This was all in October?
Matt Baird
The Social Housing Roundtable | The ethical Social Housing Recruiter | Public Speaker and Event Chair | Co-Chair of Spring Housing Association | ?? [email protected]
After spending a week finally resting and enjoying the offerings of?a Turkish all-inclusive resort, it’s about time I recapped what proved to be an incredible few weeks of conferences and live events in what I’m only now realising took place over “just” a few weeks in October.
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To those keeping up with my recent writings, you’ll know that October started with a brilliant live event in London hosted by Alertacall Ltd , took me to Birmingham for the simply incredible Housing Diversity Network conference, had me up in Durham for the Chartered Institute of Housing Northern Housing Festival and passed through Leeds for a superbly insightful day with Voicescape .
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What I didn’t mention was that during my travels across the country, Elaine Middleton , The SHRT Head of Partnerships, stepped in and, alongside Jennie Blake , hosted The Social Housing Round Table for the first time without me present. It’s fair to say that Elaine was far more concerned about this than I was as I had complete and total faith in her ability and the audience's reaction and response since absolutely advocated for that. Discussing why “mental health first aid alone isn’t the answer” , ?the hour that followed was full of energy and debate and showcased why this is just the start of the conversation. I will do a list at the end of this post tagging everyone who attended but I want to say a quick thank you to everyone who was able to join the session whilst also giving Elaine her flowers for co-hosting superbly with the excellent Jennie!
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The week of the 14th October brought with it two events in two days, with the bloomin’ brilliant #ASB10 Conference hosted by Green & Burton ASB Associates in Birmingham and the #SEC2024 Conference put together by the South East Consortium at the London Stadium.
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I’d been asked to host the #ASB10 Conference, the first of its kind, by Janine Green who I’ve worked alongside on projects for several years, but I could not have predicted the volume of attendees (in person and online), the level of engagement and interaction nor the depth of insight that it delivered. To say it was a success is the highest level of understatement.
After an early ASB surgery offered by Cathy Chattaway and a thought-provoking opening address by Janine, the day welcomed Darren Burton , Sgt Paul Perry, Craig Kendall , Andrea Fraser, Sarah Bradley and Julian Robertson for a Round Table focused on the CPN. This session really highlighted the depth of ways that the CPN has been utilised and gave really useful ways of utilisation from many different viewpoints.
Following a swift break, Jo Grimshaw brilliantly showcased how closure powers have been used by Surrey Police Service to deal with a wide range of serious behaviours. Jo was able to reflect to both the in-person and online audience some of the stumbling blocks that they’ve encountered and overcome and showcased the importance of true partnership working with RPs. The session truly focused on how working in silo will not deliver success and that, almost on its own, became an overarching theme for the day – helped by the fact that so many different practitioners were all in the same space!
Next we were joined by Kuljit Bhogal KC , Inspector Nick Haigh, Michael Churley and Chief Inspector Beth Pagnillo in what became a session that will stick with me for a long time and one I hope I can follow-up with on an episode of the round table next year. I urge everyone to check out the “jog on” campaign which used the PSPO to tackle the harassment of women and girls. The focus of the session delved into PSPO vs Person Unknown Injunctions and everyone was left with not just a better understanding of the considerations for determining which might be best for each solution but also a real life example of how it can truly make a difference. An incredible panel!
For a day focused on anti-social behaviour, it was vital that the ASB Case Review was brought to the forum by Charlie Hamilton Kay in a truly interactive session that got the brains charged for the final session of the day, where the brilliant GBASB team brought forth the ideas of more than 140 delegates to help shape a response to a possible toolkit consultation.
The whole team from Green & Burton Associates musts be applauded with Darren, Andrew C. , Rochelle Largan , Sharon Murphy , Emma Standing , Katy Anderson , and even Jack Madge CIHM (despite being from Exeter) delivering a day that went over and above expectations. Further thanks must go to the excellent Eloise Elford on registration and the sponsors CMSG , Remington Hall Enquiry Agents and Clarke Wilmott Solicitors. I wouldn’t always mention sponsors in wrap-ups like this but the added value they provided to the day really cannot be undermined – and I got a pint from Ben Hunt after the wrap-up so credit where it’s due right?
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Wednesday morning found me on an early train and tubes navigating my way across London to the London Stadium with Kim Parsons and Elaine Middleton in tow for the South East Consortium Conference. After a brief intro by Marc Baines , Richard Blakeway provided the opening keynote virtually, calling for more accountability of decisions made and changes required. Emma Gilbank then highlighted why we need to do more to introduce people to the world of Social Housing, something echo’d in the last couple of weeks by Elly H. in her “Choose Housing” campaign for the CIH Presidency.
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I was then asked to host our first panel of the day, where I was joined by Brian Weston, Becs Wilcox , Chrishanti Shah ACMA, CGMA and Gavin Cansfield to discuss how we can truly improve our housing service. We had a lot to try and cover in 45 minutes, with the narrative of not just listening but acting on the customer voice really leading the conversation. I was proud to host this session which got busier and busier as our time ran out, but it was clear that the whole panel had a true focus on continual improvement through authentic engagement. For those who feel the sector is driven solely by money, please reach out to our panelists and you’ll see the difference that can be made when you put that resident voice first.
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The conference had four sessions running concurrently so I’m certain that the 650+ delegates had plenty to take away, though my next session took me to “Housing as a Political Priority” with Anna Clarke , Rachael Williamson CIHM , Tanvi Joshi and Darren Baxter . The consensus seemed to be one of very cautious optimism, with a sense of hope twinged with a question of affordability. A very interesting insight and a great panel to hear from and one which continued the clear voice for change – I guess we’ll see on Wednesday just which way those winds blow!
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After a good lunch break where I bumped into Dewbien Plummer and Paul Bridge , I headed back to the Sureserve Zone where Dave Loudon , Dr Bola Abisogun OBE (Hon DUniv, Hon MBA) , Annemarie Roberts, CIHCM MBA , Sheila Starr , David Shepherd and Aleksander Gil were there to discuss the digitilasation of social housing. Three of the panelists had presented at The Social Housing Round Table and I was excited to hear about Dr. Bola’s Digital Twin project and the future academy work whilst also debating the trust between technology innovators and social housing providers. The discussion could certainly have continued!
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Finally I was delighted to see Dewbien Plummer on the programme hosting the panel of Lucy Malarkey (She/Her) , Ellie Farlow and Mushtaq Khan . The conversation focused on inclusive thinking and its effect on a better-performing workplace, discussing how the barriers of gender, generational and racial difference are still unfortunately prevalent. The sector must do more to constantly question itself and its decision-making if change is to occur, but the only way that will happen is to get the right voices in the room. Unfortunately, even this week, I’ve heard of cases where voices that don’t sound like those of the CEO or the Chair have been dismissed, and whilst we all say “It’s 2024, why is this happening?” the question should perhaps be “it’s 2024, this is happening, what are we going to do about it?”
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Finishing off this whirlwind wrap-up of the last three weeks, whilst in Turkey I ran an Alertacall-sponsored episode of The SHRT with Sir Norman Lamb . We provided an overview of the brilliant live event that took place earlier this month with more than 30 Directors whilst also using the insight of Ben Lambert to debate whether the consumer standards will truly change the lives of older and vulnerable residents . The turnout was fantastic, and even with Sir Norman having COVID, he led on an inspired discussion that I urge all to watch the recording of.
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We’re finishing off October with the brilliant team of Dami Sosanya and Alozie Ohuonu presenting a conversation on promoting diversity of thought, which can be signed up for here (it’s free as always!) Until then, a final thank you to everyone who was able to join us for sessions on the round table over the last few weeks:
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Alicia Mortlock
Annique Peterson
Brian Griffin
Carina Lynch Cert CIH
Hollie Grego
领英推荐
James Henneghan
Jo L.
Lorrita Johnson
Martin Grimmer
Mary Walters
Nicola Feay
Paul Symon
Rachael Tooth
S Lin
Sharon Austin
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Servant Leader [delivering #DigitalConstruction]
1 周Matt Baird _ really good to finally meet you in person, and thanks for inviting me, via the Digital Twin Skills Academy CIC onto your amazing platform. At the DTSA we are making the case for #upskilling and #culturalchange to unlock the ambitions of Judith Hackitt _ and it's an exciting time for #youngpeople and the future of #digitalconstruction with regards timely, evidence based, digitally enabled #BuildingSafety compliance in the UK _ keep up the great work my man! _ Nessa Primus https://x.com/AbisogunOBE/status/1846502841852027189
Assistant Director of Housing and Resident Engagement at Housing Solutions
1 周This is incredible x
Thought leader, consultant and advocate of how social housing can benefit from technology. Founder of the insight shacks and also a board member for Muirhouse and Non-Exec for Smplicare. Columnist for Housing Executive
4 周As always, great to bump into you Matt.
Improving Organisational Cultures one Housing Association at a time.
4 周You have had an incredible October Matt Baird . You are a force for good in raising awareness of the Housing Sector, you deserve every success!
Passionate in supporting our communities & partners to create a positive impact on the areas in which they live, work & visit, and to thrive & celebrate in their community achievements.
4 周What a busy month Matt!, with as always some great & insightful sessions I’ve managed to attend, thank you.