The National Housing Maintenance Forum's role is to promote best practice in the social housing maintenance sector, and this year’s Berlin Study Tour represents a powerful example of how international knowledge exchange can strengthen practice back home. Dr Eve Blezard, Policy Lead (Asset, Safety and Culture) at the Chartered Institute of Housing, attended the tour and brought valuable perspectives on why these learning opportunities matter profoundly for the sector.

Why the Berlin Tour Mattered

As someone with a doctorate in the built environment and a research background, Eve came to the Berlin tour with a specific interest in understanding how European research and practice connect to real-world application. She was particularly drawn to exploring Germany's approach to housing as a public good, where housing is enshrined in the basic law rather than treated primarily as a financial asset. This conceptual difference between how nations view housing resonates throughout their policy frameworks and practical delivery.

A powerful take away for Eve was how social housing is framed as long-term infrastructure rooted in place. Beyond the specific retrofit projects and repair services, this philosophical positioning highlighted why German housing providers approach their work so differently from many UK counterparts. The city walking tour provided essential historical context, helping delegates understand how Berlin's post-war reconstruction and reunification shaped current housing stock and provider strategies. With this context, the presentations on the operations of HOWOGE, a major provider of affordable housing for the state of Berlin and Gewobag one of Berlin’s largest municipal housing companies, proved to be insightful.

Practical Learning and Professional Value

The presentation by B&O, a leading German service provider explored the German approach to repairs, diagnostics, and operational service delivery, proved illuminating; highlighting the different ways maintenance can be embedded systematically into operations, repair culture and service standards. The tour also revealed how German providers approach regeneration with environmental consciousness, to sensitively retrofit former GDR prefab buildings rather than demolish them, an approach that contrasts with some UK demolition-focused strategies.

Beyond specific technical learning, meeting colleagues across the sector working in similar fields, facing similar challenges provided an opportunity to share insight, experience and knowledge. The responsive repairs work observed in Berlin mirrored UK experiences remarkably closely, from aging, predominantly male workforces to skills gaps as older operatives approach retirement. Yet alongside these similarities, the tour highlighted important differences. Germany's different cultural approach to apprenticeships and vocational training, combined with stronger legal frameworks protecting tenant rights, creates a context where self-regulation appears to work differently than in the UK system of intensive regulatory oversight.

Understanding Culture and Compliance

A large focus of the policy work Eve leads on examines culture and how it shapes safety and quality in housing. The tour reinforced that housing culture is deeply entrenched over many years and shaped by fundamental societal values. The insight that housing is treated as a public good in Germany, with this principle enshrined in the basic law, contrasts sharply with UK policy evolution since the 1980s. This exploration of how cultural values determine housing outcomes became a significant takeaway from the tour, one she's since developed through webinars with colleagues including Mike Turner from Cardo Group and Caritas Charles from TPAS.

The tour also highlighted questions about regulatory approaches. Caritas Charles raised a thought-provoking observation about Germany's lack of a formal regulator and ombudsman, instead relying on self-regulation backed by stronger legal frameworks. Eve described the German approach as "refreshing" whilst also finding it "surprising", recognising that understanding these different models requires deeper examination of cultural values rather than simple policy comparison.

A continued collaboration between NHMF and CIH

Eve’s involvement with the NHMF is the continuation of strong working relationship between CIH and the NHMF. In its work on repairs and maintenance, undertaken in response to the Better Social Housing Review, CIH recognised that organisations delivering planned works and responsive repairs are vital to housing policy. The NHMF therefore became one of the main strategic partners in the work that resulted in the Rethinking Repairs and Maintenance guidance. Eve has deepened this relationship, working closely with Julian Ransom, lead for NHMF’s Net Zero and HAMMAR Regional Working Groups.

Since then, Eve has provided valuable insight and contributions to multiple aspects of NHMF work and conference programming. She's clear that this collaboration serves both organisations well: CIH gains access to practitioners delivering front-line services, whilst NHMF benefits from policy expertise and research perspectives. Eve wanted to bring research, policy, and practice together in her role at CIH, something she's also pursued through her position on the board of the Housing Studies Association. The annual NHMF study tours align perfectly with this objective, providing opportunities to lift professionals' heads above daily operational pressures to consider international perspectives and innovation.

Looking Forward to The Hague

Eve will be taking part in this year’s NHMF Study Tour to The Hague to gain an understanding what practical solutions the Dutch have developed for challenges the UK also faces. How The Hague manages damp and mould given its proximity to water, is of particular interest given how central this topic is to Eve’s work on Awaab's Law and resident health outcomes. More broadly, the trip will also provide an opportunity to explore how different regulatory and cultural contexts shape responses to shared problems like housing shortages in urban centres and retrofitting aging stock.

Eve emphasised that whilst consultation responses often reference good European examples, this necessarily remains "paper based". The real value lies in visiting sites, meeting practitioners, and asking questions about how things actually work in practice. This direct experience cannot be replaced by reading case studies, no matter how well-researched and written. The Hague visit represents an opportunity to deepen the learning approach established in Berlin.

The Value of International Learning

For the NHMF and for the sector more broadly, Eve's participation illustrates why these study tours matter. They bring together researchers, policy specialists, practitioners, and sector bodies around genuine learning objectives. They create space for difficult questions about culture, regulation, and effectiveness. They build relationships that extend beyond the tour itself, fostering collaboration that strengthens UK practice through international perspective.

Eve described the Berlin tour as "well-structured, well-paced, and thought-provoking throughout" and as providing both ideas and valuable connections. For professionals often absorbed in day-to-day operational pressures, these opportunities to step back and consider international approaches can catalyse thinking that might otherwise remain confined within national frameworks. Through partnerships like those between CIH and NHMF, the sector creates conditions where research, policy, and practice can come together to strengthen the social housing landscape.

Click here to read report

Next year’s study trip to the Hague will continue this focus on carbon reduction and approaches delivering sustainable ecological benefits.

The Study Tour is by invitation only. If you haven't received an invite but would like to participate click here to register interest

If you would like to discuss either the Berlin study report in greater detail or learn more about the agenda for the trip to the Hague please contact Julian Ransom at Julian@ion-consultants.co.uk

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We’re called Working Groups because that’s precisely what we’re doing – working, not just talking and meeting. If you’d like to join us working on behalf of creating a better social housing landscape consider becoming a member of one of the areas our Working Groups cover: 

Procurement, HealthyHomes, Building & Fire Safety, NetZero, Technology, Training, Skills & Culture or HAMMAR regional please contact: rhiannon.blower@m3h.co.uk