First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) receives a coveted national accolade for a second year running

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) has received a coveted national accolade for a second year running around how sustainable it makes its properties and day-to-day operations.

The annual independent SHIFT assessment has again awarded FCHO gold status for 2026. The inspection ranked the housing association in the top 10 per cent of those recently assessed. 

SHIFT - standing for Sustainability Homes Index for Tomorrow - assesses organisations against a series of green targets including carbon emissions, energy and water use, waste recycling, and how ethically it procures goods and services. 

In FCHO’s case, it received excellent scores for 100 per cent of office waste diverted from landfill, decreased water consumption and responsibly sourced materials. 

It also received praise for its extensive retrofit programmes to improve energy efficiency in existing properties and the building of more energy efficient new homes. 

"Retaining our SHIFT gold is a fantastic achievement and reflects the continued efforts across the business to make changes and develop an environmentally friendly impact in all our operations," said FCHO sustainability manager Nicole Stonier. 

“We're really pleased with the result - with some areas even reaching the next platinum level - but there's still plenty more we want to achieve, and we'll continue building on this progress over the next few years.” 

Areas for improvement in 2027 include continuing to improve the energy efficiency of FCHO’s existing homes, increased use of responsibly sourced materials within developments and improving climate resilience, particularly for homes at greater risk of flooding.