"Expanding our knowledge and expertise around how homeowners can improve the levels of energy efficiency around their properties is vital in helping to reduce our carbon footprint."
Sustainability is a complex word which can mean different things to different people. From a Countrywide Surveying Services (CSS) standpoint, sustainability encapsulates many elements and the first port of call for us is to constantly ask ourselves - are we a responsible business?
By this I mean how we approach important areas such as diversity, inclusion, wellbeing and environmental issues. The wider Countrywide/Connells Group is committed to ensuring that our business minimises negative environmental and social impact. As a business, we are committed to ensure all colleagues are treated equally, fairly and free from discrimination throughout their employment. It is our aim to consistently support our colleagues to achieve their full potential and that all employment decisions and actions are based only on ability and the requirements of the job. This includes recruitment and selection, terms of conditions of employment, access to training, access to promotion and transfers.
We currently have around 25 people who have been working with Countrywide Surveying Services for over 20 years – with this rising to between 35 and 40 years in a few cases – with many more having 15 plus years under their belts. This longevity makes me immensely proud and it demonstrates that we, as a business, are doing something right. Looking further afield, it was great to see the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries join forces with Aldermore and Virgin Money to take a closer look at diversity, equity and inclusion within the mortgage sector and I urge everyone throughout the industry to get involved with this initiative.
In terms of wellbeing, we recently introduced a Mental Health First Aid course for all our managers to help them better understand and support their teams when working from home and implementing a successful phased back to work programme. And we are always evaluating ways to improve and better support our people when it comes to their mental health.
Turning our attention to the environment, as a responsible business, we have an obligation to operate in a manner that minimises the business’ negative impact on the environment. We are committed to reducing waste, reducing pollution ad reduction of carbon emissions.
Expanding our knowledge and expertise around how homeowners can improve the levels of energy efficiency around their properties is vital in helping to reduce our carbon footprint. With this in mind we recently launched EnergyFact, a report designed to help homeowners assess and identify potential improvements to enhance energy efficiency. The report provides customers with a series of suggested improvements, costs for completing the work and a calculation of how much it would approximately save customers on energy bills. As well as this, the report provides suggestions of small changes customers can make to their lifestyle.
We are consciously reviewing our product offering with a sustainability lens as we strive to ensure our services are able to deliver to the challenges of the future. Our expertise in the housing sector and utilisation of advanced technology to capture data will prove to be invaluable in analysing environmental impact and identifying how customers can improve energy efficiency in homes and reduce long term environmental risks.
From a lender perspective, with the continued evolution of the green mortgage market, opportunities may emerge for lenders to retain more borrowers by helping them assess or even fund improvements to their property. Such incentives may help improve the mix of low carbon properties on their books and their ability to retain customers for longer.
This week is the UK National Awareness Net Zero week - a collective attempt to bring industries together to improve awareness and identify solutions. We all have an important role to play in making change happen and combating the effects of climate change.
This topic will be a focal point in an upcoming webinar hosted by CSS this week which will also discuss legacy, new stock and the challenges/opportunities as we move towards a low carbon built environment. The live webinar is another initiative in our drive to convene the industry in such discussions and share good practice as environmental and social issues continue to grow in prominence in our sector. And the faster we all realise this, the better.
