The 2017 White Paper Fixing our broken housing market says:
“The housing market needs to operate differently to start to address affordability and deliver the step change in house building that is required. The Government proposes to support different parts of the market, including new entrants, to boost productivity.”

So, how realistic is it for new players to meet the government’s expectations and deliver a step change in production?
• Can new SMEs make a significant impact?
• Can local authorities build enough homes to solve the crisis?
• Are barriers to entry too great? How can they be overcome?
• Do the big builders restrain trade for new smaller companies?
• How can the terms of trade be made fairer for new SMEs?
• What is it really like to try to break into the market? What can we learn from that experience?
• Should we even try to rely on firms that aren’t big enough ride out a recession?

Chair:
Terrie Alafat CBE: CEO Chartered Institute of Housing

Speakers:
• Andrew Whitaker: Planning Director, Home Builders Federation
• Dr Janice Morphet: Visiting Professor, Bartlett School of Planning, UCL
• Janet Sutherland: Housing consultant for Pocket Homes & formerly senior housing officer at Lewisham & Camden Councils
• Stephen Hill: C20 futureplanners

Venue:
Sir Peter Hall Room (G.01)
Bartlett School of Planning, UCL
Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place
London WC1H 0NN

The debate was run by the Edge and the Place Alliance.

Presentations:

- ED81 - Janice Morphet presentation
- ED81 - Janet Sutherland presentation

Debate Reports:

- Just get on with it! - Jane Briginshaw 26/9/17
- Edge Debate 81 New housing players: Debate notes

Nearly a year after UK Government mandated Level 2 BIM for its projects, is it getting what it sought and are the efficiencies promised in building delivery and operations being achieved?

The ambition for L2 BIM was to progress from 3-D spatial models to ones that also provide all of the information on a building, its components, assemblies, costs, operation & performance that any player might need to know at any time in its life cycle. The L2 model was intended to be built progressively by many parties into an holistic, up-to-date and factual representation of the building for multiple life-long uses.

Elegant in concept, the devil was always going to be in the detail.
This debate explored Level 2 BIM’s progress so far, how it affects different stakeholders and what, if anything, is needed next.

Chair:
Dr Anne Kemp: Director, Atkins; Chair of UK BIM Alliance, Chair ICE BIM Action Group

Speakers:
Les Copeland: Technical Director, WSP, Chair of CIBSE BIM Steering Group
Helen Taylor: Practice Director, Scott Brownrigg, Edge Member.
Karen Alford: BIM & GSL Programme Manager, The Environment Agency
Dwight Wilson: Digital Engineering Manager, Imtech, Member of dotBuiltEnvironment

Venue: Institute of Physics, 80 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT

The debate was a joint venture between the Edge and CIBSE Home Counties North East Region.

• Why do UK buildings overheat in summer?

• Who is affected by it?

• What should we do about it?

• Who should do it?

This event examined the problem of overheating in the UK’s domestic buildings. Overheating is a nationwide, growing problem that can render buildings uninhabitable in summer months. It affects the construction industry, social landlords, the health care sector and building owners and occupiers.
New, just published research in Building Research and Information (BRI) provides robust evidence on the nature and extent of overheating and those who are vulnerable. The editorial of the Special Issue notes the:

’perfect storm’ of interacting factors [that] cause summertime overheating: the drive for energy efficiency and decarbonization, the changing climate with increasingly hot summers and heatwaves, urbanization and urban heat islands, the incessant drive to reduce construction costs, increasing land and property prices, an ageing population, the technical ability to identify and quantify the problem, and the profound social and cultural lack of knowledge about what to do when confronted with heat.This debate will examine these factors and consider what might be done and by whom to address this systemic problem. These questions include:

• What new roles should building regulations have to reduce overheating?
• What can professional institutes do to ensure their members take responsibility for overheating in new builds and retrofits?
• What changes are needed to the higher education curriculum and CPD?
• Who will provide information to occupants on how to operate the building and what to do if overheating does occur (adaptive opportunities)?

Chair: Esther Kurland, Director, Urban Design London
Introduction: Prof Kevin Lomas, Loughborough University
Speakers: Prof Fionn Stevenson, University of Sheffield
Prof Rajat Gupta, Oxford Brookes University
Respondees: Lynne Sullivan OBE, LSA Studio
Angie Bone, Public Health England
David Adams, Melius Homes

Venue: The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, 22 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0QB, Room G.02

Timing: Tuesday 31 January 2017

Note: The special issue of Building Research & Information “Overheating in Buildings: Adaptation Responses” is available online.
Attendees have free access to the articles in the special issue via this special link (until 31 July 2017): http://www.tandfonline.com/r/rbri-specialissue

Downloads (presentations):
- Kevin Lomas - Introduction presentation
- Fionn Stevenson - Overheating presentation
- Rajat Gupta - Overheating risk in care homes presentation

The debate was held in collaboration with Building Research & Information (BRI)

How should we value heritage’s contribution to our sense of place, well-being and identity?

Our historic built environment is under increasing and varied threat – from development pressures arising from economic and demographic change; from neglect and decay; from the impact of current environmental factors as well as from the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The NPPF requires us to identify the ‘values’ of historic assets so that these can be weighed against other public benefits of change; including regeneration, economic growth and sustainability.

This Edge Debate - Heritage Capital - explored whether it is desirable or even possible, in the interests of conservation, to assess the overall value of our historic built environment and, if so, how.

Chair:
Ros Kerslake OBE - Chief Executive, Heritage Lottery Fund

Speakers:
Chris Jofeh, Director & Global Buildings Retrofit Leader, Arup (Welcome)
Jonathan Schifferes - Senior Researcher, Public Services and Communities, RSA and lead researcher for “Heritage, Identity and Place”
Kate Pugh - OBE, former Chief Executive, The Heritage Alliance
Kate Brown - Group Director, Sustainability, Grosvenor
Ingrid Samuel - Director of Historic Environment, National Trust
Jason Eis - Executive Director, Vivid Economics
Martina Mazotta - Director Fondazione Mazzotta Living Archive

Venue: Arup, 8 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 4BJ

Downloads (presentations):

• Ingrid Samuel presentation

• Jason Eis presentation

• Kate Brown presentation

• Kate Pugh presentation

• Martina Mazzotta presentation