Decent Flooring for Decent Homes | netMAGMedia Insights

On 15 July, Building Insights Live brought together leading social housing providers, sector representatives and flooring specialists in London to explore an often overlooked element of creating decent, comfortable homes: flooring.

Held in partnership with Beauflor and chaired by housing sector consultant Matt Baird, the round table examined the gap left by the new Decent Homes Standard, which sets minimum expectations around the condition, safety and comfort of social housing but makes no explicit provision for flooring or floorcoverings.

With an estimated 1.2 million people living without any floorcovering in their home, many of them in social housing, delegates discussed why flooring needs to be considered as more than an aesthetic ‘nice to have’. From thermal comfort, safety and acoustics to wellbeing and residents’ overall experience of their homes, the discussion explored what a decent standard should look like and how providers can deliver it.

The debate covered specification, void properties, durability, maintenance and contractor performance, as well as the challenge of balancing upfront budgets against whole-life value. A key theme was the need for a more proactive, long-term approach, recognising the role good quality flooring can play in creating genuinely decent, comfortable and fit-for-purpose homes.