Sustainability Leader of the Year finalist

Josie C-Thornewill, Director of Sustainability at Thakeham, achieved finalist title for Sustainability Leader of the Year.

Sustainability leader of the year

Josie C-Thornewill was shortlisted in the category for Sustainability Leader of the Year. A panel of 30 expert judges whittled down more than 300 entries to a shortlist of 135 finalists across 23 categories. The prestigious edie Awards empower teams, inspire stakeholders and accelerate sustainable business growth.

Now in its 15th year, the edie Awards are the world’s largest sustainable business awards scheme. The awards champion bold and brilliant climate leadership; from the best net-zero carbon programmes through to cutting-edge product innovations.

Regarding her finalist position, Josie said:

It’s an absolute honour to be a finalist for the edie Sustainability Leader of the Year award. Thank you to the team at Thakeham, it’s been an exciting year leading the charge in the industry towards a sustainable future and I couldn’t be more proud to be part of the journey.

Established leadership within the Future Homes Hub

Earlier this year, we confirmed that Josie would become the Future Homes Hub’s First Interim Head of Zero Carbon Placemaking and Nature. The Future Homes Hub is a cross-industry advisory group formed by The Future Homes Task Force to help the construction industry meet climate and environmental targets in home building. Josie has been seconded to the Future Homes Hub and play a key role in the delivery of the early development stage of the sector-wide climate and environment plan. Read more about Josie’s leading role here.

Rob Boughton, CEO, Thakeham Group, said:

I’m not surprised that Josie has been recognised amongst the most influential sustainability leaders in the country. She is a wonderful advocate for sustainability issues with colleagues, stakeholders and the construction industry as a whole.

Josie has re-shaped thinking and opinions about sustainability throughout the Thakeham family, inspiring employees to be part of our success. Her passion for more sustainable methods of community creation have already achieved significant results, helping us stay on course to meet our ambitious carbon-reduction targets.

Previously, we have already enjoyed a leading role in The Future Homes Task Force. The Task Force Delivery Plan holds UK housebuilders accountable to reach a set of environmental goals. One of the four goals includes: Places and developments that are consistently low carbon, nature-rich, resilient, healthy, well designed and beautiful by 2025.

Net Zero by 2025

We make no secret of our focus on Net Zero by 2025. Whilst we support the Government campaign for all industries to become zero carbon by 2050, we have introduced bigger targets of our own which exceed those set out for the house building industry.

By 2025, every Thakeham home will be zero carbon in lifetime operation, each home built will be carbon neutral in production, and, Thakeham Group as a whole will also be zero carbon.

To read more about our sustainability strategy, click here.