Frequently Asked Questions

For every 10 homes we build, we permanently restore one hectare of native Irish woodland through our Woodland Bank. The homes are on dedicated residential sites. The woodland is on separate land, held in perpetuity by the NeighbourWood Stewardship Trust. Every home sale includes a permanent legal covenant linking the property to the Woodland Bank.

Separating housing and woodland makes both better. Residential sites achieve higher density using standard planning. Woodland parcels are large, contiguous, and ecologically optimal rather than small fragmented plots. It also makes the model exportable — partners source sites independently.

The Woodland Bank is permanent native Irish woodland held in freehold by the NeighbourWood Stewardship Trust (NST) — an independent company limited by guarantee with an irrevocable asset lock and conservation covenant. This land can never be sold, developed, or converted. A single 20-hectare Woodland Bank can support up to 200 homes.

The Woodland Bank will be located within 10–20 kilometres of your home. We separate housing and woodland deliberately — it produces large, contiguous, ecologically superior habitat rather than small fragmented plots squeezed between houses. NWC will provide dedicated access through shuttle services and trail connections, seasonal programming including guided walks, wildlife surveys, and community planting days, and each homeowner will have an allocated woodland section creating a personal connection to the restoration.

The model is designed so the woodland and your home are protected regardless of NWC's status. The Woodland Bank is held in perpetuity by the NeighbourWood Stewardship Trust — an independent entity with an irrevocable asset lock. The Trust cannot sell, develop, or convert the land. Your estate is managed by an independent Owners' Management Company (OMC) under Irish law. The permanent covenant linking your home to the Woodland Bank runs with the land and survives any change in NWC's corporate status. The structures that protect you are independent of the company that created them.

Neal Anderson (CEO) and Esther Anderson (COO) are co-founders. Neal has 30+ years of entrepreneurial experience, including co-founding the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (500+ companies, $1B+ in funding facilitated) and co-founding the Net Zero Accelerator (80 active pilots, 100 companies). Esther brings 10+ years in community systems design, healthcare, and crisis management. Together they are relocating their family from the United States to Ireland, will purchase a 4-bedroom home in the pilot at full market price, and will live in the community. Their total personal capital at risk exceeds €200,000. No investor is being asked to take a risk the founders aren't taking themselves.

All NeighbourWood homes will be certified to BER A1 — the highest residential energy performance standard in Ireland. This is achieved through Passivhaus-specification construction, superior insulation, triple glazing, and airtight building envelopes.

Every home will include: 6kWp solar PV panels, 10kWh battery storage, a heat pump for heating and hot water (air-source in the pilot, ground-source at scale), mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR, 75%+ heat recovery), whole-house water softening and treatment system, 7.4kW EV charger, and smart energy management. The specific heat pump type — air-source or ground-source — will depend on the development, with both delivering equivalent performance in a Passivhaus-specification home.

Most NWC homes will be net energy positive over the year — producing more energy than they consume. You'll still be connected to the grid for times when you need to draw or export power, but your net energy cost should be near zero or positive. We will validate this through monitored performance data from our pilot homes.

The Energy Infrastructure Fee (€520/year) covers professional maintenance of your solar, battery, water treatment, and heat pump systems. This ensures optimal performance throughout their 25+ year lifespans.

There are three transparent fees totalling €2,220/year: Estate Management Fee (€850) for roads, lighting, and common areas paid to the OMC; Woodland Stewardship Fee (€850) for woodland management, access, and programming paid to the NST; and Energy Infrastructure Fee (€520) for energy systems maintenance paid to the NST.

Because you come out ahead. Your NWC home saves €3,220–5,010/year in energy and water treatment benefits. After €2,220 in fees, you're €1,000–2,790 better off than a typical homeowner — while living in a premium BER A1 home with permanent woodland access.

The fees are CPI-linked and reviewed periodically to ensure they cover actual costs. The Woodland Stewardship Fee is secured by a permanent covenant that runs with the land, ensuring ongoing funding for the Woodland Bank.

The Woodland Stewardship Fee is a positive covenant attached to your property. Non-payment can result in debt recovery action and ultimately enforcement against the property, similar to any other property obligation.

BER A1 homes qualify for the best green mortgage rates offered by Irish lenders — typically a 0.8–1.2% discount on the standard variable rate. On a €450,000 mortgage, that's approximately €2,460/year in interest savings. Combined with your direct energy and household savings, a NWC home can deliver €6,760–11,850/year in total financial benefit compared to a typical Irish home — before considering avoided future retrofit costs.

Our first micro-pilot of 5 homes is in the pre-development phase. Site acquisition, planning approval, and construction timelines will determine availability. Register your interest to be among the first notified when we have confirmed dates and reservations open.

Target pilot pricing: 3-bedroom (120m²) from €495,000 and 4-bedroom (150m²) from €580,000. Final pricing will be confirmed when construction costs are finalised. These prices include all energy systems, EV charger, water treatment, and permanent Woodland Bank access.

Yes. Our legal structure is designed to work with standard Irish mortgages. BER A1 homes qualify for green mortgage rates (0.8–1.2% discount). The fee covenant is similar to existing management company obligations that lenders are familiar with.

Help to Buy (up to €30k tax rebate, extended to 2029) and the First Home Scheme (state equity up to 30%) both apply to new NWC homes. BER A1 certification also qualifies you for the best green mortgage rates.

Yes. Your home is yours to sell at any time. The permanent covenant linking your home to the Woodland Bank transfers to the new owner — it runs with the land, not with you. This means the next owner inherits the same woodland access, energy systems, and fee obligations. Because BER A1 homes retain their value well and green mortgage rates apply to subsequent buyers, NWC homes are designed to hold and grow their value over time. The covenant is an asset, not a restriction — it guarantees permanent woodland access and energy infrastructure that cannot be stripped from the property.

We will plant native Irish species appropriate to each site's conditions: oak, birch, Scots pine, rowan, holly, hazel, alder, and willow — following national guidelines for native woodland establishment. The specific mix will be designed by qualified ecologists to maximise biodiversity and resilience.

We will use third-party verification for carbon sequestration (approximately 3.5 tonnes CO₂ per hectare per year for native broadleaf woodland, with 300–470 tonnes accumulated over 100 years) and biodiversity metrics. This will include ongoing monitoring of species diversity, tree growth, soil carbon, and ecosystem health. Results will be published annually and linked to each home.

NWC holds a 99-year exclusive license to environmental credit rights on Woodland Bank land. As environmental credit markets mature, this creates the potential for a Stewardship Dividend — a share of credit revenue flowing back to homeowners. More woodland restored means more value created, which can fund more affordable homes. The credits will be verified under the NeighbourWood Restoration Standard (NRS), an independent ecological protocol.

The NRS is the independent ecological standard that will verify all environmental outcomes from NWC's Woodland Banks. It covers three credit types: NRS-C for carbon sequestration (measured in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent), NRS-B for biodiversity outcomes, and NRS-W for water quality improvements. The NRS is being developed in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin and will include independent third-party verification, ongoing monitoring, and published results. It is designed to be jurisdiction-agnostic, meaning it can be applied wherever the 10:1 Model is licensed.

All NWC woodland will be 100% privately funded. We deliberately avoid government forestry grants because grant conditions can restrict environmental credit ownership and limit what we can do with the woodland. Private funding preserves full ownership of all carbon, biodiversity, and water credits from Day 1, avoids grant-related restrictions on land use and credit claims, enables credit lifecycle validation immediately, and makes the model cleanly exportable to other jurisdictions without grant entanglement. Government grants remain a contingency fallback only.

As the Woodland Bank matures and environmental credit revenue grows, a portion of that revenue will flow back to homeowners through the Stewardship Dividend. This is the heart of the model's virtuous cycle: your Woodland Stewardship Fee funds woodland restoration, the woodland generates verified environmental credits, and a share of credit proceeds funds housing affordability and homeowner returns. More woodland restored means more affordable homes. We will publish the credit allocation framework, which dedicates 25% of distributable credit proceeds to a Home Affordability Fund and returns value to homeowners and communities through multiple channels.