BEYOND ‘26 LIVE Northern Ireland  

This year’s event took place on 4 March 2026 at the Glenavon House Hotel and once again provided insight into the aspects of home building specifically relating to Northern Ireland.

BEYOND ’26 Live in Northern Ireland looked at the challenges and opportunities facing house building today and featured experts on innovation, sustainability, construction quality and regulatory change, with interactive sessions, live demonstrations and a factory tour, all designed to inspire, inform and challenge industry thinking. 

Padraig Venney, Northern Ireland Director at NHBC said “I am delighted that BEYOND ’26 LIVE has returned to Northern Ireland this year. Not only does this event give us chance to share best practice and keep up to date with the latest developments and innovation in the home-building industry, it’s also a wonderful opportunity to come together as a sector and consider the prospects and challenges unique to Northern Ireland.”

BEYOND expectations

The event featured a host of engaging sessions including Unlocking housing supply through the Planning Improvement Programme with Chief Planner, Rosemary Daly. Attendees got the chance to learn about the progress and priorities of the Planning Improvement Programme as it works to improve the effectiveness, resilience and sustainability of the system. This session also focussed on understanding the current operational challenges, including investment in workforce capacity and capability in addition to the legislative and system improvements needed to enhance the system.

Attendees also took a deep dive into the most common claims we see in the region’s new homes in the session Reducing claims and delivering for new-home owners in Northern Ireland. Duncan Arrandale, NHBC’s Technical Insights Manager analysed the most frequent claim types, the common defects behind them and shared best practice to help home builders deliver quality for homeowners and avoid costly claims.

In addition BEYOND ’26 LIVE examined the impact of water scarcity in the session Every drop counts: Tackling water scarcity – lessons from around the world. Across the globe, the ability to deliver safe water, sanitisation and hygiene is becoming more challenging due to climate change, population growth and ageing infrastructure. Based on the NHBC Foundation’s recent Water Compendium report, this session explored how different countries are tackling water management through rainwater harvesting, reuse systems and government policy and incentives.

There was also a fireside chat with Liz Kimmins, Minister for Infrastructure of Northern Ireland, covering the topics of investment, innovation and collaboration and why they are key to building the infrastructure to unlock new home delivery. Attendees were updated on how the Minister hopes the Water, Sustainable Drainage and Flood Management Bill will meet current challenges and future-proof the system for a growing population and a changing climate.

Delivering demonstrations 

The event offered a live demonstration on supervising quality, identifying defects and expert detailing on timber frame for site managers who supervise timber frame construction. This session was essential for any company planning to transition from traditional masonry build to timber frame construction in the future.

Using a house model from Forever Warm Homes, Lewis Taylor, NHBC’s Principal Technical Specialist demonstrated best practice and highlighted eight key defects that lead to failures and claims in timber frame homes.

Additionally there was a demonstration for glass reinforced plastic (GRP) chimneys and solar panels. This session showcased top tips for how best to avoid water entry around solar panel installations by getting foam filler strips, upstands and flashing channels right first time.

There was also the chance to learn how to avoid common pitfalls with the installation of glass reinforced plastic chimneys, such as incorrect underlay lapping, inadequate drainage paths on underlays below battens and poorly detailed flashing arrangements.

Discovering more with a factory tour

Attendees were also able to visit one of the UK and Ireland’s largest construction product manufacturers to explore its state-of-the-art production and research and development hub.

The Keystone Group factory tour showed how technology is evolving production and innovative building solutions for UK, Irish and international markets with the chance to get insight into the creation of some of Keystone’s core products including: Keystone lintels, Smartroof, Keylite roof windows and Showersave, the wastewater heat recovery system.