Countryside has committed to building more than half of its homes using modern methods of construction (MMC) by 2025.
According to Countryside’s net-zero strategy report released last week, MMC will be critical to decarbonisation of the construction industry and meeting the government’s ambition of building 300,000 new homes a year in the UK.
Countryside is targeting a 42% absolute reduction of Scope 1 – (energy – direct emissions) – and Scope 2 – indirect emissions – and a 52% reduction of Scope 3 emissions (indirect – upstream activities), all by 2030.
The business said it was taking a “whole lifecycle” approach to determining the carbon footprint of its value chain, covering not just its own construction and manufacturing operations “but upstream and downstream activities as well”.
Commitment to MMC
The report outlines the importance of moving from the traditional model of ‘design and construct’ to a more high quality product-led and volume delivery model.
To support this transformation, the company is fundamentally restructuring its business operations to drive increasing levels of pre-manufactured and modern elements being introduced into its homes.
“We firmly believe that adopting MMC, such as modular timber frames, is key to delivering homes at scale, pac,e and quality, while ensuring more sustainable outcomes,” said the report.
Countryside has invested c.£6m in a manufacturing facility at Warrington which produces fully formed, closed panel timber frames, and a new c.£20m factory in Bardon, Leicestershire, opened on 21 June.
This new 360,000 sq.ft manufacturing facility has both EPC A and BREEAM excellent ratings, and features a 250kW solar array and 118kW of Tesla battery storage.
Iain McPherson, CEO at Countryside, said: “This is a critical year for climate policy, world leaders are meeting at COP26, and it is important that this summit accelerates action towards the goal set out by the Paris Agreement and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“We are absolutely committed to that ambition and recognise the crucial role the construction industry has in supporting its goals.”
Image credit: Countryside
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