HBF Policy Conference 2018

HBF POLICY CONFERENCE 2018

“The best of times, the worst of times” – that was how HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley summed up today’s housebuilding industry at this year’s HBF Policy conference in London on March 21^st.

And indeed the conference reflected this with speakers providing a mixture of views on the challenges ahead and the opportunities that abound.

Baseley himself ran though a plethora of issues facing the industry and how HBF was addressing them. But he was keen to send a message to the government – that the industry is stepping up to the plate to deliver the new homes the country needs to the quality required, and that ongoing criticism of the industry does not help.

His view was echoed by Redrow boss Steve Morgan who also felt that housebuilders were getting a bad rap from critics which made recruiting new people in the sector difficult.

But in an extremely lively conference, the industry did reflect on some of its mistakes and big challenges ahead. Keith Carnegie, executive director of Bovis Homes, was brutally honest about the mistakes the firm made which saw it hit a ”maelstrom” of media attention in early 2017.

Equally Rebecca Worthington, chief financial officer at Countrywide, looked at the diversity challenge facing the industry and outgoing Crest Nicholson ceo Stephen Stone described the work on quality being carried out by HBF and the industry.

Please contact events@house-builder.co.uk

mailto:events@house-builder.co.uk