Construction industry leaders will gather at Ecobuild 2016 next week to provide key insights into what the next generation of UK homes is likely to look like, and answer the question ‘what makes good housing?’
Supported by the Home Quality Mark, a new national standard for design quality for homes, the conference first day will give a glimpse of the future.
Day one of the industry’s leading event is dedicated to the critical topic of homes, and the conference programme chaired by TV news anchor Cathy Newman presents a diverse range of speakers tackling key challenges such as maintaining design quality in the future. Giving their expert views on the future of housing delivery will be Tony Pidgley, Chairman of Berkeley Homes, David Sheridan, Chief Executive of Keepmoat, and Rowan Moore, the Observer’s Architecture Critic.
The conference day is sponsored by the Home Quality Mark, a new national standard developed by Ecobuild’s Research and Innovation Partner, BRE, to provide an impartial rating of a new home’s design quality including its sustainability. In a key session ‘Living for Tomorrow’ Colin Usher, Director of John McCall Architects, will look at commonsense solutions for low-energy, cost-effective future living, and the BRE’s New Homes and Communities Team Leader, Gwyn Roberts, will explore how next generation housing will be required to perform.
Gwyn Roberts commented: “By focusing on the critical issue of how the UK delivers on the housebuilding targets to provide cost-effective, sustainable and healthy homes which offer a good level of quality for homeowners and their surroundings, Ecobuild’s first day is tackling one of the industry’s major challenges head on. The Home Quality Mark has been developed to drive future quality in housebuilding and engage consumers in the cost-effectiveness of energy-efficient sustainable homes, but also the importance of design quality for addressing the performance gap, wellbeing and a home’s contribution to its locality.”
Other key highlights of the housing future-gazing first day include Professor Phil Jones, Chairman of Architectural Science at Cardiff University, looking at affordable below-zero carbon designs, and Bill Dunster OBE and Principal of ZEDfactory, describing his firm’s innovative response to the need for fast delivery of highly affordable low-carbon homes. Geoff Denton, Architect and Partner at White Arkitekter; Jan Chadwick, Director of K1 Housing, and Meredith Bowles, Founder of Mole Architects, will provide insights into ‘What Makes Housing Fit for the Future.’