Members only

This year’s HQN annual conference takes place a few weeks after the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell tower disaster.

During that time, the government has proposed solutions to the systemic failures that played a part in the tragedy. The Social Housing White Paper, changes to regulation and the Building Safety Bill have provided a roadmap to a better future but these reforms are taking years to implement.

Meanwhile, national news coverage chronicling tenants’ despair at the state of their homes, social media activists shaming landlords across the UK, and the cladding crisis, have knocked the sector’s reputation.

Housing providers are juggling these issues (and the associated costs) at a time when they are expected to have one eye on the future. But how do we plan for the zero carbon homes of tomorrow when we are constantly firefighting issues with our existing stock?

The title for this year’s conference is ‘past, present and future’ and we’ll be taking stock on the current state of the sector, what we can learn from the past, how we can put things right and thinking about what the future holds.

At HQN, we specialise in providing hands-on help to housing professionals with the aim of driving up standards across the sector. It’s an approach we aim to reflect at this year’s conference.

Day one (12 July, virtual) – How did we get here?

Alistair McIntosh will be joined by Alison Inman and Lara Oyedele to discuss the changes they’ve seen over the past 25 years (for better and worse), recognise the achievements made, flag the lessons to be learnt and get their thoughts on the sector’s current direction of travel.

Lara will be speaking for the first time about her plans as CIH President with the promise that she’s going to be as ‘disruptive as possible’ during the 12 months.

One of the key sessions of the day will mark the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell tower disaster where we will ask the question – have we delivered any meaningful change? We are delighted that Grenfell residents will be joining us to share their thoughts.

Day two (14 July, virtual) – Where we are now

The Housing Ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, will deliver a keynote address looking at disrepair and complaints – offering practical solutions to some of the issues he is seeing.

Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation at the Regulator of Social Housing, will provide an update on the new Social Housing Regulation Bill, the introduction of Tenant Satisfaction Measures and what the new era of proactive inspection might look like.

Jo Causon, Chief Executive of the Institute of Customer Service will share her thoughts on the state of customer service in housing with reference to the current professionalisation review and the important role customer-facing teams play (but are often not recognised).

Day three (20 July, The View, London) – Shaping our future

The third day will see us return to live events for the first time since March 2020.

We have a host of top speakers lined up including Big Issue founder Lord John Bird on his Future Generations Bill and housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa.

Alistair McIntosh will present HQN’s exclusive, hot off the press, research.

We’ll hear from climate change experts on how the housing sector can fulfil its decarbonisation ambitions, and we’ll discuss the role technology has to play in the future of housing.

We will also be announcing the winner of this year’s Housing’s Next Generation competition.

And we’ll be holding a drinks reception for delegates and speakers directly after the conference finishes.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sponsorship and exhibition enquiries

Sponsoring an HQN conference provides a fantastic opportunity for you to network with senior social housing decision makers and showcase your business’s expertise, services, and products to a targeted audience.

If you are interested in collaborating with us at our HQN Annual Conference and first in-person event in 2022 and receiving a copy of our media pack for this event, please contact Gemma Meeks for more information.

Day one – virtual session

• Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive, HQN
• Roger Jarman, HQN associate
• Alison Inman, Board member, Saffron Housing Trust, The Housing Diversity Network and Tpas England
• Lara Oyedele, President Elect, Chartered Institute of Housing
• Danielle Aumord and Grenfell residents
• Carl Byrne, Group Director of Commercial Services, Notting Hill Genesis
• Lorraine Mealings, Director of Housing, BCP Council
• Matt Lewer, Service Transformation Lead, Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust
• Alan Keers, Chief Executive, Twenty11
• Cym D’Souza, Chair/Chief Executive, Arawak Walton Housing Association.

Day two – virtual session

• Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive, HQN
• Jo Causon, Chief Executive, Institute of Customer Service
• Richard Blakeway, The Housing Ombudsman
• Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation, Regulator of Social Housing
• Sarah Mallagh, BSR Policy Lead, The Health and Safety Executive
• Liz Bisset, Committee Member, Committee on Fuel Poverty
• Clarissa Corbisiero (Wales)
• Aaron Hill, Director of Policy & Membership, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (Scotland)
• Speaker tbc (Netherlands)
• Hal Pawson (Australia).

Day three – virtual session

• Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive, HQN
• Lord John Bird, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue, crossbench peer and sponsor of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill
• Kwajo Tweneboa, social housing tenant and housing campaigner
• Melanie Onn, Deputy Chief Executive, RenewableUK and former Shadow Housing Minister
• David Smith, Head of Business Partnership / Board Member, South East Consortium / UK Business Council for Sustainable Development
• David March, Head of Environmental Sustainability, Orbit Group
• Andy Merrin, Innovation and Carbon Director, United Living
• Kate Lindley, Socitm
• Steve Allcock, Director, Customer Experience and Innovation, Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust
• Jonathan Hulley, Partner, Social Housing, Birketts
• Speaker tbc, Plentific
• Duncan Farrow, Key Accounts Director, Switchee
• Rebecca Winson, New Economics Foundation
• Doug Sarney, Solutions Principal, MRI Software
• James Hudson, Assistant Director Commercial Strategy and Growth, Your Homes Newcastle/NFS.

Drinks Reception Sponsor – United Living

About United Living 

We are place makers, driven by our strong company values that focus on delivering our customers’ expectations, addressing their challenges and leaving behind a positive legacy. We provide the essential services to the owners and operators of critical UK property and infrastructure assets, creating the communities where people want to live, work and play.

No matter what the size of the challenge, our innovative approach to cost management helps our customers and the communities they serve, benefit from resilient infrastructure, beautiful homes and improved environments.

Delivered through our three complementary businesses, we keep our customers at the heart of everything we do and create green spaces that promote safe and inclusive environments for the generation of today and in the future.

Our experienced teams work with a range of customers within the public and private sectors to develop, build, maintain and operate the increasingly complex and critical infrastructure that supports daily life and national economies.With dedicated national teams and our network of supply chain, we bring together people, experience and technology, helping to make our industry safer, cleaner and more collaborative.

Our scale gives us the ability to accept big challenges and build mutually beneficial partnerships, whilst thinking locally, working with our customers to deliver services and infrastructure that will stand the test of time. Our purpose is about making progress, safely, towards a sustainable future for our people, our communities and our business – it’s the United Living way

If you’d like to find out more about the work we do and how we can help you, then we’d love to hear from you, whether you have a specific project or simply want an informal chat.

Tel: 01322 665522

Email: [email protected]

About MRI

MRI Software is a leading provider of web-based solutions for housing associations and local authorities in the UK and Ireland. Through its comprehensive suite of customer-focused products and applications they deliver flexibility, choice and scale to more than 850 social housing clients in the region.

Over the past two years MRI have worked with HQN at a number of events and consulted with members as part of resident led and provider led focus groups to drive findings for the Resident Voice Index research. The Resident Voice initiative is a long-term project to gather anonymised survey responses from people living in social housing in the UK about how they feel about their homes and local surroundings. These short surveys are designed to provide policy makers and housing providers with the information they can use to improve neighbourhoods and communities.

Find out more about the research here;  https://residentvoiceindex.com/

About Switchee

It is Switchee’s mission to fight fuel poverty and provide social housing provider’s with remote data insights that cut maintenance costs and improve resident well-being. Switchee enables social landlords to hit challenging financial and environmental targets with real time, remote data analytics. A personalised platform identifies condensation, damp or mould risk and flags fuel poverty. Switchee transforms resident engagement and appointment scheduling via a two way in-house communication display.

With a Switchee Smart Thermostat installed, residents optimise energy use, lower heating bills by 17% and reduce energy consumption – future proofing homes and driving towards Net Zero.

We are delighted to be working with over 100 Social Housing Providers across the UK.

About Birketts

Birketts is a full service, top 100 law firm in the UK. With a dedicated social housing team, they have worked with a vast range of clientele including national and regional registered providers, local authorities, private housebuilders, and funders on a wide range of issues affecting the sector. Birkett’s understand social housing is an ever-changing environment, subject to frequent changes driven by Government demands, new legislation and the economy. They have particular strengths in development (including stock transfer) and its related discipline sectors: construction, planning and projects. Allied to this, they can call on their well-established plot sales function to support RP development teams – this is particularly important as the range of home ownership products increases and for those RPs who employ private sales to cross-subsidise schemes. They have a wealth of experience in housing management issues, particularly in relation to nuisance and anti-social behaviour. In addition, they have skilled advisers covering your core business needs such as employment law and funding.

About Plentific

Plentific is a proptech software company who works with providers across the social housing sector to transform how they deliver repairs and maintenance services. Through a powerful marketplace SaaS platform it empowers landlords and property managers to launch and manage their own fully flexible contractor supply chain.

Plentific is trusted by some of the best-known organizations in property, including L&Q, Peabody, Notting Hill Genesis, Grand City Properties and Knight Frank to manage more than 350,000 properties across the UK, Germany and USA. Its software integrates repairs, compliance, and voids management with a marketplace of more than 18,000 contractors to streamline property maintenance and provide instant insight into the health of a property portfolio.

If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing (email is fine) at least 48 hours before. Please email [email protected]

Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

Cancellations must be made in writing, and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.