IRPM Winter Conference: mergers, progress and real live networking

We held our first Winter Conference at the Queen Elizabeth ll Centre in Westminster on 1 December. The event – our first to be held in-person for almost two years – was a resounding success, with more than 500 members in the conference hall. IRPM seminars and conferences are now widely accepted as the leading knowledge and networking events in our sector, and it was great to see so many of you there after two annual seminars that have been held online due to the pandemic.

The day began with an address from Minister of State for Building Safety and Fire, Lord Greenhalgh, who unfortunately couldn’t be at the conference in person. Broadcasting from his office, the minister led on the challenge of raising standards in the sector and paid tribute to “the majority of hardworking property managers” who continue to deliver for their customers and clients despite the difficulties we have all faced in recent months. 

 

Lord Greenhalgh was followed by Peter Baker, the Chief Inspector of Buildings who provided an update on the progress being made on the Building Safety Bill and explained the developing role and remit of the new Building Safety Regulator.  The role of the Accountable Person and the Building Safety Manager were spoken on, as was the safety case. Proportionality was a key take-away word, as was the fact that competence is critical to success.  Attendees were urged to prepare for the upcoming changes, to think now about the fire and structural risks within the buildings they manage and to rethink their resident engagement strategies in light of the upcoming legislation. 

 

Next up was a session on the changing environment within which property managers are now working. First, RICS Chief Economist Simon Rubinsohn looked in detail at the factors currently influencing the construction and property industries and discussed how housebuilding priorities are likely to change in the face of the sustainability agenda. The second part of this session gave a fascinating insight into the ways that our sector can improve recruitment and retention of talent, led by former Housing Minister Mark Prisk. Matt Halfpenny at Red Penny took a closer look at the recruitment process from attracting and assessing potential new recruits to onboarding and successful retention. Sue Petri from Rendall and Rittner then followed this up by delving into the ways in which becoming an Investor in People is providing her firm with a framework to better support and develop its staff.

 

Roger Hardwick then delivered his legendary legal update; an unmissable feature of every IRPM annual event, in which Roger gave a Covid-19 update from the legal perspective, put recent case law into context, and took attendees rapidly through new and proposed legislation.

After lunch, the long-awaited IRPM Awards ceremony was held, with the winners as follows:

  • Ella Spencer and Carly Charles were presented with the Ann Garland Award for the most outstanding papers in the Associate Exam 2019 and 2020.

  • The BPF Award for the most outstanding papers in the Member Exam 2019 and 2020 went to Frederick Wallace, Joe Roberts and George Shaw.

  • The Bretherton’s Award for the most outstanding legal papers in the Member Exam 2019 and 2020 went to Joshua Stansbury and Darren Bloch.

  • The Housing Association Candidate of the Year Award for the most outstanding papers in the Member Exam 2019 and 2020 was presented to Janet Ashby and George Shaw

  • The BTR Candidate of the Year Award sponsored by the UKAA was presented to Helen Kings.

 

And finally, for their outstanding contribution to the improvement of residential property management, the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Janie Strange and Jeff Platt - an award that we were delighted to give to two industry legends. 

 

CEO Andrew Bulmer then spoke to members about the forthcoming merger with ARMA and the IRPM’s input to the progress being made on building safety, and he looked at the political framework within which industry organisations and stakeholders work on behalf of members. Andrew also detailed the many projects, campaigns, initiatives, and assets that IRPM have been delivering over the course of 2021 to and for members. 

Attention then turned to standards in the industry with presentations from Siobhan McGrath on the work of the First Tier-Tribunal and from Rebecca Marsh the Property Ombudsman. Christopher Hodges, Emeritus Professor of Justice Systems at the University of Oxford, then talked attendees through delivering fair and ethical outcomes in housing and property. There is a real commitment to cultural change, and the resolution service needs to assist.  The holy grail is for a continuous problem-solving model with all working for industry betterment.

IRPM Seminar regular Guddy Burnet then joined forces with Deirdre Cartwright to talk about their work in tackling the problem of domestic abuse in social housing. They provided an excellent insight into the ways property managers can offer help and support for residents in the developments they manage.

The mid-afternoon presentation was one that generated a huge amount of interest from attendees as Dan Jestico explained his role as Sustainable Design Director with Savills Earth and talked about the pathway to net zero. This is a complex and challenging journey in addition to all the other issues which property managers now face. Dan’s contribution to the conference which set out government targets, explained the jargon and looked at ways to develop in-house net zero strategies, was a genuine conversation starter.

Adam Laidler, a psychotherapist who has spoken at previous IRPM events and who has been closely involved in this year’s IRPM/ARMA wellness initiatives, took a closer look at the problems of burnout among property managers and provided some coping strategies - Adam touched upon personal approaches to cope with stress and burnout that we hope really resonated with those in attendance. 

Roger Hardwick then rounded off the day with a really useful Q&A session where he dealt with some of members’ thorniest legal issues including Section 20, lease variations, EWS1 forms and EV chargepoints. IRPM chair, Felix Keen then closed the conference and members finally got the chance to get together for a celebratory drink and some much-missed face-to-face networking. 

The event was a great success, and we were so happy to finally get to meet and greet people in person.  All of the speakers’ presentations and recordings will be available on the IRPM website during December and we will email all members once these are available. 

None of this would have been possible without our sponsors for the Winter Conference who were:

Platinum sponsors: Data Energy and 4Site Consulting

Gold sponsors: Abbatt, Barrett Corp Harrington, Brethertons, Cardinus, Future Group, ILECS, Openreach, PDC Law, Seamless Utilities, Tetra

Silver sponsors: Ash & Lacy, Block Recruit, BMU, Blocks Online, DMG, Fixflo, MRI, PMR, Realty Law, Roomservice by CORT, Sky, TNA building services and Vital Energi

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