Member Article

Housing conference covers South West issues

National law firm Clarke Willmott LLP brought its popular housing conference to Bristol where South West industry experts discussed a range of topics including development and asset management, funding issues and charging pitfalls.

Guests at the conference, held at Clarke Willmott’s Bristol office, heard from specialist social housing lawyers from the firm as well as keynote speaker Ann Santry, CEO of Sovereign Housing.

Attended by regional registered providers including Knightstone, Greensquare, Guinness Partnership, Sovereign and Stonewater, the conference focussed on the challenges and opportunities for social landlords.

Oliver Smedley, Partner in Commercial Property at Clarke Willmott in Bristol, said: “We regularly hold housing conferences in London but it was great to be able to engage with our South West clients in this way and focus on issues specific to the South West market.

“Lots of important and interesting discussions came up throughout the day. We heard from Ann Santry at Sovereign Housing that the housing market in London is showing signs of cooling down and that the South West market should see the ripple effects of this soon.

“Ann also advised that mergers, which are increasingly taking place in the sector, make organisations more resilient and with extended capacity to build more homes. The government have a clear focus on increasing housing supply and as part of that they want to see registered providers build more. To be able to do this a key factor is attracting a skilled workforce but also keeping abreast of new technologies.”

As well as Oliver, other Clarke Willmott speakers included Fraser McRae and Vicky Kells, both Partners in Social Housing at the firm’s Cardiff office; Kary Withers, Partner in Property Litigation at the firm’s Bristol office and Neil Baker Partner in Planning and Environment in Bristol.

Oliver continued: “We hope to hold more housing conferences like this in Bristol in the future. They not only showcase our expertise but also provide an excellent forum for sharing ideas and knowledge with other industry experts.”

Clarke Willmott LLP is a national law firm with seven offices across the country, including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton.

For more information about Clarke Willmott visit www.clarkewillmott.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clarke Willmott .