Cardiff opened its doors to hundreds of housing professionals at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Wales TAI 2008 conference.

Firmly established as Wales’ Premier Housing Conference and Exhibition, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) hosted the annual conference from the prestigious venue of Cardiff City Hall at the start of this month.

TAI Wales features the largest housing exhibition of its kind and provides an opportunity for companies to promote their products and services.

There were many opportunities for those involved to visit the Eco house, a purposely erected example of a modern environmentally friendly home; the Innovation Theatre, showing a series of presentations offering solutions to housing issues; and Wales’ largest housing exhibition, showcasing the latest products and services of more than 60 organisations.

As well as the opportunity to network with the 600 people in attendance at the event, each delegate received a complimentary conference report on Sustainability. Attendees could also peruse the fringe events, taking place in City Hall and other venues; partake in the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) Debate, discussing important issues affecting the sector; and have fun at the social evenings, including the conference and gala dinners.

With a range of excellent speakers lined up, the conference was determined to tackle the important issues surrounding housing regeneration, community transformations and environmental sustainability, on which there was a large focus. The president of CIH, Paul Diggory, was due to deliver the opening speech, followed by an address from Jane Davidson, minister for Sustainability and Housing. Featured speakers on the subject of regeneration included Steve Fitzgibbon, Newport City Council and Professor Kevin Morgan, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University and covering, community matters, senior lecturer Paddy Gray, Ulster University and Julie Fadden, South Liverpool Housing Group.

There were several workshops, giving visitors the opportunity to partake in discussions as opposed to simply listening to speeches. These were to be lead by guest speakers including Keith Edwards, i2i, with ‘WHQS Zone: WHQS, Getting added value out of housing investment’; Ashraf Ahmed, CIH with ‘Active Learning for Residents’; Claire Bennett, Welsh Assembly Government, ‘Introduction to Climate Change’; Damian Hughes, Liquid Thinker, ‘Liquid Thinking - taking responsibility’; and chief executive of LEASE, Anthony Essien, with ‘Leasehold Advisory Service’.

The main focus of the conference featured the issue of environmental sustainability with guest speakers including Shelagh Grant, Constructing Excellence; Nick Tune, BRE; executive director Peter Williams, Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association; Environmental Engineering expert Dick Strawbridge MBE; Richard Essex, RSC; Bob Phillips, Barratt Homes; Phil Jones, Welsh School of Architecture; Toby Lloyd, Navigant Consulting; Greg England, United Welsh Housing Association; Ken Thomas, Wimpey; Wayne Hemingway, Hemingway Design; Neil Kinnock, former Labour Leader and EU Commissioner; Matthew Quinn and former minister, Sue Essex, Welsh Assembly Government; Stuart Davies and Phil Roberts, Gwalia Housing Group; and Richard Capie, CIH.

Last year’s TAI exhibition was completely sold out. This year, organisers were promising another superb event. TAI 2007 attracted almost 400 Welsh housing professionals, along with 60 exhibiting organisations. If past conferences are anything to go on, TAI 2008 was set to be the unmissable calendar event of the Welsh housing
profession.

CIH is a registered charity and a non-profit organisation for people working in housing. With over 20,000 members, 800 of whom are based in Wales, CIH is a popular, ever growing forum for housing professionals.

The conference took place over three days at the beginning of the month, held at Cardiff City Hall. The main conference hotel was the five-star Cardiff Hilton, located opposite City Hall.