Ecology Building Society is a

building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Ki ...

in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1981, is based in West Yorkshire, and has over 10,000 open accounts. The Ecology is a member of the

Building Societies Association The Building Societies Association (BSA) was originally established in 1869. It is the voice for all 43 UK building societies as well as six large credit unions. Together these organisations serve around 25 million customers up and down the ...

. The purpose of the Society is to achieve the greatest degree of environmental sustainability. It lends money to create and maintain sustainable housing stock, preferably with sustainable communities and green enterprise. Its funding is secured with the least degree of

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defin ...

possible, and with the greatest degree of stakeholder endorsement obtainable.

History and purpose

The initial vision was to set up a building society that specialised in properties that conveyed an ecological benefit in terms of construction, use of land or lifestyle. The idea was sparked at a

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

Conference, following the experience of a Yorkshire solicitor, David Pedley, who had great difficulty in finding anyone willing to give him a mortgage on a property needing extensive renovation. Ecology was founded by ten initial supporters who each invested £500, raising the £5000 capital which was the minimum required to start a building society at that time. Between 1981 and 1993 it was the smallest building society in the UK. By 2016 the society's mortgage lending had risen to £30.7 millionEcology Building Society Annual Review 2016
. Ecology Building Society. and its savings balances to £163.1 million. The primary purpose of the Society is to achieve the greatest degree of environmental sustainability by the application of its financial strength as can be achieved concomitant with the legal framework that the Society is subject to. This is achieved by lending activity primarily to foster the creation and maintenance of a sustainable housing stock, where possible in the context of sustainable communities, but also to support green enterprise, with this lending programme fed by funding secured with the least degree of environmental degradation possible, and with the greatest degree of stakeholder endorsement obtainable. Ecology Building Society were the first building society awarded the

Fair Tax Mark The Fair Tax Mark is an independent accreditation awarded by the Fair Tax Foundation after an assessment based on "Transparency ndtax rate, disclosure and avoidance"... As of January 2016, it is applicable to UK businesses. The process of asse ...

,Ecology Building Society - Fair Tax Mark
.

. Accessed 1 October 2017 in 2016.

Memorandum of the Society

This primary purpose is anchored in the Memorandum of the Society which contains a requirement "to promote…ecological policies designed to promote or enhance the environment in accordance with the principles of sustainable development". Sustainable development is defined as "Improving the quality of human life while living within the

carrying capacity The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as ...

of supporting ecosystems".

Products

Ecology offers a range of mortgage products and lends throughout the UK. It specialises in renovation and new build mortgages on properties and projects that respect the environment. Where possible, mortgage pricing is aligned with the project's positive environmental impacts, in particular energy and carbon reduction, through its series of C-Change mortgage discounts. Ecology is particularly interested to see derelict and dilapidated property brought back into use. The Society supports the widespread application of Passivhaus building principles in the UK. Ecology also offers a range of savings accounts including instant access accounts, a notice account and an

Individual Savings Account An individual savings account (ISA; ) is a class of retail investment arrangement available to residents of the United Kingdom. First introduced in 1999, the accounts have favourable tax status. Payments into the account are made from after-tax i ...

(ISA), which allow individuals to fund the society's ecological lending programme. Mortgage and savings accounts can be managed online via the Ecology's website or by post.

References

External links

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KPMG article
{{UK Building Societies Building societies of England Banks established in 1981 Organizations established in 1981 Ethical banking Companies based in the City of Bradford 1981 establishments in the United Kingdom

History and purpose

Memorandum of the Society

Products

See also

References

External links