Design in Housing

The housing shortage in North East England calls for more than higher numbers alone. It requires well-designed homes, better use of brownfield land, stronger partnerships, faster delivery and places that support long-term community wellbeing. Design in Housing brings together designers, housing providers, developers, local authorities, policymakers and community voices to explore how design can help deliver more affordable, sustainable and liveable homes across the region.

This session will explore how design can help in the response to local housing pressures in towns, cities, rural and coastal communities across the North East.

Themes

• Designing higher-density housing that feels humane, attractive and connected to place.

• Using modern methods to speed up delivery.

• Creating affordable homes that are energy efficient, adaptable and built for changing household needs.

• Making better use of brownfield land, town centres and underused buildings.

• Putting North East communities at the centre of housing design, planning and long-term stewardship.

This event is for architects, urban designers, planners, housing associations, local authorities, developers, construction innovators, investors, community organisations and anyone involved in shaping the future of housing across North East England.

About our speakers

Owen Hopkins

Director, The Farrell Centre

Owen is a curator and writer and Director of the Farrell Centre, a public centre for architecture and cities at Newcastle University. He was part of the UK-Kenya curatorial team for the British Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, which was awarded a ‘Special Mention’ for National Participation by La Biennale. Prior to joining the Farrell Centre, he was Senior Curator at Sir John Soane’s Museum and before that Architecture Programme Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts. Across these roles, he has curated numerous acclaimed exhibitions and has written or edited over twenty books, journals and other publications. A frequent commentator on architecture in the press, on radio and TV, he writes regularly for a range of media. He lectures internationally and is a frequent guest critic at architecture schools, as well as a judge for a number of architecture awards.

Jen Manuel

Deputy Director in Building Insights, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

Jen is responsible at MHCLG for the skills, strategy and governance needed to design user-centred digital policy and services in building safety, including the energy performance of buildings regime and fire incident reporting. In addition, Jen leads a user-centred systems team to support across the complexity of policy and delivery challenges applying user-centred and systems thinking approaches to problems. Prior to this, Jen led user-centred systems teams in planning reform, refugee resettlement and public health. Before joining Civil Service in 2021, Jen completed a PhD in Digital Civics and was a qualified town planner, with citizen and user input into the design, delivery and implementation of policy and services being the core interest throughout her career.

Heather Orton

Head of Housing and Regeneration, North East Mayoral Strategic Authority

Heather is Head of Housing and Regeneration at the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority. She works across public and private sectors to accelerate housing delivery, unlock investment and create sustainable communities. Heather has spent over 20 years' working in local government in economic regeneration.

The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority is led by an Elected Mayor and Cabinet and covers the seven local authority areas of County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

Andy Dean

Chief Executive, Community Action Northumberland

Andy is Chief Executive at Community Action Northumberland (CAN), a charity working for communities across rural Northumberland as part of the ACRE network (Action with Communities in Rural England). Prior to this, Andy spent over 20 years working in local authority rural development specialising in economic regeneration, community development and housing. Andy is an associate consultant at the Rural Services Network (RSN) and secretary to the Rural Housing Alliance – a national network of Housing Associations passionate about rural affordable housing. In addition, Andy is Company Secretary and a founding Director of Communities Can (North East) CIC, the enabling hub for community-led housing across the region.

Anna Cumberland

Senior Architect, GT3 Architects

Anna is a Senior Architect with more than 10 years at GT3 and extensive experience delivering projects across the UK and North East. Her work spans heritage, residential, hospitality and community-focused design, often within complex and sensitive sites. Her residential experience ranges from neighbourhood planning through to new-build apartments and individual house types, giving her a strong understanding of different residential typologies, densities, and the role they can play in creating successful places. With a particular focus on early stakeholder and end-user engagement, Anna champions using local insight to challenge assumptions, strengthen briefs and shape better outcomes for the people who will ultimately use a place. Alongside practice, Anna is a guest tutor in Architecture and Urban Planning, supporting students through community housing design.

Jo Ellis

Development Manager, Castles & Coasts Housing Association

Jo Ellis is Development Manager (Delivery) at Castles & Coasts Housing Association, where she leads the delivery of affordable housing projects across the North East. Jo works with local authorities, contractors, consultants, and funding partners to bring forward high-quality, sustainable homes and thriving communities. With experience spanning land acquisition, planning, procurement, project delivery, stakeholder engagement, and programme management, she has successfully delivered complex housing, regeneration, and community-focused initiatives across the housing association, local government, and community enterprise sectors. Jo is particularly passionate about empowering communities to shape the homes and places they live in, drawing on previous national roles supporting cohousing, and community asset development across the UK.

About the venue

You can find further details about this venue here.