We recently hosted the first in a new series of industry roundtables, bringing together a mix of professionals from across the residential development sector to share insights and explore the question: Unleashing the Housing Market – what are the barriers to delivery?
Held at The French Quarter and led by Marta Subh Lopez, Director, and Simon Dunstan, Director, alongside Anna Cumberland, Senior Architect, the event was designed to facilitate an open and honest conversation in an informal setting, avoiding formality in favour of collaboration.
“For us, this is about creating space for genuine dialogue,” says Marta. “We want to hear what’s working, what isn’t, and how we can better support the people and processes involved in housing delivery.”
Our approach to residential design is shaped by a philosophy of People Architecture, a way of working that looks beyond buildings to consider the systems, relationships and communities that shape them. That includes understanding the challenges clients face, the realities of development, and the connections needed to move projects forward.
This broader way of thinking, what we call working between the lines, often means stepping outside the traditional role of the architect. The roundtable format is a reflection of this: an intentional effort to bring different disciplines together and uncover new ways of thinking about long-standing challenges.
Conversation at the first roundtable was structured around three key themes, land, viability and community, allowing diverse perspectives to emerge while keeping the focus on practical challenges and opportunities.
Recurring themes included planning capacity, resourcing, policy clarity and the need for joined-up thinking across both public and private sectors. While much of the national conversation centres around housing targets, there was particular interest in how progress can be made at a local level, and what barriers still stand in the way.
“We’re not here to simply talk about numbers,” says Simon. “We want to explore how development actually happens, where the roadblocks are, and how we might overcome them by working more closely together.”
While the series is still in its early stages, there is clear value in convening these conversations, not only to better understand the current landscape, but also to help shape it.
“It’s not about adding noise to an already complex debate,” says Anna. “It’s about listening to the people working in the sector every day and reflecting that in how we design, deliver and collaborate.”
This commitment to collaboration is already evident in project work, from creative reuse schemes such as Jesmond Three Sixty, to large-scale regeneration initiatives in Hartlepool, where public-private partnerships are helping unlock delivery.
This first session in Newcastle marks the beginning of an ongoing initiative. Future roundtables will continue to bring industry voices together in different locations, with the aim of supporting a more connected, collaborative approach to housing delivery across the UK.