The Housing Forum held its national annual conference on 18th October with the theme ‘Shared Strength through Housing Partnerships’.
Local authorities have been playing a growing role in The Housing Forum’s membership. Joanne Payne from Sheffield City Council chaired the stream on Changing Priorities for Councils and commented: “Central to the conference theme is the need to maintain and improve cross sector collaboration. In the stream I chaired, the speakers discussed how strong relationships can really help drive the delivery of more quality housing, improving efficiencies through shared learning.”
Joanne Payne is Service Manager for Housing Growth at Sheffield City Council and Deputy Chair of The Housing Forum’s Local Councils Advisory Group, which represents the 75 councils in the Councils Network membership.
Speakers at The Housing Forum conference included:
- Lucy Webb, Managing Consultant, Inner Circle Consulting, on Surrey Council’s working in partnership – shared solutions.
- Councillor Lewis Herbert, Cambridge City Council, explored ‘Strength from Partnerships’ and how this has been central to Cambridge’s growth.
- Neill Campbell, Partner, BPTW, and Peter Cook, Head of Development, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, discussed the Hartop and Lannoy Development and how a council-led, people-centred urban redevelopment delivered improved design and sustainable community living.
Other themes covered through the streams and breakout sessions were Quality & Compliance, Decarbonisation and Planning for Investment.
The event was jointly headline sponsored by calfordseaden, an award-winning multi-disciplinary property and construction consultancy, and Peabody, one of the oldest and largest not-for-profit housing associations in the UK. There was broad-ranging support for the topical sessions on offer, from sponsors Switch2, South East Consortium, Martin Arnold, PSP, RSK, Genuit Group, Wates, Councils Network (comprising Airey Miller, Baily Garner, BPTW and calfordseaden), Red Loft and Countryside.
The conference exhibition area was a lively networking space, this year featuring a Retrofit Zone, sponsored by Faithorn Farrell Timms. Exhibitors include PiLON, Retrofit Academy, Switchee, Stelling Properties, Worcester Bosch and The Clive Smith Foundation.
The day kicked off with an introduction to the conference theme ‘Shared Strength through Housing Partnerships’, from Stephen Teagle, CEO of Vistry Partnerships and The Housing Forum’s Chairman, who noted: “The best way to deliver more and better homes is through partnerships. Partnerships are a fundamental element for handling volatile times.”
Keynote speaker, Lucian Cook, Head of Residential Research at Savills, outlined some of the challenges facing the sector from political instability, high inflation, and the possibility of a housing market downturn.
Throughout the day in expert, industry-lead sessions, networking and exhibition experiences, deep sector knowledge and insights were shared and developed, inviting collaborative solutions to the profound current challenges in housing supply, safety, and regulation.
