• Swindon & Wiltshire Property
• Tuesday February 20 2024
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Swindon housing development wins gold for its wildlife-friendly gardens

A housing development at Swindon’s Wichelstowe has won an award for its wildlife-friendly show complex gardens.

To be eligible for the Wildlife Show Garden Award, developer Barratt David Wilson Homes South West has included a range of features in the outdoor space at the show complex at Orchards Rise that supports and enhances nature and natural habitats.

This includes external bird and bat boxes, integral bird brick and bat boxes, bee boxes, hedgehog highways and associated homes, wildflower turf, scented gardens with native hedgerow, dead wood features, water butts, compost bins and food and water for birds.

Louise Ware, sales director at Barratt David Wilson Homes South West, said: “We’ve enjoyed a unique, eight-year national partnership with the RSPB – Britain’s largest nature conservation charity – which supports and provides us with tips, advice and guidance.

“We’re determined to be the leading national sustainable housebuilder and we’re committed to create places where nature can thrive.

“This includes hedgehog highways in our developments going forward and the aim to include 7,000 swift boxes in our developments by the end of 2025.

“We want to continue to ensure we’re doing that bit extra to retain and build upon natural habitats and the RSPB ‘Gold’ award for Orchards Rise assures new and existing buyers of our ongoing commitment to enhance biodiversity across all our developments.”