Ecology breaks the £100m asset barrier for first time

The West Yorkshire-based mutual, which lends to projects that improve the built environment in a sustainable manner, said it has seen support continue to grow in the first half of 2011.

Chief executive Paul Ellis said: “We saw record net lending in 2010 of over £10m, which enabled us to successfully reintroduce our Eco60 notice account and extend our popular one year Earthsaver Bond issue.

“We have enjoyed significant inflow across our range of savings accounts.”.

Ecology Building Society has seen demand for its products rise as consumers look to ethical investments and stable lenders following the financial crisis.

Business development manager Jon Lee said: “Net lending has increased further in the first half of the year. We are not a volume-driven lender so we are not as directly impacted as some of the bigger mainstream mortgage lenders by what is happening in the housing market.

“We are trying to support properties that are energy-efficient and ecological and that is still growing because developers and home owners are conscious of not only the environmental impact but the financial impact, which is starting to become a major issue as energy prices increase.”

Ecology, which has almost 1,000 borrowers, is widening lending beyond its traditional customer base of borrowers in energy efficient homes. The Silsden-based society is now considering applications from borrowers carrying out retrofit projects to make their homes greener.

Mr Lee said: “We are starting to reach out to more mainstream lenders. There are 26 million inefficient properties out there. The impact on improving these properties would be huge compared to a handful of new build carbon zero properties.”

He added: “We know we have got a good pipeline on the lending side and we are expecting a strong second half there.”

However, the savings side, which has 9,000 members, remains flat amid a competitive market.

Mr Lee said: “We are expecting to stay relatively steady. It’s a very competitive market for savings at the moment. We don’t suffer too much from that but I wouldn’t want to over-predict what is going to happen.”

Ecology, which marks its 30th anniversary this year, was the last building society to be set up in Britain and is one of the smallest in the country.

In March, the mutual announced it had made pre-tax profits of £445,000 in 2010, down slightly on £464,000 the previous year.

It lends for projects ranging from renovating run-down properties or eco-friendly new builds to organic smallholdings, straw bale constructions and housing co-operatives and associations.