Milton Keynes housebuilder uses special 'Swift Bricks' to encourage birds to nest within walls of their homes

The developers are using special Swift Bricks, complete with a little nesting cavity, as part of their building programme in a bid to attract more of the iconic British birds.

They aim to use 10,000 of the bricks by the end of 2027.

Making new homes for swifts is vital with the UK’s population of swifts declining by two thirds since 1995 and with the birds now on the UK red list of conservation concern. Since 2016, Barratt Redrow has been working with the RSPB to install special swift nesting bricks that are part of external walls of new homes.

Swifts migrate to the UK every year to raise their young and rely on spaces in buildings for nesting.Every year they helps announce the arrival of summer as they complete a 7,000 mile migration to nest and raise their young in the UK. They are the fastest bird in level flight, reaching up to 69mph, and don’t touch the ground for the first three years of their lives. Even after their early years, they only land to breed, continuing to eat, mate, and even sleep in the air.

But the species has seen this serious decline in numbers, in part because modern building methods can reduce the swifts’ opportunities for nesting, and older buildings have been demolished over the years.

Soon, for every new home built, a swift brick will be installed, part of the new Homes for Nature initiative developed by the Future Homes Hub, with the country’s largest housebuilders all signed up. However, it takes quite a few years from conception to on-the-ground installation.

Barratt Redrow funded and worked with the RSPB and Manthorpe to design and manufacture the bricks to integrate seamlessly into building walls, specially to provide swift with safe nesting sites. The bricks have also been used by other cavity-nesting species such as house sparrows, starlings and house martins.

The developers have also worked with the RSPB to monitor the bricks and has found in some cases that they’ve dramatically increased urban biodiversity. The swift brick's success serves as a model for sustainable development, they say.

And the RSPB has partnered with the Swift Local Network and charity, Action for Swifts, to develop Swift Mapper – a web and app-based platform that allows anyone to record swift activity and nesting sites. Records submitted to Swift Mapper help people to learn more about this iconic species and to protect existing nest sites for the future.

Ben Kalus, managing director at Barratt and David Wilson Homes, said: "Swifts are an iconic part of the British summer, but their numbers have fallen dramatically in recent decades. By incorporating swift bricks into our homes we can play a practical role in supporting their recovery while creating places where both people and nature can thrive.”

He added: “Reaching our previous target was a significant milestone but now we are aiming to achieve 10,000 by the end of 2027 – lots more homes for this amazing bird.”