Octavia achieves SHIFT Gold accreditation for the 5th year running

Octavia has achieved a ‘Gold’ accreditation in a recent SHIFT assessment, a sustainability standard specifically for the housing sector, for the fifth year running. This accreditation body measures how we are doing over 22 environmental criteria, including CO2 emissions, water use, waste generation and response to climate change. 

This high ranking is in recognition of our continued commitment to sustainability across the organisation and our prioritisation of providing affordable, energy efficient homes for residents. 

The assessment commended our corporate approach to sustainability, recognising how we deliver new homes built to high sustainability standards and have a target to bring all our existing homes up to a good energy efficient standard by 2023. We are working to achieve this through our rolling programme of cyclical maintenance and repairs, in line with our Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2018-2023.  

The report states: “Octavia Housing has achieved the SHIFT Gold standard, with a score of 59.98%. It ranks 3rd out of the 40 most recent SHIFT assessments. […] Octavia have developed a detailed Environmental Sustainability Strategy which spans 2022- 2025 and has scored 14.16 out of 15 for an effective strategy.” 

Commenting on the accreditation, Stephen Kirrage, Executive Director of Development, Sales and Asset Management, said: “We are pleased with this recognition. In spite of the economic challenges being faced by the sector, we are successfully continuing with our strategy to improve the energy efficiency of  our homes, many of them of older Victorian housing stock. 

“However, we are not complacent and are aware of the areas where we need to further improve. We continually review ways to reduce the environmental impact of all our buildings in order to deliver on our ambition to be carbon net zero by 2050.”  

Octavia Sustainability Manager, Emma Dewey, who recently joined the organisation, said: “I am looking forward to working with everyone in Octavia as we continue to improve the sustainability of our homes and lower our carbon footprint."