Signature Homes is the latest organisation to join the Save the Kiwi sponsorship whānau, but their support of kiwi is just the beginning of their environmental strategy.
If you’ve ever considered building your own home, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Signature Homes. The construction company is one of New Zealand’s leading home building companies and has been building better homes for Kiwi (the humans) for almost 40 years. Now they’re helping to build better homes for kiwi (the bird) too.
Signature Homes is the latest organisation to join the Save the Kiwi sponsorship whānau. They’re on a mission to mitigate their house construction carbon emissions by partnering with Trees That Count to plant 45,000 native trees every year. At the same time, they’ve announced their commitment to protecting biodiversity by pledging to help save the kiwi too.
It’s a match made in heaven, really. Signature Homes’ ethos is all about building better homes for Kiwi while Save the Kiwi is committed to creating safe habitat for the precious birds from whom we’ve borrowed our national nickname.
This new partnership is an important initiative and one that seamlessly ties into so much of what kiwi conservation – and conservation generally – is all about. Radiata pines are usually the tree of choice when it comes to mitigating carbon emissions, but Signature Homes is working with Trees That Count to plant natives instead. That’s because natives reduce emissions while strengthening New Zealand’s biodiversity and helping forest ecosystems to thrive at the same time.
The healthier our ngahere, the healthier our taonga species.
“The kiwi is a strong indicator of the health of our natural environment,” says Signature Homes chief executive Paul Bull. “More kiwi in our native bush means there are fewer predators around, and few predators means more opportunities for other native birds and insects to thrive.”
By planting an average of 45 native trees for every house they build in a year, Signature is aiming to absorb around 19,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions over 50 years as those trees continue to grow. At the same time, they’ll directly contribute to the expansion of native forest over Aotearoa which will by default create more safe habitat for kiwi populations at the same time.
On top of that is their formal sponsorship relationship with Save the Kiwi.
“Signature Homes’ support will contribute to helping creating kiwi-safe habitat all over Aotearoa through the likes of predator control and supporting kiwi conservation groups doing the hard mahi on the ground,” says Save the Kiwi’s executive director Michelle Impey. “Together, we can all work together to increase the national kiwi population.”
Welcome to the team, Signature Homes. We’re excited to see what mahi we can work on together.