Waste

The materials we use to build our homes are resources that require careful management. Our aim is to use such resources as efficiently as possible, ensuring that we limit our impact on the environment by minimising waste, and so deliver cost and efficiency savings which benefit our wider business, customers and stakeholders.

Our primary objective on every development is to prevent waste in the first instance. This is achieved through a waste management strategy that begins with the planning and design process, and filters down through the management of the construction process and across the lifetime of the development. We are also constantly evolving our house types and construction processes, seeking new systems and products to help improve the efficiency of the construction process.

Waste that is produced is then, wherever possible, segregated on-site and handled by our various waste management contractors. The vast majority is reused, recycled or, as a last resort, used as ‘refuse derived fuel’. Only a very small proportion is sent to landfill.

Summary of performance

Diversion rates continue to improve with 99.1% of waste diverted from landfill (2019 – 98.4%) - rates have risen year-on year from 82.3% in 2012

Tonnes of waste per home sold rose to 11.18 (2019 – 10.97) but an action plan is in place to address this in 2020/21, specifically on the quantity of rubble disposed of


Waste category 15-16  16-17  17-18  18-19  19-20 
Timber (t) 6,923 10,511 11,980 15,091 12,635
Aggregates (t) 16,432 19,188 21,141 29,464 20,439
Plasterboard (t) 3,562 4,110 5,401 7,074 5,533
Mixed metals (t) 477 1,322 1,372 1,582 1,452
Mixed waste (t) 46,830 53,771 56,830 62,227 47,101
Electrical (t) 1 9 33 18 22
Hazardous (t) 37 164 19 75 13
Total (t) 74,262 89,075 96,776 115,531 87,195
Diverted (t) 71,226 87,196 94,966 113,667 86,377
Diverted (%) 95.9% 97.8% 98.1% 98.4% 99.1%
Waste (t) per Home Built 8.52 9.25 9.31 10.97 11.18

Performance data