Over 100 people from across the building sector attended the Housing Summit at Arup's new office in Birmingham.
Organised by BCU in conjunction with Marley and The Brick Development Association, the annual event brings together experts and house builders from across the industry to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
Among the speakers were Arup's Director for the West Midlands James Watts, Graeme Chaplin the Bank of England's Agent for the West Midlands & Oxfordshire, Hamish Simmie Associate Director at Savills, Craig Rowbottom Associate Town Planner, Dr Monica Mateo Garcia Senior Lecturer in the Built Environment from BCU's Centre for Future Homes and Piere Gaston, Associate Fire Engineer at Arup.
The summit was organised by Mike Leonard, Visiting Professor at BCU and Chief Executive of the Building Alliance. He said:
'The housing industry faces unprecedented challenges from meeting the 1.5 million new homes target set by the government and the cost-of-living crisis to making the industry safe following the damning indictment from the Grenfell Fire Inquiry Report. However, there are also real opportunities at present from the government's reform of the National Planning Policy Framework to an upturn in housing demand and sales, particularly from first time buyers.
'By bringing together builders, bankers, estate agents and policy experts, the Housing Summit gave a platform in which these issues and many others facing the sector could be openly debated. The summit also allowed attendees to learn from each other and network while admiring Arup's new state of the art offices on Paradise off Chamberlain Square in Birmingham.'
Dr Monica Mateo Garcia said:
'At BCU we are very proud to be launching our new expo and teaching space at the Centre for Future Homes next month. The delivery of low carbon, affordable and healthy homes which are energy efficient and have very high levels of comfort is the challenge facing all builders. The centre will help to deliver these new homes through real world research and robust solutions which are scalable and cost effective while taking into account human behaviour and well being.
'We are also launching a Living Lab which will enable us to monitor every aspect of building performance as well as taking into account the user experience.'
Dr Garcia added: 'We have already developed two demonstration sites, Project 80 Eco - Drive, 12 homes in Handsworth, Birmingham with Midland Heart which have been monitored for 2 years and seen carbon savings of 80-90%, and Gedling Green, zero carbon ready 2, 3 & 4 bedroom new homes in Nottinghamshire with Keepmoat.
'These demonstration sites are based on the 4 pillars of the Centre for Future Homes - Air Quality and Overheating, the Future Homes Standard, Sustainable Futures and Occupants and Technology. We look forward to working closely with the industry to encourage the development of well designed, quality homes which meet the Future Homes Standard and the needs of the community while most importantly being homes that people are proud to live in.'
To register for updates and find out about the support available, visit The Centre for Future Homes webpage.