Levitt Bernstein’s Jo McCafferty highlights key takeaways from the NLA Expert Housing Panel’s first 2025 meeting, addressing housing affordability and regeneration.

As Chair of the NLA Expert Housing Panel, I was delighted to lead our first meeting of 2025 at The London Centre. The room was filled with an impressive assembly of industry leaders—architects, planners, developers, local authority housing commissioners, and policy advisors—all committed to addressing London’s pressing housing challenges. From the outset, it was clear that this would be a year of meaningful inquiry and action.

After a short welcome, I provided an overview of the Expert Panels' role within the NLA framework and how our discussions would align with the New London Agenda. Federico Ortiz and Sara Mahmud followed with an introduction to the NLA’s broader programme, setting the stage for a year of impactful research and policy engagement. As we moved through introductions, the diversity of expertise in the room reaffirmed the potential of this panel to generate real change.

One of our key objectives was to identify and prioritise the major sector challenges that would shape our workstreams for the year. Three core working groups were established, which will evolve as the year develops. 

The first focuses on residents’ lived experiences in tall residential buildings—an area where specific design guidance and direct resident feedback have often been lacking. With opportunities to work with the NLA’s own the Tall Buildings Expert Panel, the Quality of Life Foundation, and the London Assembly, we will conduct site visits and gather qualitative data to inform future design and management practices.

The second working group will help shape the content of the NLA Estate Regeneration Conference in October 2025. We explored the current financial and delivery challenges facing estate regeneration, particularly in the context of rising capital and operational costs. Our discussions explored a variety of funding models, such as public-private partnerships (PPPs) and, sadly, slowing local authority self-build, and we identified decade-spanning case studies, including the Gascoigne Estate in Barking, to analyse best practice and lessons learnt.

The third group, led by Simon Bayliss, will support the Architects Action for Affordable Housing campaign. Our debate centred on redefining affordability and finding ways to focus government expenditure towards direct investment in high-quality, affordable homes – in particular to unlock stalled estate regeneration projects. We explored the role of pension funds and the potential and challenges in retrofitting existing housing stock to meet modern sustainability standards and discussed how our panel could provide evidence-based support for the campaign.

Throughout the meeting, we acknowledged the well-known barriers facing the housing sector—building safety regulations and BS991, decarbonisation costs, planning constraints, and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on residents. Our group, now including key representation from the GLA, will also act as a sounding board for the new draft of the London Plan as the key headlines emerge this spring, in advance of the new draft in March 2026.

As we concluded, there was a shared sense of urgency but also a strong commitment to our key clear objectives for this year. Our next meeting in May will allow us to assess our early tall buildings research findings, first feedback on the London Plan priorities and the draft programme for the Estate EstateRegeneration Conference. Leading this panel since 2020 has been a privilege and a responsibility, and I am confident that together, we can continue to drive meaningful change in London’s housing sector.