Dr Ghazi Droubi, head of engineering and built environment at University College Birmingham, said: “The UK social housing sector is undergoing its most significant regulatory transformation in a generation.
“Housing Ombudsman investigations have repeatedly identified severe maladministration cases relating to damp and mould complaints, including findings against several major housing providers where residents experienced prolonged exposure to hazardous living conditions, despite repeated reports.
“The tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in 2020, caused by prolonged exposure to mould in social housing, demonstrates that failures often arise not only from technical shortcomings but also from poor communication, weak complaint handling, and a lack of understanding of residents’ circumstances.
“With the Social Housing (Regulation) Act, the Building Safety Act, and the strict operational timelines of Awaab’s Law now live, housing providers are under immense pressure to rapidly investigate and remedy structural issues like damp, mould, and building safety defects.
“To cope with these sweeping legal changes, local authorities and housing associations are facing a major operational bottleneck: a severe shortage of technical surveyors who actually understand the unique regulatory and social realities of the sector.
“Traditionally, providers have relied on general building surveyors or standard construction graduates.
“However, broad-spectrum training is no longer enough to protect providers from severe penalties or landmark cases of ombudsman failure.
“Today’s social housing teams don’t just need people who can spot a structural defect; they need professionals who are experts in the specific building pathology of ageing housing stock, fluent in PAS 2035 green retrofit principles, and deeply versed in the precise legal definitions of the Decent Homes Standard.
“Furthermore, a technical skillset is only half the battle.
“Recent findings from the Housing Ombudsman consistently reveal that the costliest failures in social housing stem not just from delayed maintenance, but from a profound failure in communication and resident empathy.
“Generic surveying courses completely ignore this human element.
“To bridge this critical skills gap, higher education must step up with agile, specialised pathways.
“Today, career-focused qualifications that explicitly marry technical diagnostics with modules on understanding social housing residents are a necessity.
“With over 15,000 projected construction job openings in Birmingham alone and a regional target of 12,200 new homes per year, the West Midlands is at the epicentre of this demand.
“By equipping a new generation of surveyors with sector-specific expertise that complement generic construction degrees, we can help housing providers move past basic legal compliance and start delivering the safe, dignified homes that residents deserve.
“Anticipating this demand, University College Birmingham, in partnership with Midland Heart and Tpas, announced the launch of a new Higher National Certificate (HNC) in Social Housing Building Surveying.
“This 18-month part-time course is designed for anyone looking to start or advance a career as a building surveyor in social housing.
“By October this year, it is anticipated that a formal qualification will be a necessity for many surveying roles: this HNC opens the door to a rewarding career path in a growing industry and aligns with our mission to ‘…enable those who learn with us to be empowered, enriched and employed in high-quality jobs, supporting them to advance themselves and their communities towards a sustainable future’.”
Contact details are available to account holders.
Create a free account to get in touch with this expert.