Opinion

Dr Joel Callow from Beyond Carbon channels his inner car showroom salesman to explain why Scotland needs absolute targets for energy in housing. “The fuel economy? Yes I have very good news on that front madam, you won’t be disappointed with your purchase. This car has been benchmarked a

Ahead of tomorrow's Scottish Housing Day, Muir Group CEO Martin Smith looks at some changes on the horizon, particularly from the Programme for Government, and how we can overcome today's challenges to give the people of Scotland the homes and communities that they deserve. The shortage of home

Jimmy Black hears about some great work happening in Perth & Kinross; then thinks about people excluded from the housing market by high prices and poverty. We’re running out of words. We’ve used “housing emergency” to explain the failure of our housing markets to provide

Gary Gray from Muir Timber Systems outlines the benefits of timber frame builds and how they could play a key role in fixing the current housing crisis. The housing crisis in Scotland is becoming ever more acute. More than 110,000 more homes are needed to alleviate what even the Scottish Government

Changes in lending practices have seen RSLs move away from their traditionally cautious approach to managing interest rate fluctuations to explore more complex options, writes Derek Hogg. Scottish registered social landlords (RSLs) can be a cautious breed. Indeed, when it comes to exposure

Senior solicitor Euan Bathgate outlines some of the challenges faced by rural RSLs compared to those in the central belt. Rural housing providers in Scotland face unique and complex challenges that set them apart from urban areas. From meeting net-zero targets to grappling with geographical isolatio

On the back of the recent announcement by the Scottish Government to cut £700,000 from the cladding remediation programme set up by the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024, Anamore director Anthony Marley expresses his disappointment and caution at the decision. In recent years,

Crisis senior best practice officer, James Mullaney, discusses the lessons that can be learned from interviewing people with experience of homelessness. Homelessness charity Crisis recently ran some research based on detailed interviews with people with experience of homelessness to find out more ab

Home Group customer Robyn Inglis talks about her experience when it comes to being able to make your voice heard. Making sure that customers voices are heard is so important, that’s why it’s great to see it being a main feature of the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM).

Marcus Di Rollo, lettings director at full-service legal firm Gilson Gray, looks at why the City of Discovery offers an attractive proposition for landlords priced out of properties in the capital. Dundee is undergoing huge transformation. The arrival of the V&A nearly six years ago, infrastruct

Kirsty Wells, assistant director of ARK Consultancy, highlights the progress and challenges over ten years of the Scottish Social Housing Charter and the lessons that can be learned from Grenfell. The first week in September saw the publication of two important documents in the UK social h

Now that the Scottish Passivhaus equivalent consultation is live, Stefan Huber, managing director at PAUL Heat Recovery Scotland, explains how MVHR works and why it is needed in Scotland. The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a consultation on a policy to introduce a Scottish Pa

Sarah Cooper from Thorntons Solicitors outlines changes that landlords and tenants should expect in the Housing (Scotland) Bill. It has been a busy year on the housing front in Scotland. In early Spring, we saw the temporary measures protecting tenants from rent increases and evictions relating

We must remind the Scottish Government that to deliver their targets for affordable homes we need one vitally important commitment, writes Bryony Willett. This week’s Programme for Government comes amidst challenging economic circumstances. I appreciate the difficult decisions the government h

SFHA policy manager, Susie Fitton, on why government must fund aids and adaptions. We know that the Scottish Government is facing significant financial pressures ahead of this week’s fiscal statement and Programme for Government – there’s no getting away from the fact that it&rsquo