Sell-out Housing Innovations Factory launches green fund
Sold-out event welcomed future living specialist, Kimmo Ronka, to talk about his award-winning developments in Finland and saw the launch of a brand new fund for housing associations to incorporate nature into their developments.
The event, which took place yesterday (22 January), was the culmination of SFHA’s Innovation and Future Thinking project that it started in 2018 to look at how housing associations can tackle the challenges they face in a changing landscape of age, technology and complex needs.
Ronka was joined by a variety of speakers, with people from Architecture and Design Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, University of Stirling and Construction Scotland Innovation Centre all bringing their innovative ideas to share.
Ivan Clark, planning team manager from Scottish Natural Heritage, used his speaker slot to announce the partnership between Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the launch of the Green Infrastructure Fund.
The two organisations will work with Architecture and Design Scotland and the Scottish Government to support more innovative, greener designs in the housing sector.
Announcing the £60k fund, Clark said;
“We are looking for a housing association to partner with us and SFHA to see a more integrated approach to housing design to involve more use of nature.
“It would be good to get a mix of as many different sites as possible to showcase how green infrastructure can solve problems in mainstream developments.”
David Stewart, SFHA’s policy lead, said;
“This is a great opportunity for an association that wants to provide a quality environment for their tenants as well as quality housing. We hope that the successful scheme will provide an example that can be used in future housing developments. It’s well documented that quality green space benefits physical and mental health as well as improving the environment.”
The fund would allow the successful social housing provider to access a package of financial and design support to help deliver an innovative development, which would maximise the benefits of the vegetated land and water within and around the sites.
To find out more about the fund, click HERE