On the 9th May we had a full house for our feature: The Route Map for New Home Delivery’ with our #THFFuturesNetwork and ‘What is the future of high-rise housing?’ with Pollard Thomas Edwards.
Shelagh Grant our CEO, Anna Clarke our Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Simona Gavrila our Membership Manager and Sandra Manning recently attended CIH HOUSING BRIGHTON | THE HOUSING FORUM FEATURE and enjoyed networking with delegates and discussing the topics of the day.
First, The Housing Forum’s Futures Network, drawn from our member organisations, gave a presentation on the progress of their ‘The Route Map for New Home Delivery ‘ – an essential guide to UK Housing development covering all stages from project inception to occupancy.
During the session we heard from Thomas Bugler – Head of Marketing, Bugler Group Limited and Chair, The Housing Forum’s Futures Network; Toby Blunsten-Fox – Business Development Manager, Durkan; Emily Lister – Head of Sales and Marketing, Insite Energy; Ellie Park – Marketing & Communications Partner, South East Consortium; Nicola Conway – Senior Associate, Projects & Construction, Trowers & Hamlins and Ed Richards – Project Director, Airey Miller.
These are the 8 stages that they explored, which will feature in their report (launch to be announced soon):
1) The project inception and commissioning stage.
2) The procurement and viability stage.
3) The design stage.
4) The planning stage.
5) The pre-construction stage.
6) The supply chain and manufacturing stage.
7) The construction and handover stage.
8) The use (post-occupancy and management) is the final and longest stage.
The second part of the morning featured a session with Andrew Beharrell – Senior Advisor and Roger Holdsworth – Partner, Pollard Thomas Edwards sharing the latest report from Pollard Thomas Edwards with contributors including June Barnes, Dickon Robinson and Kath Scanlon. They explained how this latest report ‘What is the future of high-rise housing?’ delves into the critical issue of the increasing maintenance and management costs of high-rise housing.
Reference was made to a survey that LSE did, which found that most residents of high-density housing in London were unhappy with the management, and wanted to be living in a house instead soon.
The impact of open spaces and the trade-off for new home capacity was discussed, mentioning that we have many policies in place to protect open space but we don’t have any numerical targets except in a few local cases. They are calling for better data and information about open space, and to consider targets for access to open space as for example Camden has done. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was the case study that they explored with the most open space.
The presentation went on to consider tenure, pointing out that defining the life of the building should be done upfront because at times architects designed for 60 years, but they are sold on 250 year leases. There is a need for a lifetime costed model, which is both a technical and social challenge.
Leaseholders’ rights and responsibilities should be protected and understood; high-rises should be built as good quality housing for the long term and high-density living should come with adequate social infrastructure and public open space.
Overall it was a fascinating and engaging event that brought many important questions and answers to the fore. We look forward to our next event, Spotlight Series No 3 – Nutrient Neutrality. Book your spot here: The Housing Forum Spotlight 3 – Webinar Registration
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