Driving the Market for Sustainable Homes
How we are addressing this issue:
Our operational flexibility means that we are adept at matching sites to what people want and require. This, for us, is a sustainable approach, enabling us to design not only for today, but for the future.
The Berkeley Group undertakes detailed market assessments of each site before acquisition, as well as ongoing reviews of the site to ensure supply is matched to demand in terms of product, location and price. Providing greater choice also allows people to live in areas they find desirable which in turn helps to reduce pockets of deprivation and promotes diversity.
To help raise consumer awareness and generate demand for low and zero carbon homes we have joined the Zero Carbon Hub Consumer Engagement Workstream. As part of this, we will be helping to identify and prioritise the types of buyer most likely to purchase low/zero carbon homes and developing marketing guidance with other key players from within the industry on how to best communicate messages about sustainable homes to potential consumers.
We have undertaken post-occupancy monitoring, through surveys, to ensure that we understand how our customers use their homes and what the actual environmental impacts are. As part of this, we have been seeking to understand the extent to which sustainability affects purchaser's decisions, and what particular sustainability features customers find attractive, information which we then use to influence the design of future schemes.
Our performance:
In 2010/11:
- We completed market research to understand how sustainability influences the home buying preferences of purchasers. 221 survey responses were received, representing 26% of purchasers that completed in the period 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010. For further information on this, please see the case study section below.
Our Vision2020 commitments and ambitions:
As part of delivering Vision2020 we have set specific objectives for continuing to ensure that we drive the market for sustainable homes.
Our commitment from May 2011:
- Undertake market research on at least 25% of purchasers to understand how sustainability influences their home buying preferences
Our ambition from May 2012:
- On selected developments provide customers with a 'sustainability options' package which enables them to purchase additional sustainability features for their homes
Case study:
What our customers think about sustainability
One of our Vision2020 commitments is to "undertake market research on at least 25% of purchasers to understand how sustainability influences their home buying preferences".
To fulfill this commitment we asked Inhouse Research and Training Ltd, an independent market research company, to conduct a telephone survey with all customers that purchased a Berkeley property between January and December 2010.
26% of our customers responded to the survey (221 in total). Of these, 24% were investors and 76% were private buyers.
The results showed that our customers are environmentally conscious:
- 85% agreed that they are concerned about protecting the environment;
- 69% agreed that they put a lot of effort into living an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
We asked our customers to identify what was important in terms of sustainability when purchasing their new home. Running costs and good transport links came out top, with the Code for Sustainable Homes rating, cycle storage and home office facilities less frequently considered important.
There is clearly scope for the industry and Government to increase awareness of the Code for Sustainable Homes and for us to better market the sustainability of our homes. Although 44% of our customers had not heard about the Code for Sustainable Homes,60% of customers felt that the sustainability features of their new home had been well marketed by Berkeley.
We used the survey to test the market for providing a sustainability options package when buying a home – one of our Vision2020 ambitions. An overwhelming majority of customers (93%) said that if they were offered a choice of sustainable features (e.g. solar panels, energy consumption display devices, energy efficient appliances) as an option, they would have been interested.
Just under two thirds of our customers (64%) said they would be willing to pay a higher price for a more sustainable home and interestingly, investors (74%) gave this response more frequently than private buyers (61%) suggesting they may see more value in sustainable homes.
The results of this research have influenced our review and update of our Vision2020 commitments for 2011/12 and will play a key role in forming the future direction of our sustainability strategy.
The Berkeley Urban Family House
The Berkeley Urban Family House has been designed with the 21st century in mind. It addresses the urgent need for quality, high-density housing that creates sustainable communities and encompasses attractive streets and open spaces. Architecturally, these resemble traditional terraced housing, however housing density is increased to around 104 dwellings per hectare (42 dwellings per acre), which is approximately double the density achievable with conventional terraced housing.
The standard Urban Family House comprises of three bedrooms and two reception rooms. Amenity space is not compromised, and exterior relaxation space is provided through a front utility and roof garden. Houses are naturally oriented towards the public street, creating a sense of community with good street surveillance and safety, so that they will be popular with families. The Urban Family House will be built using efficient modern methods of construction, and will reach Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3.
