Bringing housing together

The timing of CIH Housing 2010 Conference & Exhibition, just after the general election, promises an event that will be at the very top of the agenda, highly topical and interesting to everyone involved in the housing sector. It will be the first time the whole industry congregates post election, providing an ideal platform for debate, networking, exploration of new policy initiatives and product showcasing. It is expected that the event will be buzzing as a result.
    
The CIH Annual Exhibition remains the biggest and best-attended event in the housing calendar, bringing together around 5,000 housing professionals and 300 key suppliers from across the UK. Both the conference and the exhibition provide an ideal opportunity for people in the housing sector to explore their sector and the issues that affect them. The exhibition itself promises to show how housing providers continue to invest significantly in maintenance and repairs and to actively develop, resulting in a buoyant market for products and services. This year’s exhibition will prove that the social housing sector continues to be a test bed for innovation.

The Ideas Exchange
While the Conference debates policy, the Exhibition will also be having formal discussions of its own, bringing together housing associations, local authorities and a full range of service providers at The Ideas Exchange, a series of product and procurement focused seminars. This format is brand new for the CIH Annual Exhibition 2010. The Ideas Exchange has two main streams running concurrently over the three days, Innovation and efficiency: doing more with less and Service excellence: satisfying the customer.
    
The seminar programme will include a session looking at Sustainability & energy efficiency for new homes and refurbishments, including practical examples from housing associations that have made a real difference to energy efficiency and the use of sustainable resources. Panel members from Cottsway, Orbit and Black Country Housing will contribute to the session.
    
Bill Rumble, commercial director of Mark Group who are exhibiting at CIH, said: “Social housing providers have a responsibility to meet basic energy-efficiency standards for their tenants. We estimate there are some eight million residential properties in the UK which are yet to benefit from simple insulation measures but, by working directly with organisations in this sector, we can potentially cater for hundreds or even thousands of homes in a single project.
    
“After insulation comes education, lifestyle change and the microgeneration of power. At this year’s CIH exhibition we will be showcasing our capabilities in developing a ‘whole house’ approach to energy efficiency. This will involve helping social housing providers understand how they can measure up to stringent government requirements, through accessing funding and facilitating partnership arrangements.”
    
With the spotlight fixed firmly on reducing the risk of fire and overall H&S initiatives a session titled Safe and secure: Best practice in Health & Safety and Fire Safety will provide an update on the key initiatives and highlight best practice in deploying products for fire safety and H&S.
    
Whatever the result of the general election, public expenditure is likely to be cut, raising the perennial issue of how to do more with less. The next session – Innovating for efficiency: reducing costs and improving results for new builds and refurbishments – will show how deploying innovative products and processes can help you get the most from your resources; speakers from Home Group, Wolverhampton Homes and Fusion 21 will be present.
    
Solarcentury is exhibiting this year at CIH and see the forthcoming year as an exciting one for housing association’s with the start of the Feed-in tariff, an innovation in solar power. This new scheme means housing association’s will be paid for generating solar electricity and will be able to pass on electricity savings to their tenants.
    
The scheme has encouraged housing associations, public buildings and businesses to go solar too, Derry Newman, CEO of Solarcentury says: “Over the past year, Solarcentury has been working with over 50 housing associations on over 200 affordable housing projects; and is seeing a shift towards fitting solar for tenants in older housing rather than just new buildings. One such organisation is South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA), whose tenants collectively should see over £36,000 in bill savings next year thanks to their investment in solar electric homes. SYHA believes grid electricity prices will continue to rise by six per cent each year, so whilst it generates a guaranteed revenue for reinvestment, the not-for-profit organisation is protecting its vulnerable tenants from such price rises.”
    
Public sector organisations, as well as businesses, have already been incorporating solar solutions into their buildings, including The London Fire Emergency and Planning Authority and the Metropolitan Police. Increasingly, both sectors will be ramping up their solar investments as they recognise it can become a significant hedge to future electricity prices, as well as a financially attractive way to cut carbon emissions.
    
The second seminar stream focuses on service excellence; satisfying the customer and opens with a session looking at tenant involvement and the central role it plays in the success of many projects, Involving tenants in the product selection and procurement process. This session will highlight best practice examples from organisations that have successfully engaged with their clients in the delivery of projects, these include Harvest Housing, Thames Valley Housing, Spire Homes and the London Borough of Hackney.
    
Shoreline Housing Partnership, High Peaks Community Housing and Portsmouth City Council will look at how to deliver excellence and how to involve suppliers in the process in a session on Achieving excellence in service delivery and contractor & partner management.
    
The fabric of buildings, availability of services and estate management standards all have an important impact on the development of sustainable communities. A session titled Products and services for sustainable communities will outline best practice in services and initiatives that go beyond just physical regeneration and help to develop a sustainable community.

Enhanced social programme
Most people attend these national events to grow their client base and the social events diary at the CIH Housing 2010 has been expanded to ensure more opportunity for relationship development and networking.
    
The social programme kicks off on Monday evening with a Welcome Drinks Reception at The Crown Hotel from 18.45-19.45. This is a free event and provides a great opportunity for delegates and exhibitors to mingle. The Bollywood Bistro Night follows the reception, a paid for event that is themed with an inspired Indian menu and entertainment. On Tuesday there is a delegate wine reception sponsored by Mitie, which will take place in the exhibition area, officially opening the exhibition and Tuesday’s events continue with a party from 8pm.
    
The social highlight of the week is the World Cup Football Reception, the CIH and event organisers Ocean Media have made the most of the opportunity and running alongside the conference programme the England-Slovenia match will be shown on screens in the exhibition hall with complimentary drinks provided.
    
Tanya Cohen, exhibition director, Ocean Media, said: “We have introduced The Ideas Exchange to help visitors get even more out of their exhibition experience. By showcasing what’s really made a difference in housing organisations and hearing from those involved in implementation at the sharp end, The Ideas Exchange will provide practical examples of best practice that housing professionals will be able to apply to their own situations. We have also expanded the social and networking diary as we appreciate how important networking is to exhibitors and visitors. We know that the four distinctive elements of the CIH Annual event and the congregation of the housing sector at such a pivotal time will result in a milestone event.”
    
The exhibition features a wide spectrum of the UK’s leading providers of products and services for and to the social housing sector and includes:

• Developers and contractors
• Building products and services suppliers
• IT and smart technology
• Solicitors
• Architects and planners
• Modern methods of construction
• Maintenance, repair and facilities management
• Management solutions
• Consultants
• Housing associations
• Voluntary organisations
• Care and support
• Security and alarms
• Finance
• Environmental products and services
• Recruitment and staffing
• Procurement services
• Utilities
• Other organisations offering services related to social housing and regeneration

Exhibitors at Housing 2010 include: Mears, Mark Group, ROK, Swish Building Products, Wates Living Space, Tribal, SitexOrbis, Freefoam Plastics Ltd, Ideal Stelrad, Worcester Bosch, Rixonway Kitchens, Capital, Permadoor, Savills, TPAS, the Audit Commission, Housemark, Arden Chambers, Ubbink, and Dulux.

For more information
For the latest event news, the full conference and exhibition programme, travel information and to register online visit www.cihhousing.com