NHMF2024 – ARK’s Key Takeaways

By Ruth Brown · 26 January 2024

This week saw the 2024 NHMF Conference take place in Stratford and ARK’s Neil Cox and Luke Beard have given their feedback and key takeaways from the event, responding to some questions put their way from our Marketing team;

• What are your general thoughts on the conference, was it well organised and did anything stand out to you?

  
  Neil Cox:
  “NHMF2024 was a well organised event with a good range of exhibitors, topics were of interest and in line with many of the things Registered Providers are contending with.

  Luke Beard:
  “The whole programme looked to cover some of the pressing issues that asset managers are facing at the moment. It was good to see an array of contractors exhibiting and how they are enhancing their solutions to the issues the sector is facing.”

• What were your key takeaways from the NHMF2024 conference?

  Neil Cox:
  “RP’s must leverage data and IT to help inform service development and functionality to ensure services are geared towards delivering tangible and effective outcomes, which both understand the performance of customers’ homes (good and bad) and remediate any issues. To assist the latter point, ensure connectivity between asset management and operational delivery.”

  Luke Beard:
  “Damp & mould – the sector is still grappling with this. HHSRS legislation has been part of the DH standard since the beginning and so this explosion of D&M cases must be a combination of several factors such as general standards in asset management but also changes to living & working styles”

• Did anyone particularly stand out with their presentation?

  Neil Cox:
  Ian Gardner from Wolverhampton Homes presented their approach towards Damp & Mould which was very well articulated and transferable into other RPs.

  Luke Beard:
  “Nigel Banks from Octopus Energy gave an insightful presentation on what he sees as the prioritisation of measures towards Net Zero. This suggested deep retrofit may not be the best option in terms of carbon reduction. It made me reflect on the famous quote by Peter Drucker “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it” – in this instance if we don’t start to think about embodied carbon within the materials we are specifying on energy efficiency projects, will the embodied carbon in those materials outstrip the operational carbon they are seeking to lower. As large-scale decarbonisation programmes commence, is now the time to start to measure the net outcome of our programmes?

• Did anything surprise you or change your feelings about a certain subject/issue?

  Neil Cox:
  “ I was surprised that many of the inherent sector issues and themes remain, with less than acceptable progress made around damp & mould, disrepair & litigation, fire/buildings safety. Whilst some of the legislation may have changed or be changing, RPs are still getting to grips with how to manage effectively.”

  Luke Beard:
  “Nigel Banks’ presentation left me with many feelings about Net Zero, and took me back to a piece of work I did more than ten years ago about energy related outcomes on stock portfolios and what they would achieve. There is still a clear case for property running costs/affordability to sit alongside carbon reduction as part of the intended outcomes for decarbonisation investment programmes.”

ARK have more than 30 years experience helping landlords with Asset Management. Contact us today to find out how we can help you to compile and leverage data on your housing stock, or with any of our range of other services.