Housing 24 brought together more than 9,000 attendees and 350 exhibitors to discuss and debate the latest issues and opportunities in the housing sector. Our team attended in numbers and enjoyed an engaging three days, welcoming people from various backgrounds to our stand and demonstrating why we’re a frontrunner in retrofit decarbonisation work.
We are also incredibly proud to have brought home three trophies from the Unlock Net Zero Awards, which formed part of the event, making it an even bigger week of reflection, celebration and projection.
Here are our three key takeaways from the event.
1. The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) will remain firmly in the spotlight
Part of our stand was focused on ‘everything you need to know about SHDF Wave 3’, which generated a substantial amount of interest. Not only were we asked questions by a large portion of delegates, which we were very happy to answer, many people stopped simply to take in and digest the information we presented.
The event agenda included a huge number of topics, from new-builds to the role of AI in the future, so there was stiff competition to capture attention. However, it was encouraging to see the interest in retrofit decarbonisation – particularly for social housing, where it needs leadership and continued support across government and policy.
If you didn’t have the chance to chat to us this week, read our SHDF Wave 3 guide here.
2. We’re all on the same page about net zero
Though there will be a few outliers, the vast majority of the industry is aligned on the belief that net zero is one of the greatest challenges at present – if not the greatest of them all. Everyone demonstrated a clear understanding of the challenges in achieving ambitious net zero targets, such as skills shortages and funding, which is also encouraging because it increases the likelihood of innovative solutions being identified and implemented.
Hearing from other professionals about their experiences working with residents confirmed our thinking that interest and awareness continues to grow in the general public on the link between housing and sustainability. This can be seen through the increasing investment within the owner-occupier market, but will also mean more effective resident engagement during projects in the social housing and private rented sectors.
3. Positivity remains high
Everyone is well aware that there is a lot to be done in the residential retrofit decarbonisation space, which is daunting to some, but positivity and optimism remains high. Impressive work is being completed and there is lots in the pipeline to help maintain momentum. There is a commitment to keeping retrofit decarbonisation high on the agenda, whether that’s during national conferences like Housing 24 or day to day. That said, we look forward to attending our next major conference of the year in November, Unlock Net Zero Live.
For more of our latest news, visit https://www.sustainablebuildinguk.com/news/
