At the turn of the Millennium, champagne corks were popped not only to celebrate a new era, but also to toast a landmark in the progress of one of the UK’s most distinctive financial institutions.

In 2000, the Ecology Building Society had grown by more than 17 per cent and taken total assets to more than £30 million. Hence the celebrations by its then 14-strong team.

This year the society is celebrating another major milestone – its 30th anniversary, and it now employs 21 staff and is recruiting more as it plans to raise its profile.

In the years since its formation, this still – in global terms – tiny organisation has seen the world move closer to its philosophy.

In 1981, the ten original investors, who each put in £500, may have seemed oddballs for their commitment to creating a lending organisation dedicated to funding sustainable house-building and improvement.

Now, with worries about C02 emissions, soaring oil prices and diminishing sources of energy, those who care about the environment are no longer looked upon as tree huggers.

The Ecology’s commitment to providing mortgages for sustainable projects and offering ethical savings has seen membership of this firmly mutual organisation rise to about 9,500 and its mortgage and savings assets are approaching £100 million.

This figure could have been higher, but the society deliberately controlled lending growth last year in the wake of the credit crunch and the weak housing market in order to protect its profitability.

In the aftermath of the banking chaos, chief executive Paul Ellis said the Ecology could not rule out suffering some mortgage losses, but it did not have any last year – although the level of mortgage arrears did rise as the downturn continued.

New initiatives have included considering loan applications from beyond its traditional customer base of borrowers in energy-efficient homes.

Now that Energy Performance Certificates provide a means of measuring energy efficiency, the Silsden-based society is now for the first time considering applications from borrowers carrying out projects to make their homes greener.

It marks a major change of strategy for the Ecology, which is extending discounts on its C Change Retrofit loan.

The society said the move would meet its priority of fighting climate change through making UK homes greener and more energy efficient while encouraging measures to cut energy bills.

  • Read the full story Wednesday's T&A