South East conference news round up, Days 2 and 3
06/03/09
Bob Lawrence
CIH South East has announced that it will be making the late Bob Lawrence one of its Housing Heroes. Bob passed away in November 2008 and CIH President, Steve Benson, will make the award to his family later in the year. Housing Heroes is an initiative developed by the CIH President to recognise the work of unsung heroes in the sector.
New tenure
The National House Building Council has suggested that the sector should consider 'smoothing out tenure differences' and 'individuals should be subsidised', not housing stock. The comments were made by NHBC Chief Executive Imtiaz Farookhi, during his visit to Brighton this week.
Land supply
House building is more difficult in the South East because land supply is often slower in coming forward than other regions. And, as less one- and two-bedroom properties are built in the future, developer Lovell believes this will become even more acute - as the mismatch grows between housing density and land supply.
Carbon emissions
Canadian architect and academic Professor Avi Friedman gave a stark reminder of the global impact of housing on the environment - 40% of the world's resources are used for construction and 30% of all energy used goes into house building.
New charity
The Tara Centre is the new charity being supported by incoming CIH South East Chair, Claire Martin - Head of Supporting People at Kent County Council. The Tara Centre is an Ethiopian community development project. Commenting on the charity, Claire said, 'I wanted to help a charity that I have visited, and which will use the money that is raised to directly help the local community (humans and animals) in a holistic and pragmatic way. They run a nursery, a school, clean the public toilets, make crafts, assist disabled people, and take in monkeys, donkeys and dogs. The charity is like a one-stop shop for the whole community.'
Quote of the week
'A landlord's house is a tenant's home', Michael Gelling, Chair of TAROE.
Around the world
Dan Cruikshank, the architectural historian, took the CIH South East conference attendees on an odyssey around the world, looking at buildings and their impact on communities, and how they reflect the life of those communities. Dan gave an insight into how public sector housing has evolved, and how lessons can be learnt from the past and the present to better inform the built environment.