Martin Prince-Parrott RIBA FRSA is the Director of Development and Architecture at SUB/URBAN WORKSHOP. Responsible for acquiring and bringing forward retrofit, new build and custom development, he is also leading on ESG and decarbonisation. 

In this episode, Martin explains that if he were Housing Minister, he would address the cladding scandal with policies to support those whose assets have been negatively impacted. He explains how structured retrofit policies will help the sector to be in with a chance of reaching net-zero by 2050. Finally, Martin explores the potential for home-grown timber to alleviate supply chain shortages, and ways the housing sector can help build and reshape communities for the better.

In this episode, we speak to Dominic Grace FRICS, the Principal at Dominic Grace Limited. Dominic previously spent 37 years at Savills and was Head of London Residential Development. He has also spent time as a Senior Advisor, Board Member and Investor to various businesses within the property and real estate tech industry.  

Dominic tells us that as Housing Minister he would carefully spend time curating a team of experts within the housing sector to surround him. He also explains how the climate crisis, Brexit and the skills shortages will all be major considerations to respond to. After ten years, ambitions around technology will have been realised and hardwired into the everyday processes in the housing system.

In this episode, we speak to Rutu Buddhdev, the Managing Director of Amara Property, a firm that designs and builds high-end residential homes and apartments in the UK. Amara Property specialises in luxury home developments and interiors, working on the total life cycle of development from planning, to build management, sale and exit strategies for investors.  

Rutu explains that as Housing Minister, she would extend what Help To Buy has to offer to increase the housing supply and the projects available in the market. She would tackle the planning process for greenbelt applications, prioritise educating developers on sustainable development and address the labour shortage issues to stimulate the workforce.

In this episode we speak to Tariq Shah, the Director at the Vigo Group, a firm that specialises in transformational property-based projects, taking under-used or decaying assets and breathing life into them. Tariq is also Chairperson for Doncaster Town Deal Board and the Chairman of The Sleep Charity. 

Tariq explains that if he were Housing Minister, he would prioritise creating plurality in the housing industry and focus on how to support the competitiveness of SME housebuilders through partnering with tech companies to provide productivity and digitisation infrastructure.

Jonathan Vandermolen is the CEO of Vandermolen Real Estate and has over 35 years of experience within the property industry. He founded the Blenheim Bishop agency in 1991, which was the first independently owned land, development consultancy and new homes business before launching his estate agency Vandermolen Real Estate in 2018. Jonathan has developed a reputation as a thought leader in the residential development market. 

In this episode, Jonathan explains that if he were Housing Minister, he would create a planning structure that would have to be adhered to by all local councils, no matter what political party they were from, and ensure councils are obligated to provide a set amount of affordable housing, starting at 40 or 50 units in size. Over time, Jonathan would ensure that the planning system would mandate local authorities to have a minimum number of planning consents granted, to improve the efficiency of the planning system.