Roundtable on converting vacant faith buildings to social homes

Invitation: Roundtable Discussion about the Challenges and Opportunities of using surplus or vacant faith buildings and land for social housing in Scotland

When: Thursday 4th September 2025 from 0930 to 1200

Where: Hanover Scotland HA, 95 McDonald Road, Edinburgh, EH7 4NS

For more information, contact kwells@arkconsultancy.co.uk 

Please join us at this roundtable discussion hosted by ARK Consultancy and  Housing Justice, a national charity. 

In early 2025, at ARK Consultancy, we were appointed by Housing Justice to carry out a scoping study into the possibility of replicating, in Scotland, Housing Justice’s successful Faith in Affordable Housing (FiAH) project in England and Wales.  

In England and Wales, FiAH worked with churches of all denominations to release surplus land and redundant church buildings for the development of new affordable housing.  It is hoped that a similar model could be adopted in Scotland where there are already several examples of successful partnerships between churches and housing providers, for example, the recent refurbishment of St Kentigern's Church on the Union Canal in Edinburgh, as affordable housing for LAR Housing Trust.   

The proposed round table discussion (with invited representatives from Housing Justice, ARK Consultancy, faith organisations, housing providers, architects and Scottish Government) is one of the activities of the initial scoping study and is intended to:

• Explore the appetite for a project of this nature
• Share existing experience of developing affordable housing on church sites
• Debate and identify any potential barriers and opportunities
• Identify next steps in the conversation