15 Feb 2024
Housing Digital Live: Tech and talk
The inaugural Housing Digital Live conference took place earlier this month in Birmingham, exploring timely topics, tech and innovation. Unlocked went along to report on all the action.
When you think of UK housing, the word ‘innovation’ doesn’t necessarily spring to mind. Peer beneath the surface, however, and you’ll find there’s actually a lot going on.
It’s this insight that the inaugural Housing Day Live conference sought to share, alongside discussions on the big challenges facing the sector right now.
Unlocked attended the two-day conference at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham for the benefit of CIH members.
Here are all the main talking points.
Presidential priorities
There were many notable speakers at Housing Digital Live – including our own president, Jill Murray BA FCIH.
Jill spoke of her turbulent upbringing and how tragic events that transpired early on in life taught her the importance of housing and having a home to call your own – a realisation that ultimately led her to devoting her working life to the sector.
The main focus of Jill’s address, however, was professionalisation.
Jill explained how the need to continue learning and developing has underpinned her entire career, helping her to provide the best for tenants and to ultimately serve as an example for the rest of the sector and for those just starting out.
The results speak for themselves. When Jill took over as the chief executive of Byker Community Trust in 2012, rent collection increased by six per cent, while crime and anti-social behaviour fell by 79 per cent.
“We must all accept the responsibility to continually improve our skills and knowledge,” she said, adding that a CIH membership can help housing professionals along this path.
Her words were particularly timely, given the launch of the competency and conduct standards consultation just last week.
Despite the dark clouds that have been hanging over the sector of late, Jill’s address struck a largely optimistic note, and it was in this vein that she delivered her parting words.
“You should never ever underestimate the importance of the work that we do in the housing sector,” she said. “We are working in challenging times, but we must Be EPIC.”
Jill couldn't hang about, though, as she was hosting Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at her Presidential Address and Appeal in London later that evening.
The Ombudsman’s thoughts
Also speaking at the conference was, well, not Richard Blakeway, as originally billed, but the Housing Ombudsman Service’s director of quality, engagement and development, Kathryn Eyre.
Speaking at a session titled ‘How knowledge and information management is the closest thing to a silver bullet for social housing’, Kathryn explained how poor knowledge and information management (KIM) is a “key driver” of service failure.
In the year 2021/22 (the latest full set of figures), the Ombudsman had 191 cases within the sector, 38 of which had a KIM-specific complaint. Of these, more than half (51%) resulted in a maladministration finding for the concerned landlord.
The Ombudsman's director of quality, engagement and development, Kathryn Eyre, filled in for Richard Blakeway
Kathryn offered some advice to those keen to avoid the same fate, saying: “If you find your data is inaccurate or missing, make it a priority in your organisation to fill the gaps. It will pay dividends in the long run.”
She also drove home the importance of ensuring staff – new and old – understand how the organisation’s systems work. “It can be the weak link,” she said.
Kathryn went on to stress the importance of data and record-keeping in terms of repairs, citing how, in two-thirds of cases that were upheld last year in relation to repairs, poor record-keeping was found to be the primary reason behind the issue.
“It’s important that you drive really strong data management principles throughout your organisation,” she said.
Kathryn ended her talk with a plea: “If you are doing something that you believe is really great, please tell us about it.”
A numbers game?
‘Finance’ and ‘innovation’ may not be words that typically go together, especially in housing, but a session featuring representatives from The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) and Southern Housing posited that they may need to if the sector is to keep building new affordable homes.
Setting the scene, Southern Housing’s director of financial strategy, Tariq Kazi, said the sector is coming under increasing financial strain due to pressures to deliver on areas such as damp and mould and building safety; a downturn in the wider housing market; and a general reduction in incomes.
“And I’m not counting on there being a lot of new funding suddenly available,” he added.
Investment in new affordable homes is being further hampered by higher interest rates, meaning the sector’s ability and willingness to take on more debt to fund the construction of these new homes is more limited than it has been in recent years.
“Debt is still going to be important, a part of the solution,” said THFC’s funding and marketing director, Arun Poobalasingam, “but it’s not going to help the sector build the houses that are needed on its own.”
To gain more investment, Arun said housing associations “need to tell their story”.
Tariq agreed, highlighting the heightened scrutiny that has befallen the sector of late. “The opportunity for us as a sector,” he said, “is to take that challenging political interest and press and show that we are open and humble and responding to the criticisms coming our way.”
In terms of specific innovation, Tariq said it could come in the form of replacing debt or grant funding with equity funding or joint partnerships.
While innovating might come at a cost, Tariq said, the cost of not innovating might end up being higher.
Getting technical
Tech and innovation were the main draw for Housing Digital Live, and on that front, there was much to see, from Amazon Web Services’ head of UK regional public sector, Leanne Burrell, sharing insight into how Amazon innovates; to National Security Services’ former head of innovation, Susie Braam, explaining how to manage and mitigate risk when innovating.
BIM and digital twins
Closer to home – i.e. housing – a panel of BIM (Building Information Management) and digital twin experts explained how digital modelling can help the sector meet the requirements of the Building Safety Regulator.
Henry Fenby-Taylor, CEO of Athenophilia Ltd and former head of information management at the Centre for Digital Built Britain, explained that, while digital twins and BIM “are often seen and behave like solutions looking for problems", in reality, they serve a valuable purpose, especially when it comes to building safety and the golden thread of information.
Meanwhile, Bola Abisogun OBE, founder of DiverseCity Surveyors and digital director at BIM Academy, warned of the potential cost of not using digital twin technology.
“Are we going to have to have a grave mistake [like Grenfell] before we get it right and before we understand the power of data and the role of digital twins?” he asked.
Environmental impact of tenants’ tech
Elsewhere at the conference, Dr Ralitsa Hiteva, from the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, spoke of the work her team has been doing to monitor and reduce the environmental impact of digital technologies in social housing.
Since September 2021, the team have been working with housing association Orbit (in partnership with NHS England and Appello) across three schemes in Stratford-upon-Avon, Hastings, and Rugby.
Although the project is still ongoing (it is set to conclude during the next few months) Ralitsa said there is a clear need to shift away from the mentality that any kind of digital system is ‘plug and play’.
Dr Ralitsa Hiteva showed off some of the tech her team has developed as part of their research
“You can’t just plug, play, and walk away,” she said. “There needs to be a shift in procurement, where it’s focussed on building a relationship with the provider, and the relationship should be as long as the lifespan of the technology.”
She also spoke of the need to better match the needs of the residents with the available digital capabilities of both residents and staff.
Similarly, Ralitsa said housing providers should look more closely at how they embed digital technologies in their schemes, highlighting the need to implement visions and strategies focussed on delivering digital aftercare.
Innovation and social value
In a separate session, Mary-Kathryn Adams, CEO of social value specialists Simetrica-Jacobs, reminded attendees that innovation should first and foremost be about people – not the technology.
“Is what I’m about to do going to improve the wellbeing of our residents?” she urged attendees to ask themselves.
Mary-Kathryn's talk explored how social value can be used to drive innovation. “Done well,” she said, “incorporating social value…is a really indispensable part of the picture.”
However, while the financial side of social value is important, she urged attendees to consider the long-term benefit that social value investment will provide to the community.
“Social value is a way to de-risk investment,” she said, “because we’re focussing much more on medium-term and long-term investment.”
She added: “If we harness social value to inform our strategic decisions, and we invest in the right stuff, wouldn’t that be investment enough?”
Main image: CIH President Jill Murray BA FCIH speaking at Housing Digital Live
Liam Turner is the CIH's digital editor.
