Paul Parker looks at how a small building society is making big strides.

FOR ALMOST 20 years a building society on our doorstep has been quietly growing in more ways than one.

The Ecology Building Society has seen its assets grow over the last five years and has become the fastest-growing building society in the country.

The Society, based in Station Road, Cross Hills, Keighley, has also been growing in influence nationally and has backed a number of prestigious projects in various parts of the country.

EBS grew out of the Green awakening of the late 1970s. The main reason for its formation in 1981 was the attitude to lending by the major building societies around at the time. The founders of the Ecology were particularly concerned about the spread of new housing onto agricultural land, the decline of terraced housing into slums and the difficulty of financing energy-efficient or unconventional housing solutions.

The main problem was that people found it difficult to renovate old property in stages - or at all - because lenders would only release part of the funds required or even retain the whole of the amount being loaned until the work was finished.

The result was that the lending policy of the day failed to help people wanting to take their time lovingly restoring a property.

The financial services sector in Britain has grown in leaps and bounds over the last few years.

Building societies, such as the Abbey National, have merged with others, become banks and floated on the Stock Exchange. Some people fear they have become too big and are unable to give the same level of service found in smaller building societies.

Ecology Building Society chief executive Paul Ellis said: "The EBS has demonstrated that sound economic sense can come from sound ecological principles.

"The growth has been directly attributable to the professional skill of its board and staff and a friendly individual and welcoming approach to its many members."

EBS was started by ten forward-thinking people who contributed £500 each to make up the £5,000 needed to get it off the ground. They were the first members of the Society which has grown to 5,500.

The building society now has assets of £23 million and is able to fund large-scale projects as well as smaller ones.

Pat Pettit was the Ecology's first staff member who worked alone for some time. There are now 12 members of staff working in the EBS offices.

The influence of building societies like EBS has led some of the other s to look more favourably on the various needs of people wanting to borrow money to buy property and carry out renovations to small older buildings. But the big difference is that the Ecology concentrates on this sector.

It provides finance for people buying back-to-back houses which are energy-saving buildings and homes for people running Green businesses such as paper recycling, organic horticulture and craft workshops. It is also prepared to lend on derelict but sound houses which would otherwise have been abandoned.

The Ecology's Green strategy has paid off over the years and last year's results show a 15 per cent growth in business. But EBS is about giving as well as receiving.

It has also just launched a savings bond which allow ecologically-minded people to help with a special project.

The CAT Earthsaver Bond is a one-year term account with a ceiling of £20,000. The society is pledging £1 towards the cost of a new information centre for the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Wales, for every £1,000 saved.

Paul Ellis added: "An ecological way of life is not a pipe dream. It can, and has with our help, become a reality for an increasing number of people."

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