How can we bridge disciplines, sectors, and scales to tackle the housing crisis and create homes that truly allow Londoners to thrive?

London’s housing challenges are complex and demand systems thinking — an approach that sees problems in terms of relationships and interdependencies rather than isolated parts. This session brought together senior experts to explore how collaboration across disciplines, coordination at different scales, and drawing on diverse expertise can drive the transformative change the city needs.

Speakers

• Caroline Harper, Interim Managing Director, Be First (Chair)
• Amy Shaw, Partner, Trowers & Hamlins
• Marion MacCormick, Partner – Projects, Pollard Thomas Edwards
• Bridget Wilkins, Head of Adoption, Engagement, and Innovation, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
• Rich Knight, Sustainability Senior Associate, Ridge and Partners

Caroline Harper, Be First (Chair)

Caroline is Interim Managing Director at Be First, the urban regeneration company for Barking & Dagenham. Since joining as Chief Planning Director in 2018, she has played a key role in establishing Be First as a leading affordable housing developer in London.

• The GLA is developing a new 10-year Affordable Housing Programme — the first time it’s been a decade — alongside a national pledge to deliver 1.5 million new homes. This represents a major opportunity for coordinated long-term regeneration.
• Housing affordability remains a major challenge, and delivery has stalled. Homes alone are not enough, regeneration must link to jobs, health, education, and transport.

“Systems thinking, which views housing as part of an interconnected ecosystem, is vital if we are to create places where people can thrive, not just survive.” – Caroline Harper

Amy Shaw, Trowers & Hamlins

Amy has 25 years’ experience as a lawyer working for both public and private sector organisations in all aspects of the development projects, with expertise in real estate based joint ventures.

• Rethink viability to include long-term social, health, and environmental outcomes, not just short-term costs. Collaboration across the public sector can unlock value.
• London faces unique challenges: planning complexity, building safety, high logistics costs, and constrained funding all of which limit innovation.

“We need to foster greater collaboration between local authorities, the NHS, universities, and developers to unlock viable, resilient projects and re-examine Section 106 mechanisms.” – Amy Shaw

Marion MacCormick, Pollard Thomas Edwards

Marion has extensive experience in leading a variety of award winning, residential led projects, through from planning to delivery. She believes that a collaborative approach is key to the success.

• Early, cross-disciplinary collaboration can unlock value through design thinking, embedding flexibility and resilience into schemes from the outset.
• Viability dominates every discussion, often behind closed doors, without considering design quality or long-term impacts.

“As a sector, we must begin to look around the table at our next meetings and make sure we have the right people there. By involving architects, funders, and communities early in the conversation, we can foster more joined-up decision-making and greater transparency.” – Marion MacCormick

Bridget Wilkins, MHCLG

Bridget’s passion lies in how to bridge the gap between people, policy and technology to revolutionise the planning system and built environment.

• The UK housing sector needs to view innovation, technology and data as part of business as usual, not as an add-on. This means addressing systemic barriers in procurement, skills and digital capacity.
• There is a growing focus on developing a shared language of value and success, combining return on investment with social value and impact to guide better funding and policy decisions.

“The government’s role is shifting toward that of a steward and enabler for system change — creating space for radical collaboration across sectors, testing new models through the Innovation Fund, and helping scale what works.” – Bridget Wilkins

Rich Knight, Ridge and Partners

As a member of the Sustainability Team, Rich works across all stages of the development process and co-chairs Sustainable South, which promotes regional sustainability and best-practice tools for local authorities.

• Systems thinking allows the sector to prioritise contextual, outcome-led sustainability, connecting policy, design, and funding.
• The industry is often trapped by box-ticking, chasing certifications rather than focusing on performance and usability.
• Embed sustainability practically and proportionately, prioritising multiple “good enough” schemes over chasing a single perfect project.

“I’d like to see a hundred good, practical schemes that embed sustainability thinking, rather than one perfect project that tries to do everything.” – Rich Knight

Conference session write-ups

Keynotes

Somers Town field trip

Resident protection and wellbeing

The power of Passivhaus

Quality housing for all

Resident safety and wellbeing

Unlocking temporary accommodation supply

An equitable future: Lessons from Kidbrooke Park

Postcards from future neighbourhoods

Housing typologies workshop

Systems thinking to deliver future homes

Return to the main conference page

Homes for the Future programme

The conference is part of our major Knowledge programme for 2025/6. The conference ideas and insights will contribute to our overall research. We will publish a final report in February 2026 with case studies and practical recommendations. Find out more about our Homes for the Future programme.

Join our mailing list

For Future of London news and event invitations, please subscribe to our monthly newsletter.