The Housing Executive has hosted a Construction Industry Engagement event which involved over one hundred construction industry and supply chain partners to discuss growth in its future investment plans.

Grainia Long, the Housing Executive Chief Executive, started the event by outlining the organisation's vision and investment plans for its housing stock until 2030, which includes a significant increase in improvements to its properties.

The Director of Asset Management, Paul Isherwood welcomed dialogue with attendees to explore the opportunities for working with the Housing Executive. He said: "We want to make it clear to everyone we have an ambitious programme for maintenance and improvements works that will improve the housing stock for our tenants and boost the local economy.

"There is approximately £1.42 billion available to spend and invest in our stock over the period 2025/26-2029/30. While this is not enough to fund everything we need and want to do; we look forward to working with our construction and supply chain partners to deliver a high standard of service for our tenants.

-- Advertisement --

"To do that we want the construction and supply chain partners to engage with us, be part of our vision and help us shape the future of investment delivery here."

Mr. Isherwood proceeded to address the expansion of the Housing Executive's supplier network and the acceleration of delivery to increase the quality of our tenants' homes and improve our local economy.

A key speaker at the event was Linda Watson, Chair of the Central Housing Forum, and Housing Executive tenant for the past 33 years. Linda said: "I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to really communicate with the people you are doing this work for, and the impact it can have on their homes.

"As a tenant you will probably get a new kitchen every 20 years or so, and a bathroom suite replaced every 30 years. Consultation with community groups and tenants can really help contractors know what tenants would like and reassure them how the work will take place in their homes. Community groups want to help residents help the contractors to achieve a good result for everyone."

Kevin Logan, Assistant Director of Procurement, briefed on the Housing Executive's new procurement strategy and encouraged discussion on identifying potential barriers that could be preventing companies from working with the Housing Executive.

Angus Kerr, Director of Climate Change at the Department for Communities, addressed climate change within the residential sector and outlined the roadmap for decarbonisation.