New Homes for Nature: Biodiversity Gains in UK Building Sector

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The homebuilding sector is playing a pivotal role in ensuring nature recovery is embedded into development. The Future Homes Hub has expanded its Homes for Nature initiative to explicitly include apartments, marking a significant step forward in urban biodiversity integration. Released in mid‑2025, the new guidance equips developers with practical measures such as installing nest bricks, hedgehog highways, pollinator planting and sustainable drainage systems in high‑rise buildings. This expansion ensures that wildlife-supporting infrastructure is not confined to ground-level schemes but becomes a standard in vertical developments too. Over 28 housebuilding firms representing more than 100,000 new homes annually have signed up, committing to embed at least one nesting structure per dwelling, which translates to 300,000 nesting bricks or boxes installed through the programme’s lifetime.

This initiative aligns with national planning policy, with explicit support in the most recent Planning Policy Guidance on the Natural Environment. Developers are encouraged to integrate swift bricks, bat boxes and hedgehog highways in line with technical standards and design guidance.

Simultaneously, the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Framework continues to mature. Mandatory since early 2024 for both large and small developments since February for large sites and April for smaller ones BNG requires new developments to deliver at least a 10% increase in biodiversity.

To aid sector-wide delivery, the Future Homes Hub created the Biodiversity Net Gain Implementation Board in February 2025. The Board facilitates dialogue between industry, government and stakeholders to overcome implementation challenges and scale up BNG across the sector.

In October 2025, the Board convened its annual review, reflecting on progress and priorities. Key outcomes included pledges by ministers to coordinate further consultation work on BNG alongside updates to planning frameworks, while also emphasising that no immediate policy change will occur. The message to developers was clear: continue working within the current BNG framework for now.

Recognising real‑world challenges, the Hub also launched a practical Good Practice Guide in mid‑2025. The guide offers a streamlined process checklist, real-life case examples from industry practitioners, and clear direction on when and how to apply BNG guidance on-site. This resource helps translate policy into practice and reduce complexity in real-world project delivery.

What This Means:

The inclusion of apartments in the Homes for Nature initiative marks a game-changer in extending biodiversity benefits into vertical urban living environments. It represents a shift where nature recovery is not a peripheral concern but an embedded aspect of housing design across all building types.

Mandatory BNG remains a solid foundation, but its success hinges on effective guidance and cross-sector coordination. The Implementation Board’s ongoing engagement and retrospective assessment strengthen strategic alignment between developers and policy evolution, without disrupting current regulatory expectations.

The Good Practice Guide equips industry with the clarity and confidence needed to translate biodiversity objectives into tangible outcomes. By embedding both policy and practice, the sector is gaining momentum in shaping nature‑inclusive development in the UK.

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