Financial Statements 2016 | Page 44

Environmental matters For many years Accord Group has demonstrated its commitment to environmentally friendly products and practices. This includes: Accord’s commitment to growing in-house construction and manufacturing services has led to an average reduction in development and regeneration costs of around 10% per property 42 Accord Group n Becoming the first housing association in the UK to launch its own low carbon timber frame manufacturing facility n Achieving the stringent ISO 14001 certification for environmental management n Developing a network of internal environmental champions to disseminate information and implement new processes n Piloting a unique external wall insulation solution using a ‘housewrap’ concept. All of these activities provide excellent environmental benefits and many of the outcomes complement the Group’s commitment to achieving value for money across the business.