Future Homes Hub expands ‘Homes for Nature’ to include apartments

The Future Homes Hub has released new guidance that brings high-rise residential buildings into the scope of the new homes sector’s Homes for Nature commitment.

The new appendix - ‘The Inclusion of Apartments’ - adds tailored support for apartment schemes to integrate biodiversity measures such as universal non-combustible nest bricks, hedgehog highways, pollinator planting, and SuDS.

Krista Evans, Head of Place & Nature at the Future Homes Hub, said: “With so many new homes being delivered as apartments, it’s critical that nature recovery doesn’t stop at the ground floor. This update helps developers and designers create spaces that work for people and for wildlife - regardless of building height.”

Homes for Nature is a sector-wide initiative developed by members of the Future Homes Hub in collaboration with the RSPB, Action for Swifts and Hedgehog Street. The initiative supports developers to go beyond Biodiversity Net Gain regulations by delivering specific, trackable on-site measures that directly benefit threatened urban wildlife.

Launched in September 2024, the Homes for Nature commitment requires participating developers to:

• Install at least one bird-nesting brick or box per new home
• Include hedgehog highways on every development
• Encourage further nature measures such as bat roosts, insect bricks, hibernacula, pollinator-friendly landscaping, and nature-led SuDS

So far, 28 homebuilders, representing over 100,000 new homes per year, have signed up to the voluntary commitment. That equates to a minimum of 300,000 nesting bricks and boxes over the course of the programme - enough to make a measurable difference for swifts and other declining species.

The commitment runs until 2030, with annual reporting by participants to track installations, identify best practice, and continuously improve nature outcomes on new developments.

The commitment is now also explicitly supported in the government’s Planning Policy Guidance on the Natural Environment. Paragraph 017 encourages development proposals to include nature measures such as swift bricks, bat boxes and hedgehog highways in line with national design guidance and technical standards.

For more information about the Homes for Nature initiative visit the Hub here.