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National Housing Conference

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 National Housing Conference

NHC

ESG & Sustainability for Housing in Scotland

The 20th edition of the National Housing Conference played an important part in setting out the role of ESG & sustainability in Scotland’s social housing.

The virtual events took place over 4 days from 5-8 September, with sessions focusing on a different topical issue each day.

If you weren’t able to join us on the day, or just want to revisit any of the sessions, you can do so by following the links below.

On demand

Social housing in 2022 and beyond
James McMorrow (Harper Macleod LLP) | Shona Robison MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing & Local Government)

In this session, we considered the range of challenges facing the sector in 2022 and beyond, including: continued Brexit and COVID-19 fallout; rising energy costs and supply chain concerns; the cost of living crisis and its impact upon RSLs and tenants; mounting environmental concerns and net zero targets; the risks and opportunities presented by the ESG agenda; and how RSLs will fund their strategic and operational objectives.

We also considered current and emerging Government policy and were delighted to welcome as our keynote speaker Shona Robison MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government (pre-recorded talk).


The Retrofit Challenge
Collette Miller (Harper Macleod LLP) | Euan Pirie (Harper Macleod LLP) | Bryan Leask (Hjaltland Housing Association) | Mark Stewart (Johnston Carmichael)

Social landlords are committed to tackling climate change and working towards net zero, but how can that be done in relation to existing housing stock? In this session, we explored the commercial, legal and practical challenges of achieving EESSH and EESH2 and considered measures that can be taken to improve the energy efficiency of existing housing stock.


Sustainable Funding – the challenges and opportunities for Scottish RSLs
Derek Hogg (Harper Macleod) | Samantha Bett (Wheatley Group) | Gavin Reid (Scottish Widows) | Christopher Yau (Bank of Scotland)

Day 3 of the National Housing Conference focused on the increasing importance of ESG and Sustainability when Scottish RSLs are raising new funding from the perspectives of RSL borrower and lender, including the opportunities available to those RSLs who commit to applying funding towards agreed purposes to meet their own sustainability goals. Harper Macleod Partner Derek Hogg was joined by Samantha Bett, Director of Treasury (Wheatley Group), Gavin Reid, Associate Director, Loan Investments & Shareholder Assets (Scottish Widows) and Christopher Yau, Director, Origination & Sustainability, Housing (Bank of Scotland).


Thursday 8 September | 12.00pm – 1.00pm
NHC 2022 – Putting the EDI into ESG
Lorna Davis (Harper Macleod) | Liz MacKinnon (Blackwood) | Chris Mathieson (Grampian Housing Association)

The National Housing Conference concluded with a session titled “NHC 2022 – Putting the EDI into ESG: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Social Housing Industry”.

Our speakers commented on the key aspects of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion relevant to the Environmental, Social and Governance performance of social housing providers, and offer practical guidance as to the steps organisations can take to increase staff-wellbeing and widen the demographic of governing body members.


National Housing Conference NHC 2021

“Building the future – the role of social
housing in a post-pandemic society”

Watch sessions you may have missed from
NHC 2021 on-demand.

Catch up now

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