THE BIG INTERVIEW
A sustainable approach to building houses, communities and businesses
Some of the most modern and eco-friendly homes in the UK are built by the housing arm of Nottinghamshire-based Gusto Group, but that’s only the beginning of the story for social entrepreneur Steff Wright. He talks to Dan Robinson about what sustainability means to him – and how he’s beginning to learn it starts at our front door.
sustainability at their heart. One of these is Gusto Homes, an eco-friendly housebuilder that not only adopts low-carbon technologies, but is increasingly seeking to create sustainable communities. This is most evident at its flagship site in Collingham,
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near Newark – where its head office is also located – in which residents in the 150 ultra-efficient homes have access to a co-working space, café and plastic-free shop. Sales have skyrocketed since lockdown as people prioritise cheaper, cleaner living while seeking to replace long-distance commutes with closely-tied home and work life. “Sustainability, for me, has many different meanings,”
says Steff, who lives in another of his company’s sites, the luxury eco-lifestyle Woodlands Edge development north of Lincoln. “Environmental sustainability means that something
can continue in balance with nature, and without having a negative impact upon the environment.
Gusto Homes uses the latest technology in building its eco-homes
teff Wright is sat at his desk inside the home he built – perhaps not with his own hands, but certainly at his direction. He is the founder, CEO and visionary of Gusto Group, a collection of businesses that all have
“But business and community sustainability are
equally important to me and absolutely essential across everything we do. “If we can design our own communities so they have
everything to grow from within, and don’t have to rely on large corporates, then that’s a more sustainable model. So it’s not just about the energy efficiency of a house but the whole sustainability of the community. “That’s something I’ve focused on over the past few years as our thinking has evolved.”
SUSTAINABILITY HAS ALWAYS been at the very top of the agenda for Steff throughout his entrepreneurial journey – his group has several businesses in various sectors, employing 150 people in total – as he recognised its potential for carving out a niche from the beginning. After funding his building diploma course at Basford
Hall College by working as a mobile DJ at the age of 17, he set up his own one-man-band construction company in 1985. Starting off as a small works contractor that renovated properties like old barns, Gusto Construction later moved into residential house building. “My background is learning business through doing
business, rather than working for other companies,” says the 58-year-old.
20 business network November 2020
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