Despite the learning curve for us all of switching to a digital solution, these events were equally successful. We had a great turnout for all of the sessions from our members and stakeholders and have received some great feedback from attendees.

CHIC is really grateful to all of the excellent speakers for this insightful contribution and to our usual conference chair Mark Easton, who chaired the final sessions.

If you didn’t manage to attend the sessions, they are summarised below, with links to download the presentations.

Compliance and Building Safety

Our first webinar was in the latter part of September. Building safety continues to be a top priority for housing associations and local authorities. Our webinar looked at what best practice really looks like, focusing on topics such as the outcomes of the Draft Building Safety Bill, who is accountable when things go wrong, the importance of water hygiene and how to adopt a clear approach to regulatory compliance.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: John Fisher - CHIC Ltd

Speakers Panel:

• Mark Johnson – ARK Consultancy
• Mark Pinnell – Solihull Community Housing
• Adam Mannion – DMW Safety

Zero Carbon by 2050

The zero-carbon target for 2050 is really clear, but for some tackling this challenge will be no easy feat. We looked at the issues and challenges faced by the sector and solutions to these, including CHCI’s offsite manufactured homes. This webinar looked at the great steps the Welsh Government has already put into place to help achieve cardon reduction, along with the hydrogen ready boilers developed by Worcester Bosch.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: Luke Hurd – CHIC

Speakers Panel:

• John Fisher - CHIC
• Chris Jofeh – ARUP
• Tom Collins - Worcester Bosch

Fire Precautions

Fire safety is a key issue for all landlords. We brought together speakers from various backgrounds to discuss the key fire prevention solutions from all perspectives, getting to the route of the key issues and how we can ensure safe homes for all tenants.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: Stephen Sharman - CHIC

Speakers Panel:

• Andrew Thompson - Gerda Security Products
• Leon Storer - Stonewater

Technological Innovations

Technology enhancements continue to move at a pace across all sectors, with housing being no different. We asked individuals from 3 housing focused technological organisations, Switchee, Social Energy and Total Mobile to present their innovative solutions. They explained and debated how they can transform the housing sector, demonstrating opportunities for  crucial savings and efficiencies they can provide.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: Ian Leaver – ARK Consultancy

Speakers Panel:

• Nick Jeffreys - Total Mobile
• Alistair Thorpe - Switchee
• Ben Gatley – Social Energy

Factory Built New Homes

CHIC launched its drive to embrace MMC in 2016. There has since been lots of noise about offsite construction and proven value outcomes. With the recent green homes grant announcement, we wanted to ensure that our members knew the full ins and outs before implementing the changes to their development programmes. We invited representatives from Stewart Milne and Totally Modular to discuss how their approach to development helps development teams to take the next steps to embrace MMC.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: Paul Sutton – ARK Consultancy

Speakers Panel:

• John Fisher - CHIC
• Brian Maunder – Totally Modular
• Simon Horn – Stewart Milne      

Building Safer Homes

This webinar looked at what the Draft Building Safety Bill really means for the housing and construction sectors. Mark Robinson from Trowers & Hamlins discussed the key details of what the bill means from a legal perspective and how to prepare for what is to come. We also invited Paul Dockerill from WHG to discuss the responsibilities of both landlords and residents and Peter Hordley from Novus to discuss the scale of the challenge from a contractor perspective.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: John Fisher - CHIC

Speakers Panel:

• Mark Robinson – Trowers & Hamlins
• Paul Dockerill – Walsall Housing Group
• Peter Hordley - Novus

Homes and Communities

Sometimes, just creating a great home is not enough. There are other elements to development and asset management that need to be taken into consideration to create and sustain strong communities where people can thrive. We invited representatives from three housing associations of different sizes and locations across England and Wales to talk about what they do to improve the lives of their tenants.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: John Fisher - CHIC

Speakers Panel:

• Peter Richmond – BVT
• Solitaire Pritchard – Pobl Group
• Alan Brunt – Bron Afon

Best Route to Market

The question as to whether a framework, contract or a new dynamic purchasing system is the best route to market is a constant choice for many housing and construction professionals with no right answer! Healthy discussions were held as to which route will give organisations the best value for money and drive efficiencies, considering the options from all perspectives.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: Mark Easton - BBC

Speakers Panel:

• Luke Hurd – CHIC
• Mark Robinson – Trowers & Hamlins
• Peter Hordley – Novus
• Martin Cawthorn – L&Q

Keynote Panel Discussion

The finale of our series was hosted by BBC Home Editor Mark Easton, which replaced our keynote session due to be held at our annual conference in June. We brought back Tom Collins from Worcester Bosch and Chris Jofeh from the Decarbonisation Welsh Advisory Board, to consider the difficult questions our delegates should be looking out for in 2021 around decarbonisation. We also enjoyed presentations from CEO Helen White from Taff Housing and CEO Elizabeth Froude from PHG who talked about how they are delivering homes that their tenants will need in the future. The session closed by inviting questions from attendees, which sparked some very thought-provoking issues for all delegates to ponder until we (hopefully) meet for real in 2021.

Download the Presentations Slides

Chaired By: Mark Easton - BBC

Speakers Panel:

• Chris Jofeh – ARUP
• Helen White – Taff Housing
• Tom Collins – Worcester Bosch
• Elizabeth Froude – Platform Housing Group

Future CHIC Webinars

We are pleased to announce that due to the popularity of the webinars, we will be continuing a series of regular, topical sessions. Every 6 weeks you can expect a new webinar with a panel of informed speakers, to discuss the latest issues the housing sector is facing, technical issues around asset management & development and how and where CHIC can help.

We want to know what topics you would like to see in our future CHIC Webinars. If you have any recommendations, please contact ccoulson@chicltd.co.uk

Please watch this space for further updates.

If you would like to revisit any previous webinars, recordings of all sessions will be uploaded to our website.

If you would like to present at one of our webinars or are interested in sponsoring an event, please contact ccoulson@chicltd.co.uk

In Other News

Annual Report

CHIC had its 10th anniversary during 2019/20. We had a very strong year supporting a growing membership and working with a wider set of supply chain partners. Some great outcomes were achieved despite the unexpected circumstances we all experienced around the coronavirus pandemic. Please see the link below to download our Annual Report, which we hope you will find of interest.

https://www.chicltd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/CHIC-Annual-Report-2019-20.pdf

Our New Website

We are now close to launching our updated website with an improved look and featuring an advanced filtering option, to find out which frameworks are available for members. If you have any news you would like to share on our site, including any case studies or testimonials, please get in touch at ccoulson@chicltd.co.uk.

Recruitment

CHIC is currently recruiting for 3 new colleagues to join the team including a Data Analyst, Head of Procurement and Head of Member Services in the North West. Applications are now closed for all roles. Thank you if you have submitted your application, which we will be reviewing over the next few weeks.

Watch out for announcements on new appointments in future editions of CHIC CHAT.

Our updated legal services framework went live in July. We have since received a lot of interest and many of our members have been using the framework to receive expert advice and cost savings across 3 legal workstream lots. Some of the housing specialist law firms on our framework include:

The Forbes’ Housing team provides a specialist comprehensive legal service to the Housing sector.

Forbes’ Housing team offers a full range of innovative and pro-active legal solutions that are geared towards the strategic and operational objectives of our clients.  The team has over 50 specialist members and their RP clients range from small to groups with over 70,000 properties. Their team prides itself on its friendly and approachable style and strives to establish a good working rapport with all their clients.

Key contact

Stuart Penswick – Partner and Head of Housing and Regeneration (Litigation)

Client Relationship Partner

T: 07976 252222

E: stuart.penswick@forbessolicitors.co.uk

Glazer Delmar work with registered providers of social housing, ALMOS’ and social co-operatives, providing a full range of legal services for tenancy management.

Glazer Delmar’s social housing team of solicitors, legal executives, trainee solicitors, paralegals and administrative staff, have strong social values and together have more than 50 years’ experience in Housing Law. Each lawyer is highly experienced and handles proceedings from beginning to end.

They guarantee a friendly and reliable service, with high standards and consistency. Since joining CHIC they have offered a webinar called Possession in Pandemic and have planned a Housing Conditions Masterclass in November.

Key contact

Paul Sowerbutts – Head of Department /Social Housing

Client Relationship Partner

T: 020 8613 5101

E: psowerbutts@glazerdelmar.com

Judge & Priestley’s specialist Housing Management team was appointed to CHIC’s Legal Panel (Lot 2 Housing and Asset Management) for the first time earlier this year. Their senior housing solicitors are all noted in the Legal 500 as either “recommended lawyers" or "leading individuals”.

They have a long history of successfully representing Social Housing providers, including clients of over 30 years standing, varying from smaller Housing Associations, to some of the biggest Local Authorities in England. Accordingly, they have unparalleled expertise and insight gained from representing this varied client base, on wide-ranging housing and leasehold matters, enabling them to identify developing trends and practices and forewarn clients of potential changes likely to impact them.

Driving recent expansion has been their appreciation of their client’s commercial needs. A collaborative approach has facilitated them to achieve reduced legal spend per case and to plan/manage their budgets with greater accuracy and efficiency.

Key Contact

Nitika Singh, Partner and Head of Housing Management

Client Relationship Partner

E: nsingh@judge-priestley.co.uk

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected both the labour and material markets due to social distancing, new safety measures and national lockdowns, with the UK having entered its second on the 5^th November.

Remember Brexit that is the other supply chain disruption that hasn’t gone away yet. In previous CHIC CHAT’s, we noted that stockpiling for Brexit assisted the sector with the first national lockdown; as suppliers had been preparing and adapting supply chains to the new commercial & trading realities of Brexit.

As we entered England’s second lockdown, CHIC has asked its active supply chain and stakeholders about:

• The impact of the pandemic on their business?
• The impact of the second lockdown on their capacity to provide their services/goods?
• Expectations of and final preparations for Brexit.

We approached 61 CHIC suppliers. These were grouped into contractors, distributors and manufacturers.

Key findings across these groups are:

Contractors:

• Are operating effectively now, with social distancing & safety measures implemented
• Most contractors do not believe the pandemic, lockdown or Brexit will affect their capacity to provide their services, having now implemented the current safety measures.
• Are expecting to see price increases following Brexit on their material purchases
• Are beginning to notice delays on materials to other supply and fix clients (for CHIC members, most materials are supplied direct)
• Are suggesting potential redundancies in the paint industry, but this appears to be aimed at support staff rather than manufacturing and delivery facilities.
• Are experiencing an increase on lead in times for certain products (e.g. roof tiles and kitchens) following the first lockdown.

Distributors:

• Are operating with social distancing & safety measures implemented
• Are continuously analysing market trends and adapting their supply chains
• Are experiencing increased lead times for a number of materials
• Have been preparing for Brexit for a number of years – with stocks and supply chain arrangements being adjusted and shifted accordingly.

Manufacturers:

• All suppliers are operating with social distancing & safety measures implemented
• However, the new social distancing & safety rules have led to lower production capacity and to increased lead times
• Have prepared for Brexit by stockpiling accordingly, as well diverting and adapting their own supply chain to better position themselves for 2021 trading
• The drop in demand experienced following the first lockdown has affected demand for some manufacturers, which in turn had an affect on their production and subsequent operations

Material Supply:

• There is currently a national shortage of PVC resin, which is used to extrude the profiles used to manufacture windows and doors. This shortage is not company specific and has affected the entire PVC industry and all their manufacturers.
• There continue to be shortages on timber & PPE. However, plaster has been taken off allocation with a return to normal ordering but still under close scrutiny.
• Lead times have increased on Concrete, Porcelain, Natural stone, Building chemicals, Kitchen appliances, Timber (across a large range of different timbers), Janitorial supplies, Felts, Roofing Tiles and Timber Doors.

This feedback from across CHIC’s partner organisations provides an idea of they key forces and issues currently at play which might affect CHIC members.

We need to stay flexible but recognise that the disruption being caused by COVID-19 and Brexit will continue for some while. Together, we need to give all stakeholders as much notice on future programmes of work to minimise disruption.