Housebuilders to create homes for birds and hedgehogs

Major housebuilders have signed up to a scheme to support wildlife and bring nature closer to people.

They have agreed to put a bird-nesting brick or box in every new home, and create hedgehog highways on new developments.

It is thought around 300,000 nesting bricks and boxes are needed to support swift populations and other bird species across the UK.

The voluntary Homes for Nature commitment has already been signed by 20 housebuilders. These businesses were responsible for constructing 90,000 new homes last year alone.

The changes will apply to developments going through planning from this September.

Industry-led On Site Nature Measures Working Group, convened by the independent Future Homes Hub, developed the Homes for Nature commitment.

Future Homes Hub chief executive Ed Lockhart said: “Homes for Nature is a fantastic opportunity to create many more homes for wildlife, bring people closer to nature and at the same time provide a helping hand to some much-loved and critically endangered species.”

Homebuilders are also being encouraged to build in other wildlife-friendly features including bat roosts, insect bricks and hibernacula, as well as use nature-led sustainable urban drainage systems and pollinator-friendly landscaping.

Miller Homes associate director of environmental sustainability and chair of the working group Jo Stott said: “Nature underpins our economy, provides the food, clean air and water we all need and yet everywhere it is under intense threat.

“Through Homes for Nature we are making a small change, but that small change could create a significant benefit for nature and for the people who come to live in the communities we develop.”

Action for Swifts chief executive Becky Ingham said: “For centuries swifts have shared our buildings and homes by nesting in the nooks and crannnies of old-style buildings. In recent years the loss of nesting sites has had a major detrimental effect on this red-listed species.

“It’s heartening to now see the commitment from so many major developers towards installing integral bricks, which will last the lifetime of the building and provide our Swifts and other cavity nesting birds with long-term habitat.”