Blake Lapthorn hosts another successful social housing
conference in Southampton
Blake Lapthorn hosted its third Social Housing
Conference entitled 'Keep calm and carry on?', which
took place on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at its Southampton
office.
The conference, which was chaired by Robert
Wassall, former head of Blake Lapthorn's Social Housing group,
provided an analysis and overview that focused on the challenges
for social landlords caused by cuts in development funding and the
introduction of affordable rents
The presentations at the seminar, which saw 50
delegates in attendance, were delivered by experts with an overall
message that the sector is undergoing a major transformation and
that registered providers need to adapt to these changes.
The presentations were opened by Mervyn Jones,
Director at Savills who considered the pressures on the financial
viability of housing associations, new ways of funding social
housing and whether re-structuring is an option.
He was followed by Shelagh Grant, Chief
Executive of The Housing Forum, who explored whether a tipping
point had already been reached, that new homes are urgently needed
and that current plans for providing new homes fell short of what
was needed.
Brian Everett, Director at Bellway Housing
Trust, offered attendees an insight into housing from the
housebuilder's perspective, providing challenging observations
concerning the future of the sector.
Paul Tennant, CEO of Orbit Group, gave an
inspirational presentation saying that the social housing sector is
an exciting place to work and that housing professionals needed to
be "on the bus or not". Paul explored the transformation
of the social housing sector as demonstrated at Orbit
The sessions were followed by
questions and answers, with delegates asking a variety of
questions to the panel, which included an exploration of what would
come first; a housebuilder acquiring a housing association or a
housing association acquiring a housebuilder.
Delegates included individuals from a wide
variety of organisations including housing associations, local
authorities, banks, housebuilders and other professionals
The event was a great success and emphasised
Blake Lapthorn's status as a leading light in social housing.
