Bristol Housing Festival have been exploring future methods of housing to try to tackle shortages within the housing market, our West of England Development Conference heard.

Jeremy Sweetland, Project Lead for the festival, said: “There is the reality of a systemic failure in the housing market, and there is a reality that there is a lot of distrust between the public, the developers and the politicians.”

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) were acknowledged as beneficial, but Sweetland took a measured view of them: “The perception of modern methods is that they are cheaper and quicker, but what we need to be very clear about is just getting quicker and cheaper housing is not going to get us the communities that we need for the long term.”

One major housing developer looking to increase their delivery in the region is Sovereign Housing Association, and the firms Regional Head of Development Lesley Metcalf shared their ambition: “The West of England is a key area for Sovereign. We currently have nine live sites in Bristol and South Gloucestershire which will deliver 890 affordable homes.”

Sovereign has recently formed a £112m partnership with Livewest to deliver 2,200 new homes across the West of England whilst other schemes are already ongoing, including their Harry Stoke scheme. Of that project Metcalf said: “Harry Stoke is a 50:50 JV with Crest Nicholson. Phase one will deliver 944 homes and 244 of those will be affordable.”

Metcalf discussed the associations’ achievements in the Bristol Wapping Wharf development: “We’re set to deliver 55 PRS units which has enabled Homes England to release funding through their Build for Britain programme. This has kickstarted the whole development.”

Grainger, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord, are looking to expand further in the West of England, according to Julia Bevan, Acquisitions Manager for the company.

The firm have a strong a strong pipeline of PRS assets and Bevan spoke about their desire to form joint-ventures in the region after the success of the TFL JV’s in London: “Those public-private partnerships can get replicated across the country and particularly in the South-West.”

Curo Homes Chief Executive Victor Da Cunha represented Homes for the South West – a collaboration between 13 different  housing associations all looking to tackle the housing crisis in the region. 

Speaking of the scale of the problem he said: “It used to be difficult to buy a home, but now you find it difficult to rent a home and it is a really big challenge for the region.”

House prices have become so expensive in parts of the region that in Bristol an average house will now cost 10 times the average salary, and in Bath it is up to 14 times as much.

Da Cuhna described the need to create “long-term sustainable communities” and not just build without regards for sense of place. The organisation has successfully secured 11,000 of a targeted 16,000 homes that are needed to meet the growing demands in the region.

Da Cunha suggested that the organisation would seek collaboration to deal with the surge: “Over the next few years what we’ll be having to do is work with partners more and more.”

The housing crisis is acute in the West of England, but future technology could provide an answer to what is a mounting challenge.