Insight

Scottish Housing News correspondent Jimmy Black chuckles his way around the first day of CIH Scotland's Housing Festival in Glasgow which grappled with the very serious issue of innovation within the social housing sector. Housing events can be cheerful, and the final session at yesterday’s CI

Jimmy Black on ALACHO’s efforts to tackle damp, homelessness and the need to house refugees.

Ollie Gray, business development director at Charis, asks whether we are better off or worse off this spring when it comes to our energy bills. Unfortunately, despite falling wholesale costs, the average household bill is still set to rise to £3000 in April, and many will need to be tight

In this month's SFHA TECH column, Steph Elliot considers digital inclusion and what it means for the social housing sector. With the Analogue to Digital telephone switch off on its way, it is important for landlords to consider the impact the switch off will have on their tenants, how

Following the UK Government's announcement of mandatory qualifications for social housing managers, CIH Scotland's national director Callum Chomczuk asks what this means for colleagues north of the Border. At the weekend, the UK Government announced its decision to introduce a qualificatio

Mhairi Donaghy, associate director at Scottish Futures Trust, highlights a new report out today that looks at why town centre living (TCL) is important and the reasons investment has been limited.  Scottish society was built around towns and villages. From the traditional clan system to to

With Scot­land and the rest of the UK con­tin­u­ally miss­ing house­build­ing tar­gets, Fraser Mitchell, part­ner in Shep­herd and Wed­der­burn's Prop­erty and In­fra­struc­ture team, asks: what are the road­blocks to build­ing?

Callum Chomczuk, national director, CIH Scotland, illustrates the challenges that may make meeting the ambitious target of 110,000 affordable homes over 10 years unattainable, as set out in Scotland's National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4). That sound you didn’t hear was Parliament agreeing on t

Jimmy Black meets Bill Banks, retiring CEO of the multi award-winning Kingdom Group. Bill Banks looks relaxed, calm and entirely at home in his relatively modest office at Kingdom Housing Association. He’s a man at the height of his powers with a very solid track record of achievement. But Bil

Bill Banks is retiring as chief executive officer of Kingdom Group, but he still has plenty to say about Scottish housing, writes Jimmy Black. I interviewed Bill Banks in Glenrothes for our Housing Champions series, featuring Kingdom’s achievements in areas like employability, zero carbon home

Professor Ken Gibb reflects on two recent newspaper articles which discuss unaffordable homes, mortgage debt reliance and land value tax. In the last few weeks, two eminent broadsheet columnists coincidentally produced dovetailing pieces about the strategic need to remake housing policy. Will H

Housebuilding veteran John Muir shares his focus on the sector’s long-term resilience. This year is the 50th anniversary of Muir Homes building quality homes across Scotland. This landmark comes amidst rising energy prices and an industry bouncing back from the covid pandemic.

Policy and practice lead David Stewart looks at the Scottish Land Commission's work on land and housing, and land reuse proposals, that could support the necessary shift from greenfield to brownfield development.  NPF4 is highly significant. It sets a framework for land use and development in S

Janine Aitken, service lead for one of Simon Community Scotland's Men's Supported Accommodation Services in Glasgow, shares what she has learned in her first five months in the post. I have recently (approximately 5 months ago) taken up the post of Service Lead at Simon Community Scotland’s Me

The ongoing regeneration of Dalmarnock and the surrounding area has long fascinated Jimmy Black, both from a personal and professional point of view. He trails the latest episode of the Scottish Housing News Podcast and more.