Biodiversity
Increasingly, our residents are interested in how their gardens and outdoor space can be used to deliver sustainable projects that can help nature’s recovery.
At the heart of this is biodiversity – which is the variety of plant and animal life in the world or a particular habitat – we have been working with our residents to deliver biodiversity projects across our care homes.
All new homes at Oakland Care have at least 25% of outside space dedicated to biodiversity, and all existing homes now have an established or in progress wildlife garden.
Most recently, we opened our flagship Maplewood Court wildlife garden in Maidstone, Kent.
Projects & Community
We also give back to our local communities by giving our time to local biodiversity projects (funded by Oakland Care). All of our leaders, members of our head office team and people from our local care homes regularly support local initiatives such as woodland tree planting, where in 2023, the group planted over 1000 trees and have committed to planting 1250 in 2024.
Woodland Trust
Oakland Care is a corporate member of the The Woodland Trust. We help them to plant and protect trees, bringing the benefits of trees to people, wildlife and the planet.
Many of our homes have created local wildflower gardens and developed areas of land with features especially designed to attract wildlife such as frogs, bats, butterflies, bees and other insects.
By focusing on enhancing biodiversity, we are supporting the following UN Sustainable Development Goal:
15 Life on land
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
– Source: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15
Ambitions & Targets
-
1
We are committed to setting science-based targets and becoming carbon net zero.
-
2
All of our construction projects to be certified minimum of ‘Excellent’ by BREAAM.
-
3
We will maintain our Greenmark Level 3 status.
-
4
We will continue to provide all team members with training on improving sustainability.
-
5
We will apply for B Corp accreditation in 2024.
-
6
We will give back at least 2000 hours of team time to local sustainability projects.
-
7
We will plant at least 1250 trees per annum.
-
8
We will have biodiversity gardens in every home by the end of 2023.
-
9
All our new homes will be designed with at least 25% of garden space dedicated to biodiversity from 2023.
-
10
We will continue to improve the efficiency of our procurement resulting in 25% less deliveries in 2024 compared to 2023.
-
11
We will continue to send zero waste to landfill.
-
12
We will reduce plastic waste from chemicals by 90% by end of 2023.
-
13
The use of Hazardous chemicals will be reduced by 90% in 2024 compared to 2022.
-
14
We will only use FSC certified timber for all construction projects.
-
15
We will maintain our carbon neutral certification and work towards net zero.
-
16
We will reduce paper use across the business by 50% by the end of 2024 vs end of 2023.
Our Sustainability Journey
-
Our Commitment
Caring for the environment and improving sustainability is a key focus for our Executive team.
-
Carbon Neutrality
In 2021, Oakland Care became the first UK care home group to be certified as carbon neutral. Discover how we are investing in innovative projects throughout our business to reduce carbon emissions.
-
Procurement
We have implemented high sustainability requirements through our tendering processes with suppliers to ensure that the supplies we procure are produced and delivered with a lower level of environmental impact.
See our Responsible Procurement and Reducing Waste Initiative