Environmental, social and governance (ESG)

When we formed in 1935 as The North Eastern Housing Association we stated that our intention was to be driven by a social and ethical purpose. More than 85 years on, this is as true now as it was then.

Our customers, colleagues and partners care about our impact on the environment and how we’re working to improve it. We’re passionate about doing the right thing for customers, communities, and the planet!

Our values mean that our approach to becoming an even more sustainable business is caring, commercial, accountable and energised.

As an organisation, we are acting on four key areas:

1. Our existing homes. With over 55,000 homes in 100s of communities, we are focused on improving their energy efficiency. It's the right thing to do for the environment, and we hope it will also help to reduce the risk of fuel poverty for our customers. We’re doing this in line with the government’s fuel poverty strategy and we'll make sure that as many of our homes as possible achieve an EPC rating (a review of a property’s energy efficiency) of C by 2030. We are also developing our response to net carbon zero by 2030.
2. Our new homes. When we’re building new homes and communities, for people to rent or buy, we’re building them so they are fit for the future. We’re responding to the government's future homes standard, which means installing only renewable heating systems from 2025, looking at the use of heat networks for decarbonisation and using modern methods of construction, such as offsite construction.
3. Our offices and operations. Our approach to sustainability isn’t only about helping our customers to reduce energy use, it’s also about us operating as sustainably as possible. Our colleagues are passionate about it and we want to lead by example. We’re looking at colleague travel, office energy and water use, emissions from our contractors and diverting waste from landfill to minimise our environmental impact.
4. Our supply chain. We also expect our partners and suppliers to take sustainability seriously. We’re making sure the products we buy for our homes and offices have as little environmental impact as possible, from recycled paper and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood products to low flow taps and showers We'll work with our procurement team to make sure that sustainability is thought about every time we purchase goods and services.

We have a sustainability steering group, featuring colleagues from across the business, with dedicated roles related to energy and the environment and others with a keen interest in reducing our environmental impact.