THE 13th annual Scottish Empty Homes Conference will take place in Glasgow on Thursday 29 February, with the theme this year of Learning from the Past, Visions for the Future.
Held in The Studio on Hope Street, the conference will bring together housing experts, public servants, and others to discuss the role of empty homes in Scotland.
The conference will explore past learnings and visions for the future. Included in this will be consideration of the collective work that has been carried out, how we can use empty homes work to tackle the housing emergency, and how it can help meet affordable and social housing needs.
The event will also host the Auction House Scotland 13th Scottish Empty Homes Awards which, for the first time, will include a category open to the public. The Best Housing Renovation – Members of the Public Award recognises those who have transformed all or part of an empty property in the past two years.
Auction House Scotland will be the inaugural sponsors of the awards. To be eligible for nomination, an individual should have renovated all or part of an empty home in the past two years and be willing to share their story. Members of the public are encouraged to get in touch with nominations.
Those working in the housing sector will also be eligible for another Best Housing Renovation Award in a different category.
The Awards are the highlight of the Scottish Empty Homes Conference, which will also include project case studies and a line-up of speakers, due to be announced shortly.
Early Bird tickets are available now (£30 +VAT) in an offer that runs until 30 December when general admission tickets go on sale (£50 +VAT). This year’s conference is an in-person only event and tickets are available via Eventbrite or by requesting an invoice to alan.grant@orbit.scot.
Lisa Borthwick, national manager at the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, said, “That members of the public will be able to share their renovation success stories with us at our annual conference is great news. We know that across the country, there are hardworking people who have turned empty properties into places people want to live and we believe they should be celebrated. Scotland is facing a housing emergency and bringing empty homes back into use is a key part of solving it.”
