NSBRC - Better Sustainable Business
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Better Sustainable Business

B Corp - NSBRC Team Photo - EO Day 2025 - Go Ape

Beyond using our platform to help almost 300,000 visitors create Better Sustainable Homes since we opened our doors in 2007, we recognise that running our business has its own impact on the world around us.

It's a cornerstone of our Employee Owned ethos that we are committed to seeking out ethical and sustainable practices, which contribute to the wellbeing of our planet, our community and our industry.

As part of this, we’ve reduced our CO₂ emissions for four consecutive years, amounting to a 25% reduction of our carbon footprint. You can find more detail about this in our latest Annual Sustainability Report, published in June 2026.

Sustainable Business of the Year!

NSBRC team members celebrating their TBE award win

We are extremely proud to have been named Sustainable Business of the Year at The Business Exchange Awards, 2025!

This award came in recognition of our work to transparently champion ethical and sustainable business practices and governance, in addition to supporting the creation and development of more efficient and healthy homes across the UK.

The awards evening took place right here at our own venue in Swindon - using our spacious and unique setting to celebrate the incredible achievements of local businesses across Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Somerset.

B Corp & Good Business Charter

B Corp & Good Business Charter logos

In 2025, we proudly achieved Good Business Charter Accreditation. A few months later, we also gained B Corporation Certification.

These independent certifications are both significant milestones for our business, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to ethical business practices.

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What is a B Corp?

Certified B Corporation Impact Areas: Environment, Customers, Community, Governance & Workers

B Corps are companies verified by B Lab that meet industry leading standards, for:

  • Social and environmental performance
  • Transparency
  • Accountability

Becoming a Certified B Corp was a year-long process, which put our business to the test using B Lab’s rigorous B Impact Assessment (BIA) framework. This investigates a company's impact on its employees, its community, its customers and the environment.

The NSBRC are one of the first 3,000 Certified B Corps in the UK, with a B Impact Assessment score of 124.7.

To certify as a B Corp, we made a legal commitment to consider our impact on stakeholders, now and in the future. Our ‘Articles of Association’ - publicly visible on Companies House - include specific B Corp legal requirement wording, which legally commits us to use business as a force for good, by:

“Creating a material positive impact on society and the environment through our business and operations”

“Considering ‘stakeholder interests’ – including our shareholders, employees, suppliers, society and the environment”

Our Better Sustainable Business journey...

Against a backdrop of the ongoing 'cost of living' and 'energy crisis', alongside the worsening climate challenge, in 2023 it felt right to place sustainability at the heart of our operation as the beginning of an ongoing commitment. This is when we appointed our first Sustainability Champions, Harvey Fremlin & Katy Ashcroft, and published our Sustainability Pledge, which has since evolved into the Better Sustainable Business Statement below...

Our Better Sustainable Business Statement: “At the National Self Build & Renovation Centre (NSBRC), we recognise our responsibility to the environment, in addition the responsibility we have to our visitors, our partners, our team and our community. Beyond using our platform to promote Better Sustainable Homes through home building and renovating solutions, we are committed to environmental stewardship of our business, which guides our actions and decisions to minimise our environmental footprint. We are committed to seeking out sustainable practices which contribute to the wellbeing of our planet. We consider the environmental impact of all decisions we make, and are committed to choosing sustainable solutions wherever it is viable for our business, our Employee Owners, and all impacted stakeholders. We work collaboratively with our stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, and the community, to promote environmental sustainability and share best practices. All NSBRC employees are responsible for upholding the commitments outlined in our Environmental Policy Statement, and for contributing to support the environmental goals and actions shaped by our B Corp Project Team. Your B Corp Project Team: Harvey Fremlin - Managing Director, Amanda Russell - Accounts HR Manager, Nick Whant - Sustainability Manager.”

In 2024, we took this step further, appointing Nick Whant as the NSBRC’s first ever Sustainability Manager. This new dedicated role professionalised our approach to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), making sure we hold ourselves to account on this commitment, and that we're driving continual improvement in this space. We identified B Corp Certification as a key priority, which now felt achievable with resource in place to help our team deliver this project.

So far, we are proud to have...

  • 📉 Measured our impact and set targets. In 2024 we developed an Environmental Management System (EMS) to track and identify trends and opportunities around emissions from Gas, Electricity, Travel, Water & Waste. This evidenced the impact of changes we've been making over recent years, and identified the need for reducing waste to landfill - which we quickly delivered by improving the recycling habits of our extended team.
  • 👣 Reduced our emissions by 25% over four years. This equates to a saving of 141 tonnes of CO₂ to date. The most significant improvements during this period, are a 35% reduction of emissions from our Electricity usage and 19% from Gas - as well as using 44% less water in 2025/26 than we were four years ago.
  • 💡 Installed LED lighting throughout the Centre; including 138 hi-bay lamps within our 67,000ft2 arena and our reception, theatres and meeting spaces. PIR sensors have also been installed in toilet areas to automate usage of lights.
  • 🚘 Offered a salary sacrifice scheme for Electric Vehicles, and Enhanced our EV charging offering from six basic posts to eight 22kW, smart points with load-balancing technology. EVs now account for 53% of our team's commute and expensed mileage.
  • ♻️ Improved waste management, reducing our impact by 19% over the past two years.
  • 🤝 Formalised Procurement policies around goods and services we pay for, committing to a preference towards more sustainable and local options. Reviewing products we purchase for our Coffee House stock, Cleaning and Stationery; to source more reusable, recycled or recyclable products, and less single-use or toxic products.
  • 🏡 Launched the Retrofit Zone - an educational exhibit launched in 2025, dedicated to helping navigate solutions for increasing domestic energy-efficiency and quality of life. This new exhibit was delivered in collaboration with a number of exhibiting partners to work in conjunction with our existing Good Energy Renovation House, and continues to evolve.
  • 👑 Become majority owned by our Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). We did this in 2025, by buying back shares from our investor 'Capital for Colleagues', who's support originally enabled us to become Employee Owned in 2014. Find out more.
  • 💸 Been a Real Living Wage employer since 2019, joined by 15,000 UK businesses who have signed up to this voluntary scheme. We provide enhanced sick pay and provide free private health cover for all employees which includes a counselling service, and we also provide regular mental health check-ins.
  • ⚖️ Introduced Pay Equity & Analysis reporting, and Equality Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) Training for employees.
  • 📃 Updated our Recruitment process to include a statement in all our job postings with a commitment to ED&I, and analysis of job description language and requirements, ensuring they are inclusive and equitable. We also added a preference for hiring and recruiting local candidates, whilst considering hybrid working where applicable.
  • 🍼Enhanced Parental Leave - Primary caregiver (Previously Maternity): First 12 weeks pay increased from 90% of salary to 100%. Secondary caregiver (Previously Paternity) leave of 2 weeks unpaid, upgraded to 2 weeks full pay. We also introduced a new neonatal policy, guaranteeing a dedicated space for breastfeeding mothers to express.
  • 💻 Produced free webinars, focused on a range of sustainable homebuilding topics, alongside our in-person events. You can find the series here.
  • 🎨 Sponsored the Big Art Trail (Swindogs) in 2023, where we offered practical (and affordable) energy-efficiency advice in the local community while supporting a local charity.
  • 🦸‍♀️ Introduced two paid volunteering days a year, for employees to support charities and non-profit causes in lieu of a working day.

We're not slowing down yet though! B Lab will require us recertify every three years, increasing our points each time. We're determined to continue maturing and improving in this space, and our team are always open to suggestions about how we can be a Better Sustainable Business, and support others to do so too. 🌱

The National Self Build & Renovation Show: Friday 9th & Saturday 10th October

Create your perfect home at The National Self Build & Renovation Show! Join us for an unrivalled line up of exhibitors and experts on hand to share their advice, this is an unmissable event for anyone thinking of self building or renovating their home.

The National Self Build & Renovation Show