Church House in Westminster yesterday played host to two back-to-back conferences on construction and housing attended by hundreds of professionals from the built environment. Here is a round-up of the key talking points from the event, run by 黑洞社区 and Housing Today.
Hundreds gathered in Westminster at two events yesterday to discuss solutions to the housing crisis and ways to improve the quality and productivity in the construction sector.
Major figures from the world of construction and from housing, including the social housing sector, addressed the conference on a range of issues including decarbonisation, building safety regulation, skills, and potential new models for building new homes and improving existing housing stock.
Here is our round-up of the key topics of discussion at the 黑洞社区 the Future Conference and Housing Today Live.
Learning lessons from Grenfell
The 黑洞社区 the Future conference, in Church House, kicked off with an impassioned speech by the chief executive of Wates, who said there had been a 鈥渟ilence鈥� in the industry in the wake of the final Grenfell Inquiry report.
Eoghan O鈥橪ionaird said it was 鈥渁s if we were all keeping our heads down鈥� and urged firms to 鈥渃ommit openly鈥� to ensuring that there would never be another Grenfell fire.
In a keynote speech, O鈥橪ionaird said razor-thin margins have often led 鈥渓ess scrupulous鈥� contractors to cut corners on safety, describing it as an 鈥渦ncomfortable truth鈥� in the industry which has 鈥渇or too long been ignored with grave consequences鈥�.
But he added that profits for contractors were far too low, adding that 鈥渋t absolutely baffles me how we continue to accept these margins鈥�.
The comments come two weeks after the publication of the Phase 2 Grenfell Inquiry report into the fire which killed 72 people in 2017.
It鈥檚 shocking we鈥檙e sitting here today having not properly addressed the issues that led to the disaster
Steve Beechey, Wates
Steve Beechey, group public sector director at Wates, noted it is 2646 days since the Grenfell Tower fire. He said 鈥渋t鈥檚 shocking we鈥檙e sitting here today having not properly addressed the issues that led to the disaster鈥�, stressing that action needs to be taken before another disaster happens.
On the Grenfell Inquiry report, Mike Riley, an architect and technical partner at the 黑洞社区 Design Partnership, said 鈥渋t was quite embarrassing in a way that we have to be told these obvious things鈥�.
鈥淭here is an opportunity for the industry to take control of this narrative and really own our response to the [fire safety] legislation and regulations,鈥� he said.
Riley said the industry needs to stop designing buildings in isolation and that everyone involved in the development process, from bricklayers to steel workers,鈥渁ll need to understand why we鈥檙e doing things in a certain way鈥�. He said it鈥檚 about communicating things in a simple way, so everyone can understand.
He added that instead of frequently changing design teams, the construction sector should aim to establish consistent groups of people to work with.
It absolutely baffles me how we continue to accept these margins
Eoghahn O鈥橪ionaird
Andy Mullins, head of quality at Hill Group, said 鈥渋magine anyone in your family being trapped in Grenfell, knowing there was no escape and that they were going to die trapped in a building鈥�. He said it could have easily happened to anyone in the room, 鈥渁nd still could if we don鈥檛 change the way we operate鈥�.
He said that since Grenfell, there have been improvements in regulations and he has noticed 鈥渁 behavioural response鈥� in the sector to the tragedy.
Mullins said that when he worked at the National House 黑洞社区 Council in 2017, he said the organisation spent a lot of time pushing back against fire engineers 鈥渢hat were trying to push the envelope beyond an acceptable level鈥�. He said he doesn鈥檛 see much of that now.
Addressing the twin challenges of sustainability and productivity
Bam chief operating officer John Wilkinson was on a panel focused on the future of net zero in the built environment. Weighing in on the debate over whether to retrofit or redevelop existing buildings, he said the days of demolish and rebuild schemes are 鈥渓ong gone鈥�.
He said this was the case regardless of what audience members think about former communities secretary Michael Gove鈥檚 landmark decision to block Marks & Spencer鈥檚 controversial proposals to redevelop its flagship store on Oxford Street. Gove鈥檚 decision was overturned at the High Court in March.
Wilkinson said: 鈥淔undamentally, retaining the substructure and the superstructure is the right thing to do, because all the carbon is in the concrete and it鈥檚 all in the steel frame, so we鈥檙e going to have to change customer perceptions as well.鈥�
In the final panel session of the day, there was a discussion about how the industry could improve its productivity.
Mace construction boss Andrew Jackson said visibility of workloads, greater use of the Public Sector Playbook and improved data would ensure historically low productivity levels would start to climb out of the doldrums.
鈥淭he industry has acknowledged the problem and there are various initiatives driving change,鈥� he said.
Delegates were told that better data and certainty of pipeline would also help lift productivity.
鈥淚n 2020 the Construction Productivity Taskforce was launched, bringing together clients, contractors including Mace, supply chain and consultants to identify and trail new ways of making the sector more productive. This has resulted in the Private Sector Playbook, a measurement framework, and data trust.鈥�
Matt Bennion, chief executive of Reds 10, added that the planning system needed to be speeded up which could happen 鈥渋f the right people were put around the table鈥�. He said that better procurement routes and margins would also see a shift in productivity levels. 鈥淲e have to take responsibility for what we can control,鈥� he said.
Solving the skills conundrum
鈥楾he future of building safety鈥� panel touched upon how the Grenfell Inquiry report had highlighted technical skills gaps in the industry.
Rachel Davidson, director of specialist knowledge at the 黑洞社区 Engineering Services Association (BESA), noted the report鈥檚 emphasis on technical competence issues.
This sentiment was echoed by Steve Beechy, group public sector director at Wates, who said the report showed that 鈥渢he construction sector as a whole needs to improve its technical skills鈥�.
Davidson said that BESA expects its members 鈥渢o drive that technical competence down their supply chains, and I think that鈥檚 very much in-keeping with the spirit of the culture change required鈥�.
She explained that BESA also campaigns for fair payment practices, 鈥渂ecause if our contractors don鈥檛 have healthy cash flow, then they can鈥檛 reinvest that in skills and other building safety initiatives鈥�.
Lauren Watts, head of health and safety at Gleeds, delved into the issue of skills shortages using figures, revealing that 5% of the construction workforce has exited the industry over the past year. She noted that there has also been a low uptake of apprenticeships since 2022.
Watts said: 鈥淲e are struggling to get the right people, with the right skills, knowledge and experience鈥�. She said 鈥渨e have to take a retrospective look at our industry to see what makes it attractive, interesting and safe to work in construction鈥�.
Andy Mullins, head of quality at Hill Group, raised concerns about skills shortages at the 黑洞社区 Safety Regulator.
He said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the regulator is currently competent鈥�, adding 鈥渢hey haven鈥檛 got experience and a lot of staff don鈥檛 have a great deal of knowledge about building control.鈥�
The Grenfell Inquiry final report recommended that there should be a new construction regulator, which would be a single independent body that reports to the secretary of state.
Mullins said that even if a single regulatory body is created, skills and staff shortages will still be an issue, stating 鈥測ou need experience, you can鈥檛 just come straight out of college and be expected to be an expert鈥�.
In the morning Housing Today, Live took place in the same venue, and skills was a major topic there too.
Asked what was the main barrier to meeting the requirements of the nation鈥檚 affordable and social housing stock, 39% of attendees at the conference answered skills and workforce capacity.
Geoff Parkinson, director of procurement at Fortem, said: 鈥淲e need skills. To get skills, we either acquire them, or we outsource them, or we grow them. To acquire them we need to compete with other sectors; other sectors that pay more鈥�.
He said that the industry needed to provide job security and a sense of purpose in order to attract talent over sectors able to pay better wages.
鈥淲e need to focus on being a great employer,鈥� he said. Parkinson also said that in order to outsource successfully, the industry needed to be better at nurturing its supply chains and caring about their financial health.
Meanwhile, the director of asset management at Peabody urged housing associations to look at their own young residents for the next generation of talent.
Andrea Joseph said: 鈥淲e are in a great position as social housing landlords where we can look at our communities and speak to our young people鈥�.
鈥淚t is a great opportunity for us. We are building homes, we are managing homes where we can talk to the people who live there, find out what their dreams and aspirations are.
鈥淟ook at the young people coming through who might think that it is almost impossible to come in the sector or do not know where to start.鈥�
Time for a new model for mass housebuilding?
In an earlier day, Stephen Teagle, partnerships chief at Vistry stressed the crucial role of partnerships between housebuilders and local authorities, housing associations and institutional investors in the Fair Deal for Housing panel.
Key to delivering this fair deal, was, of course, government injecting increased grant funding to deliver affordable and social homes.
Teagle said the existing model of delivering homes through a partnership between private sector housebuilders and the government 鈥渃learly hasn鈥檛 delivered the number of homes that we need鈥�.
He explained that Vistry has adopted a different business model, which consists of them pre-selling a minimum of 50% of homes to housing associations, local authorities or institutional investors when they buy a site.
There was a consensus among the panellists that local authorities must be supported to build more homes. Teagle said local authorities have 鈥渁n enormous part to play鈥�. He added that the government should create an 鈥渁t scale鈥� successor to the Affordable Homes Programme, that allows the sector to deliver.
Similarly, Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said that when previous governments have delivered a high volume of new homes, local authorities have been a key player in building those homes.
Smart emphasised the need for the government to 鈥渂ring local authorities back into the [housebuilding] game鈥� by stabilising Housing Revenue Account finances.
Financial constraints on housing assocations
The first keynote speaker of the day, however, stressed the challenges that many housing associations face when it comes to new housing delivery.
Paul Hackett, chief executive of Southern Housing, said that the housing association鈥檚 halt to new development beyond its committed programme would last until its cash interest cover has improved.
He explained that, in his 35 years working in the sector, this was the 鈥渢oughest time鈥� for housing association finances since the introduction of mixed funding in 1988.
鈥淐apacity has been depleted by four years of rent cuts and a cap at below inflation last year,鈥� he said, explaining that Southern had increased repair and maintenance spending by 31% over the past two years.
He said this increased spending pressure, combined with the background funding constraints, had 鈥渋mpacted our capacity for new development鈥�.
鈥淲e鈥檒l build out our 3,700-home contractually committed newbuild programme, but we won鈥檛 start any additional homes until our EBITDA-MRI cash interest cover has recovered towards the end of this parliament,鈥� he said.
In February the Regulator of Social Housing warned that .
鈥淭his is not where we want to be. But something has to give, and for the time being that鈥檚 new development.鈥�
Housing Today also convened a meeting of chief executives of the G15 group of large London housing associations and other sector bosses to discuss recommendations for the new government on how to improve affordable housing supply.
New regulatory burden challenges on social housing sector
As well as the financial burdens on the sector, new regulatory burdens were also a major topic of conversation.
Greg Campbell, partner at Campbell Tickell, ran through the laundry list of new legislation and regulations that the social housing sector had been asked to comply with over the past three years, before turning to further changes on the horizon, including the recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry Report.
He said there could be an extension of time limits around implementing Awaab鈥檚 law to all 29 hazards under the housing health and safety rating system. However, he said he thought it was 鈥渦nlikely鈥� to come all at once.
鈥淚 think it is going to be phased, but it is an area of concern for many social landlords in terms of how on earth they would resource it,鈥� he said.
Turning around a housing association after tragedy
The stakes of meeting the new standards were made clear by the early afternoon keynote speaker, Amanda Newton.
Newton is the chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, the housing association which managed the property in which toddler Awaab Ishak died after exposure to black mould in 2020.
At the conference, she announced that RBH鈥檚 board had signed off on a recovery plan which was launched in the wake of Ishak鈥檚 death.
This means the 12,000-home landlord and its auditors KPMG are now satisfied that RBH has completed 163 measures to improve the association鈥檚 governance and customer service
鈥淚鈥檝e always been clear that we are on a journey and there will never be a single point where we can say that the work is finished,鈥� said Newton.
鈥淏ut we can say that there has been a huge amount of change and that RBH is in a much better place than it was.鈥�
Newton, who took over as chief executive of RBH on a permanent basis a year ago today, said the 163 measures 鈥渨eren鈥檛 just words on a page鈥� as they included major work that has 鈥渁lready made a real difference for our customers and their homes鈥�.
Audience participation
Audience members were encouraged to ask questions to the speakers throughout the day and they were also able to vote on key topics through interactive polls.
Attendees voted on various issues throughout the day on issuess such as low carbon solutions, housing policy and the impact of building safety.
The below bar charts show the percentage of audience members voting for each option.
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