CALA Homes has unveiled its new Urban Wildlife Strategy, which includes a series of measures across all new developments to support and protect Britain’s ‘rapidly declining’ wildlife.
The housebuilder said the strategy will introduce an estimated 15,000 wildlife-friendly measures across the UK each year to help species such as birds, bats, bees and hedgehogs to thrive within urban environments.
The framework includes bird nesting features, hedgehog fencing, invertebrate bricks, bat boxes or bat roosting features and native tree planting, which will be delivered on every Cala development as standard, and regardless of planning requirements.
The Urban Wildlife Strategy was originally developed by Cala Homes Thames in 2022, when the business collaborated with the Hampshire Swifts and Hampshire Ornithological Society to create a framework of habitats and nesting opportunities within the fabric of each home at the Kings Barton development in Winchester.
Cala is now rolling the scheme out across its remaining regional businesses, including Scotland.
Kathryn Dapré, head of sustainability at Cala, said, “We’re facing a wildlife emergency and we believe new homes development can play a role in supporting nature’s recovery by introducing new habitats at scale. These are simple, cost-effective features that we already deliver on many of our sites.”
John Richards, land & planning director, Cala Homes Thames, added, “We must transition from environmental goal setting to taking action and this strategy seizes every opportunity to support wildlife in the fabric of the homes we build. It will give us a robust baseline for wildlife improvements on our developments, and we can only go further from there.”
