Alisdair at RESI 2018

1 October 2018

Earlier this year, our commercial leader, Alisdair Gray attended this year’s RESI Conference in Newport, South Wales. The annual event aims to bring together leading developers, landlords, housing authorities, investors and local authorities to explore pertinent themes and trends in the residential sector. The three-day convention included talks, workshops and networking events, all culminating in a gala dinner on the Wednesday evening.

On the first day, Barclays and Brokenshire announced the launch of their £1bn housing delivery fund aimed at solving our current housing crisis by providing funding for Small to Medium-sized developers. This sparked debate in Tuesday afternoon’s SME Developer Forum hosted by Homes England and the NFB’s Rico Wojtulewicz, where developers had the chance to mix with investors and landowners to discuss opportunities and the strategies.

Wednesday afternoon’s Modern Methods of Construction and Offsite panel debate discussed different ways the industry could increase efficiency and output. Tom Bloxham started the debate by screening a short documentary in which George Clark interviewed residents of Urban Splash’s new volumetric modular houses in New Islington, Manchester. Current political issues such as Brexit were a key focus towards the end of the conference when Alastair Campbell spoke boldly on the state of the country and how leaving the EU could have a detrimental effect on the construction industry. Minister of Housing, Kit Malthouse was also in attendance, providing a more positive spin on the industry’s future.

All in all, this year’s RESI Convention was a great opportunity to meet current and future collaborators, and provided a forum for stimulating debates covering all aspects of the sector; from threats to opportunities, past and future.