Housebuilder gives new residents an eco-friendly welcome

Published by

Sam Pither

A Reading-based housebuilder has made its welcome hampers more eco-friendly by filling them with a range of sustainably sourced products.

Vistry Group’s Thames Valley region wanted to focus on the environment with its free gift hamper to homebuyers after launching its Building Homes for Bees scheme to support the work of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

The company – which is made up of Linden Homes, Bovis Homes and Vistry Partnerships – turned to Carabella Gifts, a Romsey-based corporate gifting company, to put together a hamper which contains gifts such as a bottle of Prosecco (or tea, coffee and a bottle of presse as a non-alcoholic option), a jar of honey, a candle, hand soap, sticky toffee biscuits, sea salt chocolate caramel truffles and cheese biscuits.

Caaren Dodd, Managing Director of Carabella Gifts, said: “We were delighted when Vistry Thames Valley approached us to help them make their welcome hampers more eco-friendly. Their brief was that they wanted the items inside the hamper to have strong green credentials.

“We curated a hamper of British-made items that are produced in a way that is kind to the environment. The hand soap is infused with botanical extracts and is naturally derived, vegan and cruelty-free and can also be refilled in over 500 stores, the cheese biscuits are presented in a recyclable paper pouch and the packaging on the sea salt chocolate caramel truffles can be recycled and is partly made from recycled water bottles.”

In line with the campaign’s wider aims, the packages will also include a packet of wildflower seeds to enable people to grow plants that will allow bees to pollinate and thrive.

Alix Laflin, marketing manager for Vistry Thames Valley, said: “After we launched our Building Homes for Bees campaign we included a packet of wildflower seeds along with our welcome hampers but we thought it would be great to go one step further to make the hamper more eco-friendly as a whole.

“We called in the experts at Carabella Gifts and they helped us source a collection of wonderful new items that are sustainably sourced and produced. At Vistry our ethos is not only to build top-quality new homes and communities but also to help look after the environment as we do so.

Vistry Thames Valley, which is based in Reading, is building homes under the Linden Homes and Bovis Homes brands at locations across Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire.

The Building Homes for Bees scheme was launched in May in partnership with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. The Trust was founded in 2006 and has a mission to increase the number and distribution of bumblebees.

Its aims include improving the understanding of bumblebee ecology and conservation, increasing the quality and quantity of bumblebee habitat and inspiring and enabling a diverse range of people to take action for bumblebees.

As well as the seeds, the packs include a bee guide to provide further information on the insects.

Sam Pither

Sam is the Regional Editor of Biz News, responsible for both Hampshire and Dorset. A new recruit to journalism, Sam started writing for the Business Magazine as a freelancer in May of 2022 after completing his degree in English at University College London. His passion for local businesses and ability to tell a story soon caught the attention of the publication’s management team and have led to his meteoric rise. Sam, who lives in central Reading, takes a particular interest in technology, gaming and food and drink, having been a chef before starting his degree.