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In Pictures: Scottish Housing Summit draws big crowds as sector shapes the future of homes
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The Scottish Housing Summit has wrapped up to widespread praise from delegates, with busy sessions, packed exhibition aisles and conversations that ran well beyond the scheduled programme.
Held as part of the Scottish Construction Summit at the SEC in Glasgow yesterday, the event brought together housing associations, councils, developers, designers, contractors and suppliers. More than 2,000 people visited the wider Summit across the day.
Bryony Willett, director at Home Group Scotland, kicked off the Summit's panel session on Sustainable Retrofitting
Two panel discussions drew some of the liveliest debate. The retrofitting session explored how landlords and local authorities can improve the energy performance of existing homes at scale while keeping costs manageable for tenants and residents.
Carl Baker and Maisie Tudge offered insights from Collective Architecture
Panellists discussed funding challenges, supply chain capacity and the practical realities of upgrading occupied properties.
Retrofit panel members Doug Forbes, director at Whole Life Consultants, and Kerry Mackie, business growth director at Procast Group (right) with session chair Loraine Sweeney from Supply Chain Sustainability School (centre)
The More Homes Scotland panel examined the route to increasing affordable housing supply, with speakers weighing up investment, delivery models and the partnerships needed to get more homes built.
A panel discussion around what the housing sector needs from More Homes Scotland was chaired by Dr Jocelyne Fleming, Scotland lead and policy manager at CIOB, and included (frmo left) Liz Hamilton, senior land and planning manager at AS Homes (Scotland) and Briar Homes; Gillian Lavety, development director for Scotland at Sanctuary Scotland; James Mackay, regional managing director at Persimmon Homes; and David Raine, head of policy development at Homes for Scotland
The programme also featured individual presentations covering some of the most pressing topics in housing:
- Heat networks, including their role in decarbonising homes and what successful delivery looks like in practice
- Planning, with insights into how the system can better support housing delivery
- Housing investment, looking at funding routes and the investment landscape for new and existing homes
- Design, showcasing approaches to creating high-quality, sustainable places to live
Delegates heard from design experts Murray Henderson, director at HAUS Collective, (left) and Matt Bridgestock, managing director at John Gilbert Architects
Reflecting on the event, Kieran Findlay, editor of Scottish Housing News, said: “It was fantastic to see so many people from across the sector come together, and the energy in the room all day was a real credit to everyone involved.
(from left) Gordon Thomson (Turley), Suzanne Hardie (MFMac), and Kathryn McKee (SSEN Transmission) all lended their expertise
“I’d like to thank our sponsors, whose support makes the Summit possible, our speakers and panellists for sharing their knowledge and experience so generously, and our exhibitors for creating such a vibrant showcase.
Heat networks and heat pumps were the focus of presentations by (from left) Anne Johnstone (Vital Energi), Ken Brady (Heat Network Scotland) and Stuart Gadsden (Kensa)
“Most of all, thank you to everyone who came along and took part. We look forward to building on this success.”
Scottish Housing News will publish further coverage of the sessions in the coming days. Next year’s Summit is planned for October 26th, 2027.
Photography courtesy of Jeff Holmes.
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