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Santander has joined forces with Xynteo and other leading businesses across the built environment to deliver the UK’s first zero-carbon and holistically sustainable buildings.

Xynteo, a purpose-led advisory firm with 20 years of experience in forming impactful partnerships, has launched the Build Ahead UK coalition, a business-led alliance bringing together key majors – Santander UK, PLP Architecture, and the Accelerating Concrete Decarbonisation Group supported by Derwent Plc.

is a partnership of progressive companies that seek to develop the UK’s first truly zero carbon buildings – and shape the market for the next 10,000. The coalition’s focus is on creating tangible outcomes by bringing together the pockets of excellence across the value chain to demonstrate the art of the possible in the UK. This requires sourcing, testing, and scaling zero carbon materials, data-driven design with a view to longer-term sustainability, testing and implementing new technologies, and prioritising holistic sustainability beyond carbon.

Fiona Hyde, Head of Sustainable and Responsible Banking, Santander, said: “We are proud and excited to be founding members of Build Ahead UK. At Santander, we trust in the power of collaboration to support a secure and inclusive transition to a more sustainable economy. We want to help our clients and partners to access the network, information, and tools they need to enable sustainable growth. Through Build Ahead UK, we believe we can apply a “test and learn” model, taking action to push for system-wide decarbonisation and to consider demand and finance as a key enabler.”

Puja Patel, Head of Green Finance at Santander, said: “We understand the important role we have as a bank to support the financing of the green transition. The Build Ahead UK coalition will allow us to contribute to discussions that will drive sustainable growth, enhance asset value, and help position the UK at the forefront of the transition to a low carbon economy. Together we can build a resilient future that will benefit our customers and the communities around us.”

Emrah Durusut, Senior Partner, Xynteo, said: “We are proud to launch Build Ahead UK to create the momentum that the industry needs to deliver sustainable and commercially viable buildings. We already see significant demand from our global partners for sustainable and low-carbon solutions across all sectors and that’s why we’ve set the lofty ambition of creating the UK’s first end-to-end, holistically sustainable buildings. To get there, we need to undertake several different market enabling projects as well as demonstration projects. We want to inspire the market and the government to create a movement. With the power of the collective, we can accelerate the change we need.”

The coalition has four key objectives:

1. Source, facilitate, and enable testing and uptake of innovative materials and technology to reduce embodied and operational carbon in tandem

2. Engage with senior leaders from local and national government as a forward-leaning unique partnership to inform key regulation and policies on embodied carbon, retrofit vs. redevelopment, and others

3. Bring together pockets of excellence across the value chain from emerging clean-materials to future-focused design and development

4. Showcase the art of the possible by delivering multiple pilot projects, culminating in a flagship project in London, and create commercial opportunity for partners

To commemorate the launch, Xynteo and partners hosted leaders from across the ecosystem, including developers, architects, financial institutions, engineering firms, construction contractors, non-profits, and government representatives at the White Chapel Building in London.

In the UK, buildings are the second largest source of emissions¹, with 49% of the UK’s emissions arising from the built environment². The IEA estimates that we will fall short of our 2050 net zero target by 60% in the current business-as-usual scenario³. Now, with the new Labour government’s plans on building decarbonisation, growing need for decarbonised heating, and changing occupier preferences, it is vital to invest in sustainability from a whole life carbon perspective. Adopting innovation in new builds and redevelopment across the country will go a long way in supporting a sustainable built environment.

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The information contained in our press releases is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.

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Notes to Editors

1. “Decarbonising the built environment Government policy scorecard”, UKGBC, 2022
2. The Whole Life Carbon Roadmap”, UKGBC, 2022
3. World Energy Outlook 2021, IEA, 2021

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Santander UK��is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. At 30 June 2024, the bank had around 19,600 employees and serves around 14 million active customers, including 7 million digital customers via a nationwide 444 branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the FCA and the PRA in the UK. Santander UK plc customers’ eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS in the UK. �į

Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC.LN)��is a leading commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain and one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. The group’s activities are consolidated into five global businesses: Retail & Commercial Banking, Digital Consumer Bank, Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), Wealth Management & Insurance and Payments (PagoNxt and Cards). This operating model allows the bank to better leverage its unique combination of global scale and local leadership. Banco Santander aims to be the best open financial services platform providing services to individuals, SMEs, corporates, financial institutions and governments. The bank’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. Banco Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising €220 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2030. In the first quarter of 2024, Banco Santander had €1.3 trillion in total funds, 166 million customers, 8,400 branches and 211,000 employees.

Xynteo is a global advisory firm that uses the power of collaboration to unlock People and Planet Positive Growth. Over the past 20 years, Xynteo has designed and delivered impactful partnerships and coalitions to turn systemic challenges into opportunities for growth.