A recent Building Insights LIVE industry round table was a unique opportunity for a mix of leading voices from the social housing sector, product manufacturers and expert academics to discuss the key topic of the Social Housing Act and its fitness for purpose. Sponsored by Cornerstone Management Services, Tarmac and WMS Underfloor Heating, the debate saw attendees tackling the major practical challenges of providing healthy homes for tenants across the UK, in the run up to the implementation of the Act later this year.

Called “the most significant reform of the sector in more than a decade,” the Social Housing (Regulation) Act catalysed by the death of Awaab Ishak due to mould in social housing, places a new onus on landlords to ensure that their homes are healthy and safe. The first part of the Act to be in force is Awaab’s Law, with the secondary legislation implementing its provisions due this October. This will include providing timeframes for dealing with property ‘emergencies,’ and introducing a new national Regulator overseeing safety in social housing.

The round table saw a frank and open exchange of views around the challenges for those managing properties under the Act, including around deadline with lifestyle issues of tenants. Good practice was shared on practical strategies being used by social landlords to achieve to not only comply with the legislation but go beyond it in the interests of tenants. It also looked at how engagement between landlords and tenants is being improved so that tenants are better informed on the necessary measures for their properties, and the benefits of standardised information and data on properties’ condition.

Some key takeaways included from Dr Douglas Booker of the University of Leeds, advocating a person centred approach above all: “we need to earn trust with residents; that trust has been broken in many cases.” He added: “No single tech item will be a silver bullet, it has to be aligned with how people are living.”

David Bly of event co-sponsor Cornerstone Management Solutions, said “there is a clear message from the round table about being less reactive, and sharing knowledge in a timely fashion,” and Dale Holroyd of ZapCarbon agreed, saying that a “move to more preventative maintenance would pay for itself.”  Stephanie Goad, CEO of Golding Homes, said that her ‘recommendation for Government’ following the discussion was “for Government to be realistic – have a bit of a balance between the 1.5 million homes target and investing in Healthy Homes.” She added: “Decent Homes wasn’t a very high standard, so how could we create a Healthy Homes standard?”

The round table’s chair, Matt Baird (co-chair at Spring Housing Association), commented on the benefit of having a wide mix of perspectives at the event: “Having run multiple live round tables, I can honestly say that the energy and conversation in the room was amongst the best I’ve attended. Having such a wide scope of voices meant that discussion and debate flowed freely and I’d have no hesitation in recommending these events in the future.”

The full list of delegates for the Building Insights LIVE round table was:

Round Table Chair: Matt Baird, Co-Chair, Spring Housing / Baird and Co Recruitment

Hony Premlal, Chair, WISH (Women in Social Housing)

Dr Douglas Booker, Lecturer in Indoor Air, University of Leeds

Dr Hector Altamirano-Medina, Academic Director, UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings

Billy Cliffen, Healthy Homes Manager, Riverside

Andrew Burke, Deputy Secretary, National Housing Maintenance Forum

Lee Reevell, CIO, The Healthy Homes Hub & Halton Housing

Sarah Garry, Chief Executive, Property Care Association

Amy Bentall, Associate, Trowers & Hamlins LLP

Dale Holroyd, Commercial Director, ZapCarbon (Healthy Homes Dep)

Stephanie Goad, Chief Executive, Golding Homes

Sponsor attendees:

David Bly, Cornerstone Management Services Ltd

Luke Brooks, Senior Commercial Manager, Specialist Packed Products, Tarmac

Ashley Welch, Pre-Contracts Manager, WMS Underfloor Heating

A Building Insights podcast capturing some of the key sections of the debate, will be available at: insights.netmagmedia.co.uk

About netMAGmedia:

Publishers of leading construction industry media titles, including Architects’ Datafile, Housebuilder & Developer, Selfbuilder + Homemaker and Housing Management & Maintenance. Building Insights and Building Insights LIVE are netMAGmedia’s podcast and round table brands respectively.

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Tel: 01435 863500, email: amadigan@netmagmedia.co.uk