The WhatHouse? Awards, which celebrates residential developments across the UK, recognised Springfield's Bertha Park Village, on the outskirts of Perth, Scotland, as the Best Sustainable Development and Dykes of Gray Village in Dundee, Scotland secured the silver award for Best Public Realm.
Bertha Park, which is already home to a growing community will, once complete, include a mix of 3,000 homes across a range of tenures. Bertha Park homes feature cabling for electric car charging, sustainable heating systems and high levels of insulation. New homes at the Village are four times more efficient than older equivalent homes and qualify for green mortgages thanks to their EPC rating of B. The wider Village boasts an established loch, ancient woodland and a biodiverse suds pond.
Demonstrating its understanding that sustainability extends to more than energy efficient homes and development design, Springfield's dedicated Community Engagement Co-ordinator regularly engages with the residents at Bertha Park, encouraging the community to come together at seasonal events, while keeping them updated with the latest Village information.
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The team's understanding and commitment to community and sustainable design also saw Springfield win the silver award for Best Public Realm for its Dykes of Gray Village. The Village includes public art, green corridors, places for children to play and a community core complete with local businesses overlooking an amphitheatre.
Innes Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Springfield, said: "We're understandably delighted to have our Springfield Villages recognised at such a respected event. With steep competition from across the UK to win these awards is an enormous achievement, particularly from such a high-profile platform.
"Sustainability is understandably a hot topic at present, and it has been a focus for us at Springfield for some time. We endeavour to create sustainable places for people to live, deliver energy efficient homes that are cost effective to run, engage with the communities to enhance our social impact while regularly reviewing our internal practices to mitigate our own impact on the environment. To have had our efforts recognised with two national awards with competition from housebuilders across the UK is outstanding.
"With energy costs at the fore of everyone's minds and with recent research finding that buyers of a new build home save on average £2,600 pa in energy bills each year at current prices, we couldn't be prouder of delivering such efficient homes and great places that allow our customers to live more sustainably amongst attractive surroundings. These awards are a fantastic endorsement for what we are delighted our customers benefit directly from."
These awards follow Springfield publishing its first ESG strategy in September of this year, where the Group has set new goals and committed to measuring performance to ensure that it continually improves. This includes a commitment to achieving net zero by 2045, in line with the Scottish Government aspirations, and Springfield will aim to achieve this sooner. Having always placed great importance on behaving responsibly and instilling sustainability across its operations, the Group is already well established on the route map to net zero.
