Epwin Group is proud to announce the launch of its latest research project ‘Building for the Future – Social Housing’.

Combining the results of a survey of social housing professionals with in-depth interviews and desktop research, the project examines the factors that are driving change in social housing design and build. And whether these factors are different now than they were 10 years ago.

This research follows Epwin’s original ‘Building for the Future’ project, published in early 2018, which asked architects what they thought would affect housing design and build over the coming decade.

Epwin has a proud history of working in social housing, and over 40 years and thousands of installations has learnt that social landlords have their own unique demands. The company asked social housing professionals what’s driving change in the design and build of social homes to examine the factors specific to the sector.

The research findings make for interesting reading.

The survey asked social Housing professionals to score 20 factors for their impact on social housing design and build. The research examines the top 10 factors that social housing professionals believe will have the most significant impact over the coming decade versus the last.

When looking back at the last decade, many respondents believe that there has been a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of build quality, space and place making, with some blaming these problems on a lack of government standards. However, there is optimism for the future and that these issues are now starting to be addressed.

The Grenfell tragedy has pushed social housing to the forefront of the political agenda with promises now being made by the government to fund the development of social housing and to improve safety standards. Because of this many believe that new build quality will greatly improve over the coming decade.

That’s not to say that no concerns exist for the future of social housing. Factors such as a lack of land for development, lower budgets, the impact of Welfare Reform and increasing urban populations, remain significant concerns for social housing providers and their ability to deliver the number of homes needed to meet ever increasing demand.

You can download the study from the company website, and you can also receive updates by following @EpwinGroup on Twitter.