NHBC delivers second Affordable Housing Innovators event with British Property Federation

NHBC, the UK’s largest new homes warranty and insurance provider, recently hosted the second annual Affordable Housing Innovators event in partnership with the British Property Federation (BPF).

Continuing NHBC’s popular Innovators event series, affordable housing professionals gathered to learn about the latest developments in placemaking, hear updates from around the industry and network with senior leaders from across the affordable housing sector. This year’s event was called ‘Mind the gap – fund the future’ and explored the current landscape and what lies ahead. Held in central London at The Conduit in Covent Garden, a broad range of industry stakeholders were in attendance. These included delegates representing Legal & General Affordable Homes, L&Q, Galliford Try, Cambridge City Council, Bellway Homes and Man Group, among many others.

The speakers

Tim Reid, Customer Relationship Director at NHBC delivered a welcome address to delegates before Affordable Housing Innovators was opened by keynote speaker Gareth Phipps-Williams, Assistant Director of Affordable Housing Programme Management at Homes England. He discussed the upcoming positive impact of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme and the importance of government and the wider industry working closely together. Further topics Mr Phipps-Williams touched upon included the multiple strategic partnerships Homes England is undertaking to accelerate home building around the country and funding routes available for registered providers and developers.

Next the audience heard from Marcus Dixon, Head of UK Living and Residential Research at JLL. He talked about the clear need for new homes and the numbers needed in regions around the country, of both affordable and private sale properties. With a 170,000-housing shortfall across England, 115,000 of which are needed in just three regions: London, the South West and the South East. He also explored the fine balance providers need to strike between investment in existing stock and the development of new homes. Marcus further explained that in the past year we’ve seen the number of households on social housing waiting lists top more than 1.3 million, with one in nine new affordable homes built replacing one lost to Right to Buy. He examined how the sector is trying to fill the gap and the challenges around Section 106 and how new home starts have fallen by around 75,000 in the past two years. Looking at London, Marcus said the city had the greatest need for more affordable housing but also faced the greatest challenges, with just 530 new homes sold per month in 2025 down from more than 1,600 a decade ago.

Some challenges which held back the market in 2025 were moving into the rear view in 2026 however. While recognising the rate of unemployment remaining elevated was still a challenge to both activity and market sentiment, Marcus said clarity on regulations, funding programmes and tariffs would help the sector deliver more. He concluded by saying providers, developers and government must continue to collaborate and partner to drive more home building and that this was key to helping bridge the gap between demand and supply.

Following Marcus’ presentation, delegates were then treated to three sessions, with three different speakers. The speakers were Richard White, Chair of G15 Development Directors’ Group and Southern Housing Executive Director of Development; Kate Josephs, CEO at Sheffield City Council and Chair of Core Cities CEO Group and Ellie Vlavianou, Investment Director at Octopus Capital. Using case studies to illustrate examples of successful project management and innovative placemaking, the event’s speakers explored funding solutions, partnership models and viability.

First up, Richard White took to the stage. He opened by talking about the scope and work of the G15 Development Directors’ Group and its partners; the group brings together leaders from London's largest housing associations to collaborate on delivering new, affordable homes and to address housing challenges in the region. It also fosters collaboration on development strategies, sustainable construction and mentoring initiatives for future industry leaders. Richard spoke of the group’s five core priorities; investing in existing homes, including through estate regeneration; pressing for further policy reform and funding; amplifying the resident voice by working with the G15 Residents’ Group; making the case for further fiscal devolution to London to help fund affordable housing; and investing in communities through employment, enterprise and skills programmes.

He went on to speak about the record investment the group is making in existing homes to bring them up to higher standards of comfort, safety and sustainability, but highlighted London is especially challenging given the prevalence of mid and high-rise buildings and street properties, which typically have higher retrofitting costs. Richard spoke about rents being a key source of income, but how they’ve failed to keep track with inflation and how in real terms, they’ve fallen by 13% since 2014/15. He explained that many rents are lower than they should be because of the continued absence of rent convergence and that this deprives the group’s members of almost £168m in rental income each year, money which could be invested in housing in the capital. He further discussed the importance of low interest loans in facilitating new development for housing associations facing significant asset investment costs, which in turn place pressure on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. These have since been confirmed as policy, due in part to the effective lobbying carried out by the G15.

Richard continued to explain in detail about the specific unique mix of challenges providers face in London, including that land values necessitate building at higher densities to achieve viability. This means new schemes are often subject to the new building safety regime, that build costs are also much higher than in the rest of the country and the upfront cost of building 88,000 new homes a year. Government's annual target for the capital - is roughly 43 times higher than the equivalent target in the West Midlands, for example. He also shared solutions to get the capital building at pace, such as Joint Ventures and partnerships, and working with for-profit and institutional investor partners as well as the likes of the Greater London Authority and Homes England. Rethinking Section 106 and earlier engagement, transparency and genuine collaboration, ideally at the pre-planning and land acquisition stages.

Following Richard’s presentation, Kate Josephs, CEO at Sheffield City Council and Chair of Core Cities CEO Group stepped up. Kate started by explaining her dual roles and outlining the work of Core Cities CEO Group. She told delegates the group is an alliance of 12 cities - Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield – with a mission to unlock the full potential of these city regions to create a stronger, fairer economy and society. She shared that this group of cities currently generates 25 per cent of the UK economy but with the right freedoms and powers they could add an extra £100 billion every year to UK gross domestic product. She went on to explain some of the challenges faced in Sheffield around housing and deprivation. Kate shared sobering headlines about local life-expectancy between different suburbs in the city and rising demand for affordable homes.

She went on to compare annual productivity growth across major UK cities over an approximate 20-year period, highlighting that many had outstripped London, particularly in recent years, and spoke of the potential of these and other major cities away from the capital. Kate discussed the proposed Northern Growth Corridor, an interconnected economic region spanning the major northern city-regions of Greater Manchester, Liverpool, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire to drive economic output and productivity.

Kate spoke of Sheffield’s ambitious plans for new city centre neighbourhoods and the planning underway for regeneration of significant and historical areas of the city. Using case study examples of Furnace Hill, Neepsend, Attercliffe and Moorfoot, she demonstrated how people were being put at the heart of these new developments while retaining the city’s unique character and environment.

Finally, Ellie Vlavianou, Investment Director at Octopus Capital, came to the stage. She opened by explaining Octopus Capital’s place in the sector and its focus on financing and developing high-quality, energy-efficient affordable homes across the UK. She also shared some of its high-profile investors including the Scottish National Investment Bank, London CIV and Avon Pension Fund. Introducing NewArch Homes, the for-profit registered provider of social housing owned and managed by Octopus, she explained how the organisation is used to deploy capital from the Octopus Affordable Housing Fund to develop and acquire affordable, energy-efficient homes. She spoke about how NewArch Homes follows the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing and works with sister company Octopus Energy to integrate zero bills technology into the portfolio.

Ellie went on to share key metrics about Octopus’ work – this included that the company holds 600+ properties with a pipeline of a further 1,000+. She shared that Octopus houses some 2,000+ residents, all in areas of constrained affordability. She also revealed the company has received over £10m of grant funding from Homes England to date with £477 million of funds under management. Moving on to social impact, Ellie explained about Octopus Energy’s Zero Bills standard, and the adoption of green technology including solar panels, heat pumps and batteries facilitating zero home energy bills. She talked about the UK's largest Zero Bills development in Thornwood, Epping, developed by Octopus with house builder gs8, consisting of a 113-home site alongside a revolutionary microgrid design.

As Ellie continued, she spoke of driving growth and Octopus’ strategic partnership with Essex-based housing association CHP, referencing other successful partnership projects from Bexley to Bideford. She discussed grant funding and funding structures, explaining how Octopus operates and invests and looked to the future anticipating expansion to new markets as its model grows.

A lively Q&A followed, with all the afternoon’s speakers and presenters fielding a broad range of questions from the audience. Topics including rent conversions, future funding, partnership models and viability were covered over the course of half an hour before the event was closed by NHBC’s Tim Reid, who thanked the audience for attending, as well as honouring the event’s contributors without whom Affordable Housing Innovators would not be possible.

Tim Reid, Customer Relationship Director at NHBC commented: “I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this year’s Innovators - Affordable Housing event such a success. 2025 proved a challenging year for the sector but 2026 looks more optimistic, with a new £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme, a National Housing Bank, low-interest loans and public and private capital working together. Affordable housing is, quite rightly, at the top of the political agenda and it’s fantastic to see progress on so many fronts – at the same time, we heard that challenges remain, notably around viability, legislative challenges and certainty. NHBC can help by working in partnership with housing associations and local authorities with a focus on long-term asset protection, helping them build right first time, ensuring as housing numbers gear up, quality is maintained.”

Danny Pinder, Director of Policy at the British Property Federation commented: “This year’s Innovators – Affordable Housing event proved informative and struck a welcome upbeat tone to kick off the year. We were fortunate to attract some of the most recognisable names in the industry to present and welcomed delegates from around the country. Last year was a challenging one for the sector with uncertainty across many fronts, but most fundamentally as a result of constrained viability. As we move into 2026, we have greater certainty - a roadmap for the Renters’ Rights Act, the prospectus for the new ten-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme and clarity on social rent convergence expected shortly. While viability remains an acute challenge for the sector, strong collaboration between government and the affordable housing sector; housing affordability remaining high on the political agenda and the imminent rollout of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, all suggest reasons to be cautiously optimistic for the year ahead.”

Key takeaways

A broad range of topics were explored over the course of the evening, but some common themes came through:

• The long-term Social and Affordable Homes Programme grant funding, the 10-year rent settlement and Building safety funds are all good news for the sector and represent significant steps forward from a year ago.
• Viability challenges remain a concern, with building safety legislation and certainty high on the list.
• Bidding starts in February 2026 for the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme - affordable housing providers which can demonstrate readiness, investable pipelines and structured partnerships stand to benefit.
• To build 90,000 affordable homes at current ratios we would need to deliver 56,000 more private homes per annum.
• London has its own unique set of challenges - grant funding not going as far per home, building safety and decarbonisation challenges on existing affordable housing stock and lack of appetite for private sale homes.
• Better together, than alone - the power of Joint Ventures, partnerships with local authority, private capital and housing association acting together.
• Impact of the Northern Powerhouse rail announcement - the biggest transformation to travel in the North in a generation - the benefits of infrastructure in unlocking homes of all types.
• Major core cities outside London are leading the charge in productivity.

See below for a short video from the 2026 Affordable Housing Innovators event, speaking with some of the evening’s delegates about what they think of the current state of the sector and what’s to come:

NHBC’s role in the affordable housing sector

NHBC works in partnership with housing associations, builders, local authorities and Build to Rent providers to deliver quality new homes, providing unrivalled expertise from early-stage planning through to completion, with a focus on building it right, first time. As a well-established, trusted industry partner, NHBC provides unrivalled insight and horizon scanning throughout a development’s build journey. As a direct insurer underwriting its own policies, NHBC has a vested interest in the prevention of structural defects and in successful, long-term asset protection. To learn more about how NHBC can help you, contact Charlie Ash, sector lead, housing associations, at cash@nhbc.co.uk.

BPF's role in the affordable housing sector

The British Property Federation (BPF) represents the UK real estate sector, an industry that contributes more than £116bn to the economy and supports 2.4 million jobs. It represents members from across the affordable housing sector, including investors, developers, operators and advisers, as well as Housing Associations and Institutionally Backed Registered Providers (IBRPs). 

It champions the role of private capital in delivering affordable homes and advocate for a regulatory system that supports innovation and long-term investment in the sector. By promoting collaboration, the BPF works to ensure that private investment complements the work of traditional providers and strengthens the resilience, capacity and overall effectiveness of the UK’s affordable housing system.