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Merrow Wood Group Ltd.

Market Leading Land Promotion
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Market Leading Land Promotion
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Merrow Wood Group Corporate & Social Responsibility

We are a founder-led business. Every commitment we make is a personal one.

Future Homes Standard

The Future Homes Standard requires all new homes in England to be built to dramatically higher energy efficiency levels — with low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps rather than gas boilers, and high levels of insulation. A home built to the Standard produces around 75–80% less carbon than one built under previous rules. At Merrow Wood, we only promote schemes designed to meet or exceed Future Homes Standard requirements, ensuring the sites we sell are attractive to housebuilders and genuinely fit for the future.

Biodiversity & Nature

Land promotion done well leaves more behind than a planning consent. At Merrow Wood, every site we promote is an opportunity to make a lasting positive contribution — to the natural environment, to local communities, and to our landowner partners who want to leave a positive legacy. The UK has lost almost half of its native biodiversity in the last century. Swifts are down more than 50%. Hedgehog numbers have halved since 2000. These are not abstract statistics — they describe the landscapes our sites sit within.

We believe new development should play an active role in nature’s recovery. From the outset of every promotion, we work with specialist ecologists to understand what is already present on site and design schemes that build upon it. On every site we promote, we advocate for bird nesting features, bat roosting provision, hedgehog connectivity, native planting, & habitat retention.
Ecology is not a constraint to be managed — it is an opportunity to be seized. We encourage our housebuilder partners to deliver these measures as a matter of course.

Bird nesting features

Swift bricks and species-specific nesting features built into the fabric of new homes as standard.

Bat roosting provision
Bat boxes and roosting tiles incorporated sensitively into building design, positioned in consultation with ecologists.
Hedgehog connectivity

Permeable boundaries and hedgehog highways enabling free movement across the development.

Native planting

Native trees and hedgerow species chosen to support pollinators and local ecology, not just visual effect.

Habitat retention

Existing hedgerows, mature trees and ecological features retained and enhanced within the masterplan wherever possible.

Community Consultation

We promote sites at the edge of settlements — in the places people know well and often feel protective of. We take that seriously. Genuine engagement is not a planning formality for us. We start dialogue early, before positions become entrenched. Local knowledge of landscape character, infrastructure pressures and community needs makes our schemes better — and addressing concerns early leads to better outcomes for everyone. We work with parish councils, neighbourhood plan groups and local stakeholders throughout the process, building feedback into our scheme design in ways that are meaningful rather than cosmetic.

Supporting Local Communities

Rather than a single national charity partner, we direct our support towards good causes local to the communities and landscapes where we work — whether that is a wildlife group, a village facility, or a grassroots organisation near one of our sites. As our portfolio grows across the South East, so too will our commitment. We will share details of the causes we support as those relationships develop.