Homes for Nature: Biodiversity Steps Up for Urban Living

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The Future Homes Hub has recently expanded its Homes for Nature initiative to include apartment developments, bringing urban biodiversity firmly within the net‑zero conversation. An updated guidance released in July 2025 now supports high‑rise residential schemes by introducing measures such as universal non‑combustible nest bricks, hedgehog highways, pollinator planting and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) to enhance biodiversity at building heights above ground level. This extension reflects a growing recognition that nature‑positive development must reach beyond traditional housing types to address urban ecosystem needs cite cite

The Homes for Nature commitment, established in September 2024 by the Forward‑looking Future Homes Hub in partnership with conservation organisations, requires participating developers to install at least one bird nesting feature per new home, integrate hedgehog pathways and encourage further nature‑friendly elements including bat roosts, insect bricks and pollinator‑friendly landscaping cite cite. The expansion to include apartments is especially significant: while houses often provide opportunities for such features, flats and tower blocks typically lack integrated nature measures. With over 28 homebuilders now involved spanning projects delivering an estimated 100,000 new homes annually this translates to at least 300,000 nesting bricks and boxes over the lifetime of the scheme cite cite.

Importantly, this initiative now enjoys explicit support in national planning guidance. Updates to the government’s planning policy advice encourage proposals to include swift bricks, bat boxes and hedgehog highways as aligned with national design and technical standards cite cite. This integration ensures that efforts to embed biodiversity in new developments are no longer purely voluntary or exceptional but form part of mainstream planning considerations.

Such progress arrives in the wake of the mandatory introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements for developments in England. BNG mandates that new projects deliver at least a 10% net gain in habitat value, with large sites having had to comply since February 12, 2024, and small sites since April 2, 2024 cite cite. To further facilitate effective implementation, the Future Homes Hub launched both a BNG Implementation Board in February 2025 to drive cross‑sector collaboration and a Good Practice Guide in June 2025 offering practical on‑site checklists and industry narratives cite cite cite.

A recent update from the BNG Implementation Board marking its first year on October 22, 2025 highlighted progress and persistent sector challenges. Ministers reaffirmed their intention to align BNG with wider planning policy updates, including reviews of the National Planning Policy Framework and related policies. Although amendments to exemptions or metrics are not imminent, the sector remains attentive to evolving consultation outcomes cite cite.

What This Means:

The expansion of the Homes for Nature initiative into the apartment sector marks a critical step towards embedding biodiversity within the rapidly growing urban housing landscape. By translating net‑zero ambitions into tangible habitat features nest bricks, hedgehog pathways and pollinator zones new residential developments can deliver meaningful ecological benefits for declining species.

With over 300,000 nesting units expected over the initiative’s duration, urban biodiversity is finally gaining a stronger foothold in high‑density settings. The formal alignment of voluntary measures with national planning policies further cements biodiversity as a design priority, not an afterthought.

However, implementation challenges remain clear. The BNG Implementation Board’s reflection on a year’s progress underlines lingering uncertainty in parts of the industry, particularly where the overlap between BNG and broader planning regulations creates complexity.

Addressing these challenges will require continued guidance, clarity in policy, and access to best practice exemplars as provided by the BNG Good Practice Guide to ensure that nature‑positive development is both feasible and scalable across urban development typologies.

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