CHIC CHAT

CHIC Webinars Are Back!

Due to the popularity of CHIC’s 2020 webinar programme, which replaced our annual conference, we will be delivering a new programme of topical webinars during 2021. You can expect informative presentations and discussion from a variety of housing and construction experts, focused on topical issues around asset management and development facing the housing sector.

Modular Construction – Creating Futureproof Housing Stock

Monday 22nd February 2021 | 10:00am – 11:00am

The first in the series will address an important issue that the sector is currently facing, adapting planned development programmes to accommodate the growing requirement for new MMC homes. CHIC’s BuildSmart options have recently been strengthened, now comprising a range of long-term contracts with manufacturing partners:

• Three for the manufacture, supply and erection of modular homes, all of which have options for full site works and turnkey contracts
• One for the manufacture, supply and erection of advanced timber frame homes
• Two for the manufacture of modular homes

From improved speed of delivery and quality, reduced environmental impact, to reduced impact on existing residents and potential savings, this webinar will demonstrate the benefits you can expect and how CHIC’s BuildSmart solutions will support you in achieving these.

REGISTER YOUR PLACE

We have invited a panel of experts to discuss how your organisation can benefit from offsite manufacture and to answer your questions about this important topic.

Our Speakers

Jack Randall | Chief Operating Officer, Impact Modular
Simon Horn | Technical Development Manager, Stewart Milne Timber Systems
John Fisher | Managing Director, CHIC

Chaired by Sarah Davey | Head of Development, CHIC

For more information, please contact ccoulson@chicltd.co.uk

What's Happening at CHIC

CHIC’s BuildSmart Showhome

CHIC developed its off-site constructed showhome to demonstrate the improved speed of delivery and quality that modular homes can provide. The house is a 2 bedroom, 4 person 79m2 home built offsite using two modules. It is designed as one of a pair of semis’.

It also shows that it can look just like a traditionally constructed house and can be finished in a variety of materials including cladding, brick slip, render or traditional masonry. The house has been designed to show a completed structure downstairs and upstairs. Upstairs parts of the walls, ceilings and floor have been left unfinished to demonstrate the construction techniques and materials used.

We have developed a virtual tour which allows you to view the house from the comfort of your armchair but, if you want to view in person, we are happy to arrange a socially-distanced appointment once we have made it through lockdown 3.0.

The showhome is located in Kidderminister, kindly hosted by Community Housing Group.

Please contact Sarah Davey, CHIC’s Head of Development for more information on BuildSmart options, our house types or to book a viewing sdavey@chicltd.co.uk

CHIC CONFERENCE 2021

Last year, the annual CHIC Conference went virtual as we delivered our high quality content online. This year, we are really looking forward to be able to host the event live again, returning to Sixways Stadium in Worcester. Reflecting the current covid situation, we have moved the date of the 2021 ‘live conference’ to Wednesday 24th November when we hope that the impact of the pandemic will have significantly eased.

You can expect a wide range of experts from the housing and construction sectors, delivering valuable content on the latest topics around asset management, development, people and more. Our workshops are influenced by your feedback and offer a chance for you to gain key transferable knowledge and to question sector experts on current issues.

As with all CHIC conferences it is supported by our contractors and supply chain partners and free to attend for members.

Register Your Place

So please book your own place, ask colleagues to book theirs and keep an eye on our website for further updates www.chicltd.co.uk. You do not want to miss out!

In the meantime, read later about our webinar programme, which will include a day of three webinars chaired by Mark Easton on Wednesday 9th June, so please book this date too.

Rapid, Reliable, Procurement
CHIC Dynamic Purchasing System

Housing providers need to deliver services to customers and manage their assets in what can be a fast-changing and unpredictable operating environment. Over the past few years, situations such as Fire Safety and the Coronavirus Pandemic have shown just how quickly organisations have needed to respond to cope with the unexpected.

Rapid access to reliable and cost-effective contractors and supply chains can be critical to success and CHIC’s Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) offers Members the perfect solution.

The DPS has proven popular since first introduced and many members have used it to access new services and suppliers.

CHIC has a wide range of DPS solutions available to Members and we are continually reviewing these to meet ongoing requirements. If you have any queries, please get in touch at enquiries@chicltd.co.uk.

You can find out more about our DPS Solutions HERE

CHIC’s Legal Services Framework

Our updated legal services framework went live in 2020. Many members have since been using the framework to receive expert advice and cost savings across three legal workstream lots. Some of the housing specialist law firms on our framework include:

Trowers is delighted to be reappointed to the CHIC Legal Services Framework, and to continue working with CHIC members on the important and innovative work they do, serving their communities.

We are appointed to Lot 1 of the Framework – Corporate, Governance and Finance. We have a broad team of social housing and real estate lawyers who can advise you on all matters in this Lot - covering governance, finance, employment, pensions, commercial, corporate, procurement and joint ventures. Niche areas of advice such as intellectual property, data protection, cybercrime and fraud are also within our specialism.

Working with us, CHIC Members will benefit from building a close and trusted working relationship with partners who have a deep understanding of the sector.

If you would like to get in touch, please contact:

Richard St John Williams
Partner
T: 0161 838 2097 / M: 07436 794595
E: rstjohnwilliams@trowers.com

Ward Hadaway's social housing team is delighted to be part of the CHIC Framework. We are on Lot 2: Housing & Asset Management.

The Partner-led Social Housing Group acts for both large and small Registered Providers throughout the North of England and the Midlands.

We are experts on:

Anti Social Behaviour and other Breach of tenancy
Bespoke and General Legal training for housing management
Boundary and Party Wall Act disputes
Disrepair litigation
Equality, Human Rights and Vulnerability Advice
Gas servicing access
HCA regulation
Leasehold disputes
Policy and Procedure
Possession proceedings against all levels of tenure
Recovery of rent
Service Charge disputes and Rent Review including Tribunal representation

We also offer fixed price support packages to help with leasehold management.

If you would like to get in touch, please contact:

Alistair McDonald
Business Development Manager-Built Environment
T: +44 (0) 330 137 3021
M: +44 (0) 774 040 5741

With an outstanding market reputation, we are committed to providing CHIC members the very best service. Weightmans is recommended for social housing in leading legal directories Chambers & Partners and Legal 500.

As a large and well-resourced firm, CHIC members will benefit from our strength and depth with multiple office locations, multiple experts, niche specialisms, strong business support teams and established business lines to benefit our clients.

We will offer a variety of added value benefits to CHIC and its members including free training, monthly management information, free of charge pre-instruction advice, library services, two-way secondments and access to our innovative use of technology; our product is market leading and in how it can help CHIC members manage their asset portfolios, enabling an early approach to potential areas of risk.

If you would like to get in touch, please contact:

Lot 2 - Housing and asset management

Sian Evans

Partner

sian.evans@weightmans.com

0151 242 6821

Lot 3 - Property and development

Thomas Starkey

Partner

thomas.starkey@weightmans.com

0151 305 8921

Wright Hassall has been acting for Registered Providers since 1965 and provides the full range of RP legal services.

Lot 1 - Our securitisation team has helped raise over a billion pounds for the sector - £750 Million alone in 2020. One of our partners, Carol Matthews, lobbied the Government to abolish Section 133 of the Housing Act 1988 which has resulted in huge valuation uplifts.

Contact: carol.matthews@wrigthassall.co.uk

Lot 2 - Our Housing Management team doesn’t just deal with tenancy enforcement – we will revise your procedures to minimise risk to the business and are proactive in training teams to bring their own court claims, saving time and reducing cost.

Contact: mary.rouse@wrighthassall.co.uk

Lot 3 - Our Development team is at the cutting edge of RP development recently advising on a large-scale modular build together with land led and traditional methods of procurement.

Contact: claire.waring@wrighthassall.co.uk

News from the Sector

Construction products regulator

Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick has recently announced a new regulator, set up to monitor the safety of construction products. It will have the power to remove any products that present any significant safety risks. It will also be able to prosecute any companies which disobey the project safety rules.

The review comes after the Grenfell Inquiry revealed several dishonest practices by some manufacturers of construction products, even questioning the results of some safety tests.

This is a major step in ensuring homes are built with the safety of tenants in mind, specifically in the use of safe materials. Alongside the draft safety bill, these are necessary improvements to the regulations, ensuring the “national approach is fit for purpose”.

If you have any questions regarding this news, please get in touch with a member of the team at enquiries@chicltd.co.uk

Extra £3.5bn for high-rise cladding removal

A recent publication reveals that the Government is providing an extra £3.5bn towards the removal of dangerous cladding from high-rise buildings taller than 18m. Leaseholders in buildings below this height will also be offered loans to help fix their buildings.

£1.6bn was already pledged towards removing dangerous cladding back in 2020. This extra funding will take the total figure to over £5bn, a great addition to help tackle this important issue making this “the biggest-ever investment in building safety by a UK government”.

For buildings under 18m, the Government will create a new low-interest loan scheme for leaseholders in buildings where dangerous cladding needs to be removed, meaning there will be more help with costs for cladding remediation.

Launch of social housing decarbonisation research

Research to better understand social landlords decarbonisation plans and ambitions has been commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Understanding how the government can support social landlords in delivering energy improvement plans will greatly help in tackling the UK’s energy efficiency issues.

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund was announced last year and received additional funding in the latest Spending Review. The research will help shape where money is best spent and make the transition into the full decarbonisation of UK housing stock more efficient. It also seeks to determine what technical assistance could be provided to social landlords.

Read More

CHIC is glad to see a proactive approach to decarbonisation nationally, as this has been on our own agenda for many years. Our newbuild MMC solutions ensure that our homes have a low environmental impact.

CHIC is already working on some new framework and DPS options to establish specialist decarbonisation supply chains including consulting, contractors and suppliers. If you want to know more or have specific requests, please contact our Chief Operating Officer Luke Hurd at lhurd@chicltd.co.uk

News from the Supply Chain

National Apprenticeship Week

Apprenticeships are considered an excellent way to teach key transferable skills and to provide experience in a company or a sector for new employees.

Last week (8^th February) was national apprenticeship week, encouraging people into work placements and providing apprentices the recognition they deserve. We have seen some great stories and outcomes from our supply chain partners such as Edmundson Electrical upskilling their apprenticeship programme to provide further skills and training and Jewson’s well thought of publication on how to get started with an apprenticeship during the pandemic.

CHIC places great importance on it’s social value targets, building them into every works, services and materials supply contract. We work closely with Local Employment Groups to help create full time employment opportunities and apprenticeships. We will be presenting our Trainee of the Year Award at our annual conference and exhibition in November 2021. For more information, please contact fbentley@chicltd.co.uk

Wright Hassall Data Action Network

2020 was an interesting year both in terms of the change in ways of working and how organisations have implemented changes in order to meet compliance requirements.

Wright Hassall run a Data Action Network (DAN) which brings together housing and care data protection professionals with responsibility for data protection and information governance within their organisations. Alongside an online portal and quarterly workshops and networking meetings, DAN gives members an opportunity to share insight and know-how in relation to data protection and information governance.

For more information on the Network and how to join please CLICK HERE.

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