Home Adaptations in Social Housing Conference 2026

Agenda

• 9:00 am - 10:00 am

  Registration, coffee and networking

• 10:00 am - 11:15 am

  Session 1: How to Work Better Together to Adapt Existing Homes at Scale

• 10:00 am - 10:10 am

  Welcome

  Paul Smith will open the conference by setting out the scale of need in social housing and why adaptations must be treated as core housing business. He will frame the day around a simple truth: when more than half of tenants live with long term health conditions or disabilities, adaptations are fundamental, not exceptional.

• 10:10 am - 10:25 am

  Keynote Speaker

  Debbie Collins, Chief Executive of Bield Housing and Care, will open the conference by setting the tone for the day. She will reflect on the wider role of accessible homes in supporting people to live well, safely and with dignity. Drawing on her experience in social housing and care, she will speak about the need to think ahead, design inclusively and work across organisations to get it right first time.

• 10:25 am - 10:40 am

  Delivering Adaptations at Scale

  Ian Ankers will talk about delivering adaptations at scale. With half of their workload made up of major adaptations, they have developed dedicated teams, clear systems and a bespoke digital case management approach to avoid delays and confusion. Their experience shows what happens when adaptations are treated as a mainstream operational function.

• 10:40 am - 10:55 am

  Building Partnerships

  Samantha Taylor will share how they have built a practical, cost-aware adaptations partnership between local authority and landlord. A key part of their approach is making effective use of landlord applications, allowing Homes Plus to act early, shape feasibility, and manage works in a way that supports both tenants and the wider DFG system.

• 10:55 am - 11:00 am

  Question and Answer

• 11:00 am - 11:45 am

  Coffee and Networking

• 11:45 am - 1:00 pm

  Session 2: Building and Refurbishing Homes to Make them Accessible by Default

• 11:45 am - 12:00 pm

  Shaping Demand

  Dr Rachel Russell will open the session by exploring how the way we build and refurbish homes today shapes demand for adaptations tomorrow.

• 12:00 pm - 12:15 pm

  Accessible Design and Delivery

  Christina McGill will bring a national perspective on accessible housing design and delivery. She will explain what building properly to Part M looks like in practice, why it matters, and how considerate design choices can help minimise the need for major adaptations later.

• 12:15 pm - 12:30 pm

  Making Homes Easier to Adapt

  Rachel Wooden will talk about how the design of new build homes affects the need for future adaptations. Drawing on her experience influencing housing design, she will show how early decisions about layout, space and structure can make homes easier to adapt as people’s needs change, or much harder if they are overlooked.

• 12:30 am - 12:45 pm

  Design Decisions

  Heidi Fisher and Martin Spence will talk about Housing 21’s approach to good design that supports people over the long term. They will share how thinking ahead about accessibility, layout and materials helps homes continue to work as tenants’ needs change, reducing the need for disruptive adaptations later. Their session will also reflect on the importance of tenant involvement in shaping design decisions, ensuring homes are practical, dignified and usable in everyday life, not just compliant on paper.

• 12:45 pm - 1:00 pm

  From Referral to Real Life: How a Clinical and Technical Partnership Can Help Adaptations Happen

  Lucy Leonard, The OT Service, will present on the real life considerations in making homes accessible.

• 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

  Lunch and Networking

• 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm

  Session 3: Systems, strategy and learning from across the United Kingdom

• 2:00 pm - 2:15 pm

  System Thinking

  Paul Smith will introduce the final session, stepping back to look at wider systems and future direction. He will set the scene for perspectives from across the UK and from research, exploring how different policy and delivery choices shape adaptation outcomes.

• 2:15 pm - 2:30 pm

  Delivering Adaptations More Quickly and at Scale

  Emma Stubbs will cover the Northern Ireland context, where there is significant activity in both social and private sector adaptations. This includes the implementation of an Accessible Housing Register and exploration of modular construction to deliver adaptations more quickly and at scale. Northern Ireland provides a useful example of how clearer system-wide mechanisms can support better outcomes.

• 2:30 pm - 2:45 pm

  Research on the Gaps Between Policy and Practice

  Alicja Zalesinska will draw on research into accessible social housing to explore how homes and everyday environments shape people’s ability to live well. Grounded in extensive engagement with tenants and practitioners, her work highlights how allocation systems,  development decisions and service processes affect daily life over time, highlighting gap between policy intent and what actually happens in people's homes.

• 2:45 am - 3:00 pm

  Closing Keynote Address

  Vikki McCall will speak about the ISPA project and what it tells us about how housing, health and care systems work together. Drawing on the Scottish context, she will reflect on where integration is helping and where it still falls short. Her session will share lessons that are relevant beyond Scotland, particularly around prevention, early intervention and long-term system planning.

• 3:00 am - 3:10 pm

  Question and Answer Session

• 3:10 pm - 3:15 pm

  Summary and Event Close