- Branding
- Perspective
- Strategy
Building difference in social housing: Why brands struggle to differentiate.
Uniformity looks good on paper. Everything in neat little rows, grid by grid, line by line. There’s comfort in conformity. But, in reality – like the built environment – people demand variety. Uniqueness. Differentiation. That’s what drives architects to dream; it’s what gets communities talking in and about the spaces around them. So why do the brands behind these buildings struggle to stand out?
In construction, brand positioning is never high enough on the agenda. Whether it’s marketing for building products that’s restricted by regulatory risk, or a lack of innovation in your construction marketing strategy, the sector is characterised by convergence in brand stories and characteristics: capability, trust, experience – all the hygiene factors you need in a construction business. To sharpen their positioning and stand out, brands need more than this – especially in such high-turnover, high-stakes sectors as housebuilding, for example.
First, however, we need to look at two overriding factors here. One, we have a highly risk-averse, inertia-stricken industry – often for very good reason, but otherwise simply because ‘it’s what we’ve always done’. Two, we have an industry highly conscious of the intense restrictions, regulations and scrutiny it’s subject to. The thing is, branding is one area where, so long as we’re simple and grounded in reality, we can create a story that stands apart.
Complexity breeds conformity.
Yes, we know. Construction as a whole is an immensely huge and complicated industry. Every kind of building or project speciality comes with its own unique challenges. So many that, to keep this article to under 25,000 words, let’s focus in on one very specific, intensely challenging sub-sector, one that’s very much at the forefront ahead of this year’s upcoming CHIC Conference & Exhibition: social housing.
The size and scale of social housing developments, alongside planning, the long-tail process of approvals and funding, and ever-present public scrutiny, make for an inherently complex sector. This is further reinforced by the advent of new legislation, regulations and requirements throughout a development’s lifecycle – Awaab’s Law, for example, adding the need for damp and mould prevention and preventative maintenance to be built into social housing. But we’ll come to the regulatory picture shortly…
Despite the UK Government’s election pledge to increase the country’s housing stock by 1.5 million net new homes by 2029, few are expected to be purpose built social housing developments. Instead, much of the sector’s activity remains focsed on retrofit, refurbishment and affordable housing provisions within private developments, where up to 35% of a scheme may be allocated to affordable housing, bringing added complexity around funding, planning and delivery.
Even in the case of retrofit and refurb, construction businesses throughout the chain – from architects and contractors to fitout firms, installers and subcontractors – face a minefield of social, political and economic considerations. All of which combine to explain how social housing projects are so often about building with the minimum of risk: architecture is often along ‘living box’ lines; low-cost, fast turnaround techniques can be in play; cost is the overriding factor – which can inevitably lead to compromise.
Whether you’re up the chain as a materials manufacturer or supplier to social housing developments, or you’re a contractor on the worksite, the multitude of considerations makes for comfort in conformity. We don’t want to do things differently, because they’ve worked before. Retrofit needs to be done as cost-effectively as possible, with the minimum of disruption, of course – so, just like new builds, it’s about getting it done and getting out of the door. But if you do nothing differently to anyone else, what’s your value over somebody who’s, say, cheaper, or faster? This is the dilemma facing every player in social housing and the wider construction sector – and it’s compounded further by the very restrictions that drive the very restrictions that drive the market.
Grounded in risk, reality and regulation.
From the advent of the Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI) to the impact of the Procurement Act, through to the ever-changing nature of Building Regulations, architecture and construction is – understandably and justifiably – subject to the tightest controls. And, in the case of new build social housing, wherever developments may emerge, the UK’s Future Homes Standard (FHS) puts a definitively fabric-first focus on energy efficiency and heating within this housing – impacting everything from insulation to heating systems.
Today, social housing is a sector under intense public scrutiny, just as the wider construction industry is, in a post-Grenfell world. Whether it’s high-rise, multi-use buildings, or retrofitted social housing developments, at a local, national and even international level, all eyes are on your project. So, why would anyone put their head above the parapet?
Materials need to be rigorously tested and approved. Planning permission and designs must be reviewed by an ever-increasing group of stakeholders. Net zero continues to dominate decisions and guide design as we march relentlessly onward to 2050. With everything falling into tighter and tighter parameters, and cost casting a shadow over it all, the very nature of the industry makes it hard to stand out and be seen. Which is why brand has never been more important.
People are at home with a story.
Construction brands – particularly those involved with social housing – have long been a checkbox construct. A mark of capability and experience. These are hygiene factors; they’re (after cost, of course) the first thing procurement departments will tick off as they approve your business for a place on the framework. So, what else differentiates you?
Very simply, it’s not so much your experience as the stories your people can tell. It’s the lives you’ve changed through the quality and comfort of the spaces you’ve created. It’s the challenges you’ve faced down through the abilities of your teams and the speed of your response. It’s the families and communities you’ve played your part in building over the years, and those your place-making contributions will continue to nurture and develop for generations to come.
All of this is encapsulated in your brand. Because construction, more than any other sector, is the one that every day changes the face of our world – and social housing shows this in microcosm. When all brands are the same, when difference is seen as risk, those changes won’t happen, or won’t last. But for those who stand up for the positive changes they’ve made, who tell the stories behind their spaces, they have the opportunity to build their brand on more than capability and cost-effectiveness. You have the chance to position your brand at the heart of building lives worth living – and, for construction, more than cost, more than the comfort of conformity, that’s the differentiation that counts.
Heading to this year’s CHIC Conference & Exhibition?
Let’s talk there about building meaningful brand differentiation in social housing.