What a fantastic day yesterday for our first in-person forum meeting of the year!

Focused on Awaab’s Law including Stage 2, the day had a new format, kicking off with presentations from sector experts and then moved onto breakout sessions with roundtable discussions. The three speakers first covered the different perspectives of legal & consultative, training & clients, and service providers, and after a short networking break the participants were split into groups for roundtable discussions between attendees and presenters to explore the topic further and feedback to the wider group.

A special thanks to our speakers:

Legal & Consultants Perspective

Professor Michael Parrett for delivering a fascinating review of the work he’s been doing in supporting the sector to identify hazards and adhere to Awaab’s Law regulations, both current and future, as Phase two of Awaab's Law, coming in October, will extend to cover excessive cold, excessive heat, structural hazards, fire safety, and electrical hazards, and in 2027, to cover all Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) hazards with the exception of overcrowding (which Mike expressed disagreement with, arguing that overcrowding can be a material contributor to damp and mould). Mike, who introduced himself as a building pathologist and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, spoke with evident expertise, passion and understanding.  He explained that proper building pathology involves identifying the root cause of a problem rather than treating symptoms, distinguishing between building defects, design and construction failures, and lifestyle or occupancy factors, and discussed some of the approaches being taken to diagnosing and categorising hazards, as well as some of the best practices he recommends. More to follow.

Please head over to https://myhometruths.co.uk/#about-mike-parrett to purchase a copy of Mike’s book: Building Defects and Your Health. It’s a useful resource for understanding more about Awaab’s Law and all the proceeds go to Young Lives vs Cancer.

Training and Client Perspective

Danny Bird (Aster) - who brought his perspective of training and client-led practice to the conversation - for highlighting the importance of considering the cultural and human dimensions of responding to damp and mould, rather than purely the technical or procedural. Danny explained that his training focuses ensuring that every person involved in the process of compliance with Awaab’s Law, from call handler to contractor, needs to understand their role within the wider chain of response. If any link in that chain does not understand its responsibility, residents will not receive the right outcome. Training needs to go beyond technical knowledge and instil empathy, awareness, and a sense of personal responsibility in staff at all levels, because, making staff aware early means that issues can be escalated correctly before they worsen. And, taking residents at face value initially - until issues can be quantified, is important. Up and down scaling can be done accordingly during the process, but ensuring both compliance and fair treatment is key to providing residents with clear, accessible information for tenants about what to expect and what action is being taken. Danny also acknowledges the challenges of operating within tight timeframes, particularly when balancing emergency repairs against other demands.

Service Provider Perspective

Paul Nicholls (The Dwelling Doctors) for rounding off the session with a specialist contractor’s perspective, underpinning the other speakers points with the addition of the importance of data and information quality, noting that having the right information is essential to making good decisions and protecting the organisation. He explained the approach that Dwelling Doctors take to surveys and how the record works supporting good contractor/ client relationships, that they are moving away from purely transactional arrangements towards a more collaborative model built on shared understanding of standards and expectations. Paul also agreed on the critical role of the initial call and line of questioning in making accurate triage assessments, with good initial questioning helping to direct resources appropriately, and that where tenants report health conditions or vulnerabilities in their household, these are taken at face value to ensure response within the required timescales and correct outcome for residents. However, compliance with timescales alone does not guarantee good outcomes and there is too much inconsistent diagnosis processes across the sector and over-reliance on superficial remediation such as mould wash. The focus should be on root cause thinking, distinguishing between condensation, ventilation issues, structural defects, building defects, and lifestyle and occupancy factors.

Collaborative Thinking

Tessa Barraclough (Riverside and chair of the NHMF Healthy Homes Working Group) for chairing the second round and inspiring the room to dig deeper on key themes: integrating health into homes standards; Resident education and responsibilities; Innovation and testing solutions; and, Developing packages of works and procuring a holistic approach to delivering Healthy Homes alongside other services. Each group unpicked their topic along 5 key themes:

1. What are the challenges? 
2. Are you aware of Phase 2 and the implications?
3. What can clients bring?
4. What can Service Providers bring?     
5. What do we need from each other?

The session led to lots of thoughtful discussion and engaging outcomes – a full report to follow!

New Procurement Guide

Last but not least, a thank you and well done to the NHMF Procurement Working Group - the team behind the new digital NHMF Procurement Guide. With the support of Sonya Russell (FFT), Lee Maskell (FFT) and Richard Brooks (Anthony Collins) talked us through the new website, which is about to go into final testing with the peer panel ahead if the full launch soon. This is going to be an excellent and really relevant resource and we’re looking forward to seeing the finalised version soon. As NHMF Chair Neil Watts commented, “the sector as a whole will benefit from the Guide, which is a strong example of the NHMF's commitment to sharing best practice without charge”.

Attendees were invited to give feedback about the sessions, what they thought of the new format and the chance to suggest new award topics for the forthcoming NHMF Conference awards next January. We’d like to thank all the members that attended, old and new. And for any attendees that haven’t yet submitted feedback please remember to leave us your comments here: www.slido.com #3498872​

We were also pleased to welcome some potential new members, who came along to see what the SPF is all about, and reported afterwards that they were keen to sign up, so we look forward to seeing you again at the next meeting, which will be hosted online on 2^nd July.

NHMF Study Tour

Ben Virgo (M3) for giving us a whistle-stop run through of the recent NHMF Study Tour to The Hauge ahead of the full report, which is due to be published shortly. Around 30 delegates attended, bringing together representatives from UK and Dutch housing organisations as well as European bodies, to explore, over 3 days, the comparative scale and neighbourhood structure, the funding and financial structure, and the challenges they face.

We look forward to sharing additional information from the sessions in due course.

Until then…

Amy Boothman, Chair of the NHMF Service Provider Forum.