Our Public Sector team have been at the CIH Housing 2011 conference & exhibition in Harrogate this week. Speaking to Andrew Tait, our Sector Director at Jewson, it sounds like it has been a really positive experience for all involved; ‘Customers are extremely interested in value for money and this seems to be the main focus of conversations at the Jewson stand, as well as satisfaction for tenants and tailoring services to meet the customer’s needs and expectations.’
Jewson are also running a competition which has proven very popular with conference attendees. The prize is £1000 worth of building materials for a social housing project, and we’ll be announcing the winners shortly.
Andrew particularly enjoyed the opening seminar, held my Dennis Turner, Chief Economist for HSBC, covering the new economic landscape as well ad an excellent evaluation of the importance of housing with regards to economic growth.
This afternoon Housing Minister Grant Shapps will be at the conference for the Ministerial session and the presentation of the housing pact. Presenter, and Chief Exec of CIH, Sarah Webb addresses the question of how the land lies twelve months after the housing pact was made in an article on The Guardian here. Encouraging people in the housing market to attend and be heard she concludes: ‘Even more reason for people who care about housing to get involved in creating this year’s housing pact and being part of presenting the sector’s demands to Grant Shapps, the housing minister, on the last day of the conference.’
The President of CIH also appealed to the government and the wider community to put housing at the top of economic priorities in his Keynote speech.
It is positive to see the flag being flown for housing, and we look forward to this afternoon’s session with anticipation. The full schedule of the last day at CIH Housing is available on the website.
