Leadership Summit 2026 | Housing / Interrupted

New thinking. Bold moves. Delivering for Wales.

A new Welsh Government gives us an opportunity to rewrite the housing playbook. Housing / Interrupted is your invitation to pause and look at what comes next. Now is the time to make choices that shape the future of Wales.

We have an opportunity to move from a housing emergency to housing recovery – building more homes, improving the ones we have and creating healthier, fairer places for people and communities across the country.

Join us to discuss how we can break traditional habits, embrace unusual ideas, and rethink how we build, invest, and serve our communities.

Empowering the next generation of housing leaders

To empower the next generation of housing leaders and accelerate their professional growth, we have created a Future Leaders ticket.

This ticket, available at a subsidised rate of £295, will give one individual from each housing association in Wales access to tailored conference sessions, exclusive networking opportunities, and dedicated spaces to connect with and learn from peer leaders. 

You can submit your nomination here.

Draft programme

8.30am Registration, Networking and exhibition viewing

8.45am CHC's AGM (Preseli Room)

10.00am Chair’s Welcome

10.10am Scene setting | Welcome to the new frontier

Stuart Ropke, Community Housing Cymru

The new political landscape is redefining the rules of engagement. This opening address unpacks the current dynamics in Welsh politics and sets the scene for the bold moves we need to build, invest, and serve communities across Wales.

10.30am Keynote | Making ambition a reality: market signals in an age of interruption

Chris Buckle, Savills

High construction costs, changing need and demand, continuing planning bottlenecks, economic volatility and a depleting workforce: many of the mainstays of traditional housing delivery have been fundamentally disrupted. 

In this opening keynote, Chris Buckle of Savills takes us behind the headline figures to diagnose what current global, UK, and Welsh market signals mean when the old rulebook no longer applies. 

Exploring the tension between market reality and political ambition, Chris will examine what it will realistically take for Welsh housing associations to navigate the next few years, deliver on the 20,000-homes target, and find new opportunities for impact when business-as-usual needs rethinking. 

Discover how social landlords can position themselves as engines for growth, as Chris sets the stage for a day of looking at how we harness our collective power and new approaches to deliver for communities across Wales.
 

11.10am Panel | Building trust and making an impact

Public expectations are changing, the media is more and more fragmented and political discourse is increasingly complex. How do social purpose organisations maintain public trust and stay true to their core values while effectively influencing decision-makers? 

This session will help you understand how to ‘read the room’, build trust and create lasting impact.

In conversation with:

• Jess Blair, ERS Cymru
• Louis O'Geran, More in Common
• Catrin Pascoe, Cymru News Network

11.45am Coffee break, networking and exhibition viewing

12.30pm Address from the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, Siân Gwenllian

Hear from Sian Gwenllian, Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on her priorities and ambitions for social housing in Wales

13.00pm Workshops

1) When Homes Overheat: Climate Resilience, Asset Value, and the Strategic Dilemma

As Wales faces more frequent and sustained heatwaves, the sector faces an uncomfortable strategic blind spot: homes engineered to keep winter warmth in are becoming dangerously hot in summer. Sensor data from Optimised Retrofit Programme (ORP) schemes reveals that over three-quarters of monitored homes already exceed 25°C for sustained periods during warm spells. For executive teams and boards, overheating is more than a technical detail. It is a brewing crisis of asset obsolescence, tenant health liability, and capital misallocation. This session examines the hard questions facing social landlords: How do we avoid building homes that overheat? How do we balance net-zero decarbonisation targets with summer habitability? What does emerging heat risk mean for long-term 30-year business plans, WHQS standards, and tenant expectations? And what does the sector need to prepare for now, to avoid overheating homes becoming the next big disrepair challenge? 

• Kate McDonald, NHF
   

2) Being a great employer in 2026: what does it take?

Employee demands are changing as the world of work adjuts at a rate of knots. In this session, hear how sector leaders can adjust and remain competitive and attractive in a changing world. 
 

3) Modernising tenancy sustainment: A strengths-based approach to complex resident need

Reports and feedback across the housing sector are clear: resident need is rising, and housing management is getting more complex as a result. In this session, how senior teams and boards can consider this as a strategic issue, core to their business, and examine the different approaches that associations in Wales are taking that we can learn from. 

Hear how ateb's THRIVE pilot is challenging traditional housing models, showing how investing in relationships and working differently with customers can transform outcomes for people, communities and housing associations. 

In this workshop, you will also hear from Trivallis on how their strengths-based approach has improved tenancy sustainment and driven down arrears. 

Together, we will explore what this means for senior leaders and how the sector can work together to deliver the best outcomes for everyone. 

• Katie Gilchrist and Amy Ridgway, ateb Group
• Duncan Forbes, Trivallis
   

4) Lessons from the Continent: European Innovations for Welsh Housing

Across Europe, pioneering public housing models offer fresh inspiration for overcoming funding constraints, land shortages, and supply bottlenecks. This workshop looks at bold strategies from Vienna’s social housing infrastructure to Scandinavian eco-developments— and discusses what Welsh housing associations can do to build better, faster, and smarter.

• Julien Dijol, Housing Europe
   

13.45pm Lunch, networking and exhibition viewing

14.40pm Debate | Can we do it all?

The new Welsh Government has set big goals, which leaves housing associations with tough choices to make. To solve this, we need to completely change our approach. In this high-energy debate, three sector leaders will propose strategies on working together in new ways, using fresh ideas and offering different types of services. You will then have the opportunity to ask questions and join the debate.

• Gemma Bell, Devonshires
• John Tattersall, Centrus
• Joshua Miles, Federation of Small Businesses
• Brian Pickett, CCHA

15.20pm Coffee break, networking and exhibition viewing

15.50pm  Workshops

1) Demystifying the Boardroom: How big decisions are made

For aspiring and emerging leaders, understanding how boards operate is a crucial step in career progression. Yet the inner workings of boardrooms often feel distant or obscure. This interactive session pulls back the curtain on board dynamics, exploring how non-executive boards and senior executive teams collaborate to make high-stakes, long-term strategic decisions. Hear firsthand from experienced sector chairs and recent Pathway to Board graduates about what it really takes to contribute to governance, influence strategy, and step confidently into board roles.

• Naveeda Morgan and Afshan Iqbal, CCHA

2) Teams under pressure: Supporting your people in times of change

Frontline housing teams are feeling the impact of constant change in government and the reality of everyday work, making workforce resilience a top priority. Grounded in practical occupational psychology, this workshop gives leaders actionable tools to mitigate fatigue, protect staff wellbeing, and maintain a clear sense of purpose through difficult change.

• Pip Gwynn, Insight HRC

3) Reinvest, Renew, or Rebuild? Strategic Decision-Making on Legacy Assets

As time passes, net-zero requirements become stricter and maintenance costs rise, housing directors are thinking about the long-term future of older properties. How do we balance the need to invest in the renewal of aging estates with the need to build modern, energy-efficient homes that truly serve future generations? In this session,  leaders share the real-world frameworks, financial metrics, and board conversations behind their estate transformation strategies—exploring how we ensure every home in Wales remains safe, sustainable, and fit for purpose.

• Jo Curson, Wales & West Housing
• TBC

4) Future-Proofing Tenant Skills in an Automated Age

 As AI and automation change the way we work, helping tenants get into work is only part of the challenge. How do we also help people stay in work and remain valuable as work changes?
This session explores what work readiness looks like in an AI-enabled world, why AI literacy is about much more than knowing how to use the tools, and why human qualities such as communication, adaptability, problem solving and judgement matter more than ever.
We'll explore the role housing associations can play in helping tenants build the capabilities and confidence they need to get into work, stay in work and adapt as work continues to change.

• Gemma Hallett, miFuture Group Ltd
   

16.40pm Fireside chat - Leading under pressure: Purpose, power, and decision-making

In conversation with Dr Amo Raju OBE DL

How do exceptional leaders deal with extreme adversity, stay anchored in their core purpose, and make clear decisions under intense pressure? In this intimate fireside chat, Community Housing Cymru’s Deputy Chief Executive, Clarissa Corbisiero, sits down with a prominent leader to talk about real-life experiences in leadership. From overcoming difficult personal struggles to changing whole systems and leading teams through tough situations, this talk offers inspiring, real-world lessons on leading with honesty, strength, and purpose when it counts the most.

17.10pm Chair’s reflections

17.15pm Conference close