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Private house builder signs up to £500m sustainable credit facility
House builder Vistry has completed a £500m sustainability-linked revolving credit facility.
The five-year facility was completed on 16 December and forms part of the house builder’s plans to reach net-zero targets. Interest paid on the new facility has not been disclosed, but will be determined in part by Vistry’s ability to meet sustainable performance targets.
The sustainability targets focus on three core areas: people, operations, and homes and communities.
The targets include a pledge to train up to 550 people by 2025, with Vistry stating it is “committed to growing the number of skilled workers in the market through the operation of its skills academies”.
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Operationally, the financial targets will align with Vistry’s science-based targets initiative. However, the house builder says it aims to reduce carbon emissions by 4.2% each year for the length of the financing period.
In terms of homes and communities, the sustainability target commits Vistry to delivering a year-on-year increase in affordable homes beyond planning or Section 106 requirements.
According to Vistry, meeting those targets will result in lower interest payments for the group.
Sustainability-linked credit facilities are becoming more common in the social housing sector, but are still rare for private house builders.
Greg Fitzgerald, Vistry’s chief executive, said: “As a major house builder, we fully understand our responsibilities to the people who work with us, the natural environment, and the homes and communities we help create. Our targets address the shortage of skilled labour in the construction sector; the carbon emitted from our role as one of the UK’s largest house builders; and the lack of high-quality affordable housing in the UK.”
In September, Vistry published what it terms “a road map to net-zero carbon homes” as part of a set of carbon-reduction announcements.
The house builder – the Vistry Partnerships arm of which works with many housing associations and councils – said the construction of its homes, including both materials and processes, would achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
That 20-year goal follows two other targets: for homes to be net zero “in use” by 2030, and to achieve a 75%-80% reduction in carbon emissions, from a 2013 benchmark, by 2025.
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