‘Business and community sustainability are equally important to me and


absolutely essential across everything we do’


Steff Wright has placed sustainability at the heart of all his businesses under the Gusto Group umbrella


It was in the 1990s when he first truly heard the term


“sustainability” as the Government began exploring how businesses should react to the potential impact of climate change. Deciding he wanted to build the most innovative


housing development on the market, he incorporated new ideas into the initial 26-home Millennium Green estate in Collingham, opening in 2000. These included rainwater harvesting, solar thermal


heaters, heat recovery systems and triple insulation. “That was our first endeavour of building away from


the normal building regulations and standards,” explains Steff, who bought his first fully electric car around the same time. “Our commercial view was if we built better quality


houses, there would be a market for people who wanted to buy them. “The sentiment was pretty negative towards new


Steff believes bringing home and work living closer will be a post-Covid trend


homes because there was a perception of them being poor quality, but we had people relocating from other parts of the country as they were drawn to the standard of property we were building.” As one of the only commercial sustainable housing


developers – other projects with a similar specification were Government-funded and often one-off exemplars – Steff spoke at a number of industry conferences about his work. He was able to discuss in-depth the costs and risks


involved with improving the energy efficiency of new- builds, as well as the return on investment. “Millennium Green was a success,” says Steff. “We


could have made a lot more money through building standard houses on that site but we took a lot of customer feedback on board, which has allowed us to continue innovating over the past 20 years.”


NO SITE IS the same and different technologies have been applied according to their specific needs. Developments in conservation areas, such as a 30-


home estate in Southwell, carry limitations so the homes may be nearer typical standards while still punching above their weight in terms of energy performance. The Collingham site, which includes 60 retirement


properties, is one of the largest-scale developments to use ground-source heat pumps.


business network November 2020 21


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