This week, the Home Builders Federation joined the wider housing and property sector at the annual UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) conference in Leeds, where it represented the industry across a series of discussions focused on housing delivery, planning reform, viability, skills and economic growth.
With more than 17,000 attendees at the three-day conference, including over 300 home builders, HBF used the event to engage with policymakers, developers, investors and built environment professionals on the key issues affecting the sector.
On Wednesday 20 May, HBF held an event entitled “Mission Possible? How to turn political ambition into new homes”, that was chaired by Neil Jefferson, Chief Executive of HBF.
The session brought together senior leaders from across housebuilding, banking and public policy, including Jennie Daly, Chief Executive of Taylor Wimpey, Eleanor Deeley, Joint Managing Director at Deeley Group, Esther Dijkstra, Managing Director, Intermediaries at Lloyds Banking Group and Jack Airey, Director for Housing and Infrastructure at Public First.
Discussions focused on the gap between government housing ambitions and the practical realities of delivering new homes in the current economic climate. The panel explored the cumulative impact of planning policy changes, viability pressures, build cost inflation, political uncertainty and affordability challenges on housing delivery, as well as the support needed to sustain both large and SME housebuilders.
The conversation also examined customer confidence, the role of first-time buyers in the market, the future of planning reform and how industry and government can work together to accelerate delivery while maintaining affordability and environmental ambitions.
Alongside its hosted event, HBF representatives participated in a number of other panel discussions throughout the conference programme.
On May 19, our Planning Director, Catherine Williams, joined a session at the Tetra Tech Pavilion examining the effectiveness of government support for housebuilding and the impact of recent policy interventions on housing delivery.
On May 20, Neil Jefferson, Chief Executive of HBF, took part in the session “Turning intent into homes”, hosted by Planning Portal, which focused on overcoming viability barriers to unlock development. Cath Bullogh, Projects Manager at HBF, also joined a discussion on further education collaboration and construction skills provision, exploring how stronger partnerships can help address workforce shortages across the construction sector.
HBF’s participation concluded on 21 May with Catherine Williams contributing to a session on “Delivering Housing Recovery”, examining the steps needed to restore momentum and confidence across the housing market.
Across the conference, HBF reinforced the industry’s calls for a reduction in the taxes and policy costs facing developers, more effective planning system, greater policy certainty and continued support for housing delivery in order to meet the country’s growing housing needs.