Last Updated on 15/07/2021

  • A housing association will compete against firms from across Europe to win a top environmental award after being chosen to represent the UK.

    The European Commission?s EMAS (Eco Management and Audit Scheme) Awards are the most prestigious in environmental management and are presented to top performing companies and public authorities.

    West Bromwich-based the Accord Group has been chosen to represent the UK in the ‘Private ? Large Company’ category, competing against nine firms from countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain.

    Each company will have to show judges how they have delivered eco-friendly innovations that have boosted environmental performance in their organisations, to be in with the chance of winning.

    The Accord Group has a long standing commitment to sustainability, becoming the first housing association in the UK to achieve the EMAS and the first to open its own low carbon timber home factory in Walsall.

    John Bedford, Head of Project Development at the Accord Group, said: ?To be chosen to represent the UK in this award category is a fantastic achievement and one that we are very proud of.

    ?Over the last seven years, we have made huge efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and develop environmentally-friendly homes, such as our timber framed properties in Walsall, Wolverhampton and Redditch.

    ?We are looking forward to the awards and sharing ideas, best practice and our experiences of environmental management with other organisations from across Europe.?

    Andrew Fletcher, Environment, Training and Systems Director at ESP, which helped Accord to put together its award submission, said: ?ESP has worked with Accord for seven years or more and in that time we have seen the company continually make great strides in improving its environmental performance.

    ?The EMAS Awards are a great opportunity for Accord to showcase their excellent work to date and to reaffirm their commitment to being the greenest social housing provider in the UK.”

    The winners of the awards will be announced on 7 April 2014.

    The Accord Group is one of the largest housing associations in the West Midlands and manages 11,000 homes and provides services to more than 60,000 people.

    In 2011, it made history by becoming the first housing association in the country to open its own timber home manufacturing hub, LoCaL Homes in Beechdale, Walsall, which manufactures one timber home every day.

    This blog was originally published by www.24dash.com

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