The Good Homes Alliance was pleased to take part in Futurebuild from 7-9th March, the exciting annual industry event dedicated to building a better future for the built environment.
Across the three days, Futurebuild hosted over 17,800 visitors (up by over 10% from the previous year), 500 speakers, 400 exhibitors, 135 sessions, and 90 curators to join forces in creating a more sustainable future.
Alongside the Building Performance Network, Good Homes Alliance exhibited in the Energy zone across the three days and kicked off the opening seminar session of the Energy programme. In a fully-attended session titled “Net Zero Energy and New Housing Development” and chaired by GHA vice-chair Mike Roberts, speakers from Greencore Construction, SNRG, OX Place and Glen Dimplex discussed the challenges and solutions facing new housing development in regard to heating provision and energy balancing.
On the 2nd day we were on the Buildings stage, with our Chair Lynne Sullivan OBE chairing a session on “Minimising and mitigating overheating risk in homes” with expert speakers Julie Godefroy, Susie Diamond, Tom Dollard and Prof. Rajat Gupta. This was followed later in the afternoon with a session curated by Building Performance Network and chaired by Kerry Mashford OBE on “Using monitoring to understand net zero homes”, with speakers from Trustmark and Purrmetrix.
Click here to catch up session recordings
Staying true to its roots, sustainability and innovation ran through every aspect of Futurebuild and saw the organisers launch their Walk the Talk campaign that led to a significant reduction in the event’s carbon footprint. Removing the aisle carpet alone (just one of the changes) reduced the event’s carbon emissions by 27,707kg. Over the next 12 months the team at Futurebuild will assess what impact the changes had and what more changes can be made to drive even further reductions in 2024.
“We are in the middle of a climate and ecological emergency and Futurebuild is one of the few conferences really focusing on that for the sector.”
Sue Riddlestone, CEO of GHA member Bioregional
Futurebuild 2023 ended in the same way it began with an optimistic outlook for the future of the built environment. Visitors left with renewed excitement and new knowledge of sustainable solutions and innovations in the sector. Although the annual live event is over, Futurebuild works on providing content all year round. To relive the event, the full programme will be available in the coming weeks.
Having received insightful feedback from visitors on what they would like to see at Futurebuild 2024 the team is inspired to cover an even greater range of topics next year to again engage and challenge the industry to build better.
Save the date for next year’s Futurebuild – 5th-7th March 2024.