PRESS RELEASE

Key role for housing associations	26th September 2001
Housing associations have a key role to play in bringing about improvements in Scotland’s construction industry. That was the message from Scottish Homes Chief Executive Bob Millar in a speech today at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations Property Management Conference in Renfrew. Mr Millar was outlining the moves which will be made by Communities Scotland, the new executive agency which will replace Scottish Homes from November 1, in the field of ‘modernising procurement’. A new policy is being developed in partnership with the SFHA, registered social landlords, and the construction industry. As clients of the construction industry, Mr Millar said housing associations had a major part to play in making the industry more efficient and improving its employment practices. At the same time, the construction industry feels it is working in a environment of short-termism and needs longer-term commitments and larger scale projects to be able to make these changes. Mr Millar told the audience: “Our task has been to identify how we can influence this agenda for improving the way that the construction industry behaves. “Scottish Homes, or Communities Scotland, cannot deliver this policy alone. The major way in which we can influence the construction industry is by supporting and enabling you to be best practice construction clients to drive the industry to meet the needs of you – their customers. “You will have a major role to play to harness and promote the aspirations of both your organisation and your residents to collectively become the industry’s customers.”
Anne Graham Tel: 0131 479 5167