Echelon Conference 2025

The Echelon Conference, now in its 11th year, brings the housing sector together to find innovative solutions to the key challenges facing the sector.

It has gone from strength to strength over the years, and last year was attended by over 300 social housing professionals.

The 2025 conference will take place on Thursday 9th October at The Emirates Stadium, London, the home of Arsenal Football Club.

Breakfast is served from 9.15am, with the conference starting at 10am and running until 5.30pm.

The theme for this year is “The Future is Here” with a focus on navigating the new regulatory environment and working within the parameters of new standards.

The agenda will include sessions on topics such as building and fire safety, procurement, apprenticeships, skills development, repairs and maintenance, frameworks,, technology and development.

An exhibition will be held alongside the conference, which will be followed by a drink’s reception, from 5.30pm to 7pm, and gala dinner, from 7pm to 11pm, with an auction and raffle raising vital funds for Herts Young Homeless.

Don’t miss out on this must-attend event. Tickets are now on sale.

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Previous Conferences

Echelon Conference 2024

The 10th Echelon Conference took place on Thursday 10th October 2024 at The Emirates Stadium, London, and was attended by over 300 people.

The event was sponsored by Devonshires, Global HSE, Mulalley, Bell, Equans, Gunfire, Lura Construction, Ian Williams, Gilmartins, Northgate Vehicle Hire, Mears, Fosters, Fortem, LIFE Build Solutions Limited and Bugler Group.

Mandy Hickson, the first woman to pilot the Tornado GR4 on the frontline, opened the conference with an inspiring presentation, focused on collaboration, teamwork and breaking down silos.

Other topics covered included the new Procurement Act, data delivery, resident engagement in repairs, the future of commercial models, the impact of the Competence and Conduct Standard, disrepair the role of residents in retrofit.

We were also joined by Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Health and Wellbeing Consultant Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald who delivered a series of bite-sized wellbeing sessions.

The conference and exhibition was followed by a drinks reception and dinner, hosted by comedian and presenter Dave Bibby. There was entertainment from comedian Dominic Holland and magician Nick Einhorn, who appeared in the hit TV show ‘Penn and Teller – Fool Us,’ as well as a charity auction and raffle which raised a massive £43,480. for Herts Young Homeless.

Echelon Conference 2023

The 2023 conference, which took place on Thursday 19th October at Wembley Stadium in London, was attended by around 280 people and  sponsored by Devonshires, Gunite Group, Northgate Vehicle Hire, Gilmartins, Bell, Arc Group London Limited, Shellen, Equans UK & Ireland, Checkmate Fire Solutions, Ian Williams Ltd, Foster Property Maintenance Ltd, Fortem Solutions, PAM Building UK, LIFE Build Solutions Limited and Kier Places, with Mulalley sponsoring the drinks reception and QHS  sponsoring the dinner.

The conference kicked off with a keynote session delivered by Professor Sir Jonathan Van Tam, who talked through the UK’s response to the COVID pandemic and his role in the biggest public health challenge of a lifetime.

Other topics covered included disrepair, wellbeing, greening our communities, apprenticeships, commercial models, the Procurement Bill, decarbonisation and the Social Housing (Regulation) Act.

The conference and exhibition was followed by a drinks reception and dinner, hosted by comedian and presenter Dave Bibby, with entertainment from comedian Hal Cruttenden, and a charity auction which raised a massive £35,860 for Herts Young Homeless.

Echelon Conference 2022

The 2022 conference, sponsored by Devonshires, Gilmartins, Gunite, Mears, Bell Group, Arc Group, Northgate Vehicle Hire, Fortem, PAM Building, Mulalley, Ian Williams, FPM and Trail Group took place on Thursday 20th October at The Oval in London.

The agenda covered topics including fuel poverty, the cost of living, disrepair, the new procurement regulations, green skills, electric vehicle infrastructure, and the social housing whitepaper.

Speakers included Jon Slade, Director at Campbell Tickell, Peter Smith, Policy Director at National Energy Action, Ben Williams, Head of Zero Carbon Retrofit at Wates, Donna McCarthy, Partner and Head of the Housing Management and Property Litigation team at Devonshires and social entrepreneur Ben Keene.

The day was rounded off with a Q&A where audience members had the chance to put their questions to a panel of experts.

The event culminated in a networking dinner, with entertainment from comedian Paul Sinha, star of ITV quiz programme The Chase.

Echelon Conference 2021

Stamford Bridge was the location for the 2021 event which had a headline theme of sustainability.

Items on the agenda included regenerative sustainability, fossil fuel-free-living, low-carbon energy, the Building Safety Bill, sustainable supply chain solutions, the charter for social housing residents, electric vehicles and remote monitoring for healthy & sustainable homes.

Speakers included Jenny Osborne, Chief Executive of Tpas, Megan Adlen, Group Sustainability Director at Travis Perkins, Phil Pemberton, Director of Assets at Riverside Group and Niall O’Rourke, Director of Safer Buildings at Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing.

There was also a Q&A with a panel of sector experts and the event culminated in a networking dinner.