Published by Blakes for more
than a quarter of a century
than a quarter of a century
Richmond Homes
'INNOVATIVE BUSINESS WLTM UNDERSTANDING POLITICIAN - MUTUAL INTEREST IN SUSTAINABILITY PREFERRED'
Sustainability is a moving target on a very broad front. In a Nietzschean sense it is a project of constant 'becoming'. We may never arrive, but the applied journey is the worthwhile task. Sustainability in some parts of Africa is a person walking a mile, pitcher on head, to collect the day's supply of water from a communal well. In the West we would not find that easy to sustain, or even support. Its environmental sustainability, however, is not something we would question. Local understanding is a key factor.
The considered business has to look at sustainability across many fronts. Not just in its own terms, but in those it relates to society at large. The social framework defines it, permits it space to flourish and gives it challenges to meet.
Richmond Homes is a business that regularly takes a fresh look at its approach to its own business and surroundings. In an industry often highly traditionalised in its practices and philosophy, we perceive the need to be innovative. We are convinced it enhances our business model, and believe it also underlines our journey towards sustainability in the context of corporate social responsibility.
A medium-sized business that thinks big, we also have the flexibility, agility and innovative thinking that characterises the smaller business.
We have led the way in our own community by being a founder member of the Fife Business Support Group in 1992- affiliated to Scottish Business in the Community, of which Richmond Homes were the first building business to become a member - a position we still hold in solitary isolation! The Prince's Trust, whose superb work we support, invited us to be their first corporate partner in Fife and one of the earliest in Scotland. Their scheme is designed to apply local funding in a local context. Similarly, in keeping with our desire to encourage excellence within the industry, we sponsor four scholarships in construction management at Fife College, our local training institution. We were the first building company in Scotland to establish such a project at local level.
Over the years we have involved ourselves with many other smaller projects, which we felt gave encouragement to the community to do better for itself and to function in a more 'sustainable' way. Our definition of the term has become personalised by our involvement in these projects. Where such projects take our resources and use them to the general good, thus helping people to support themselves, we see sustainability in action.
We strongly believe in technology as an opportunity for increased sustainability. Web-based telecommunications and remote control systems reduce the use of hardcopy and transportation resources. In that context we became, in 1995, one of the first UK building businesses to have a fully designed web presence; the first to standardise structured cabling in our entire homes range; and the first to use live webcam images for buyer information. In managing site-security, we have backed local innovators by using their remote web-monitoring systems as a pioneer customer. This has led to an effective new technology being developed which allows a great many wasteful practices to be minimised. By the same token, our product design endeavours to have a strong local relevance. We were one of the first to promote site-specific house design; and one of the earliest to advocate the integration of local materials and interior/exterior design style.
All of these elements allow us to improve the way we meet demand, while using less resources and also significantly providing dynamic future-proofing as requirements alter over time.
The home serves a changing spectrum of needs. Social evolution in the last few decades has redefined the demands we make on our housing and the way in which that is met. Home working, extended families, single-parent families, two-parent working families - these and many other trends mean that the homes we were building yesterday are not the homes needed for tomorrow.
Although the population has remained consistent, the demand for new homes has risen and the 'right to buy', while benefiting occupiers who wished to own property, has also meant a loss of rented stock. While ownership trends generally have swept up some of the deficit, the need for entry-level property has been a difficult demand to meet. The most significant restrictive factor has been planning policies over the last 30 years. Supply has not remotely met demand, driving a land-market that exceeds all other indicators in inflationary terms. The result is that only high-inherent-value properties have become viable on many sites for builders, which means demand further down the market is unmet. It has also fuelled dramatic house-price inflation, taking affordability away from those on the lower rungs of the ladder.
Development has also understandably been concentrated where existing major infrastructure exists, leading to a relative imbalance in supply across the geographic areas, which favours urban rather than rural provision. It is increasingly difficult for young people, in particular, to remain within rural areas, even where employment is available, when they cannot get onto the owner-occupation ladder or even rent locally.
To give greater opportunity for sustainable practice we need to redress this historic approach. For the building industry that means a more realistic land supply that is well-planned and thought-out: a policy of sufficient diversity and scale to give us scope to make the investment where it is needed, and not in the raw material. Basic economics indicates that massive investment in raw material is the least sustainable route.
Business can invest at a local level to good effect, using the knowledge it has of local needs, but central investment must generate the conditions to help make this happen.
Like the resourceful African villager, business too is prepared to carry water amazing distances as long as government ensures there are sufficient wells. The dividend will come in seeing just how creative business can become with its remaining resources.
The considered business has to look at sustainability across many fronts. Not just in its own terms, but in those it relates to society at large. The social framework defines it, permits it space to flourish and gives it challenges to meet.
Richmond Homes is a business that regularly takes a fresh look at its approach to its own business and surroundings. In an industry often highly traditionalised in its practices and philosophy, we perceive the need to be innovative. We are convinced it enhances our business model, and believe it also underlines our journey towards sustainability in the context of corporate social responsibility.
A medium-sized business that thinks big, we also have the flexibility, agility and innovative thinking that characterises the smaller business.
We have led the way in our own community by being a founder member of the Fife Business Support Group in 1992- affiliated to Scottish Business in the Community, of which Richmond Homes were the first building business to become a member - a position we still hold in solitary isolation! The Prince's Trust, whose superb work we support, invited us to be their first corporate partner in Fife and one of the earliest in Scotland. Their scheme is designed to apply local funding in a local context. Similarly, in keeping with our desire to encourage excellence within the industry, we sponsor four scholarships in construction management at Fife College, our local training institution. We were the first building company in Scotland to establish such a project at local level.
Over the years we have involved ourselves with many other smaller projects, which we felt gave encouragement to the community to do better for itself and to function in a more 'sustainable' way. Our definition of the term has become personalised by our involvement in these projects. Where such projects take our resources and use them to the general good, thus helping people to support themselves, we see sustainability in action.
We strongly believe in technology as an opportunity for increased sustainability. Web-based telecommunications and remote control systems reduce the use of hardcopy and transportation resources. In that context we became, in 1995, one of the first UK building businesses to have a fully designed web presence; the first to standardise structured cabling in our entire homes range; and the first to use live webcam images for buyer information. In managing site-security, we have backed local innovators by using their remote web-monitoring systems as a pioneer customer. This has led to an effective new technology being developed which allows a great many wasteful practices to be minimised. By the same token, our product design endeavours to have a strong local relevance. We were one of the first to promote site-specific house design; and one of the earliest to advocate the integration of local materials and interior/exterior design style.
All of these elements allow us to improve the way we meet demand, while using less resources and also significantly providing dynamic future-proofing as requirements alter over time.
The home serves a changing spectrum of needs. Social evolution in the last few decades has redefined the demands we make on our housing and the way in which that is met. Home working, extended families, single-parent families, two-parent working families - these and many other trends mean that the homes we were building yesterday are not the homes needed for tomorrow.
Although the population has remained consistent, the demand for new homes has risen and the 'right to buy', while benefiting occupiers who wished to own property, has also meant a loss of rented stock. While ownership trends generally have swept up some of the deficit, the need for entry-level property has been a difficult demand to meet. The most significant restrictive factor has been planning policies over the last 30 years. Supply has not remotely met demand, driving a land-market that exceeds all other indicators in inflationary terms. The result is that only high-inherent-value properties have become viable on many sites for builders, which means demand further down the market is unmet. It has also fuelled dramatic house-price inflation, taking affordability away from those on the lower rungs of the ladder.
Development has also understandably been concentrated where existing major infrastructure exists, leading to a relative imbalance in supply across the geographic areas, which favours urban rather than rural provision. It is increasingly difficult for young people, in particular, to remain within rural areas, even where employment is available, when they cannot get onto the owner-occupation ladder or even rent locally.
To give greater opportunity for sustainable practice we need to redress this historic approach. For the building industry that means a more realistic land supply that is well-planned and thought-out: a policy of sufficient diversity and scale to give us scope to make the investment where it is needed, and not in the raw material. Basic economics indicates that massive investment in raw material is the least sustainable route.
Business can invest at a local level to good effect, using the knowledge it has of local needs, but central investment must generate the conditions to help make this happen.
Like the resourceful African villager, business too is prepared to carry water amazing distances as long as government ensures there are sufficient wells. The dividend will come in seeing just how creative business can become with its remaining resources.
Garry Stewart, Managing Director, Richmond Homes.
Copyright © 2006 Blake.