50% and achieve net zero in operation.

With sustainability a priority for the developer, the project design will incorporate biodiversity considerations, including 55 new trees on site, and is set to achieve a biodiversity net gain of 22.4%.

Tree Planting

In 2023, we planted or secured 14,985 trees. This supports our customers and their local communities by creating green spaces for people and nature, while helping to tackle climate change.

To meet our Now or Never ambition to plant 100,000 trees by 2030, we agreed new partnerships with Green the UK and The Conservation Volunteers in 2023. The new partnerships will see 30,000 trees planted over three years with each partner responsible for 5,000 trees each year. We selected these companies because of their focus on working with community groups and schools to plant trees on land that is open to the public. To date, we’ve planted and secured almost 32,000 trees, exceeding our 2023 target of 30,000 trees.

Water

Now or Never commits us to halving the volume of water we use on our projects by 2030, from a baseline of 2018. We measure and report the water used on our sites every month, which helps us identify anomalies and opportunity for improvement.

We have made good progress against our 2023 commitment, having reduced absolute water usage by 31% compared to our 2018 baseline and our water intensity by 25% since 2022.

Water Use