London Borough of Hounslow Assistant Director for Housing Development and Supply Pratima Sood highlights the importance of supportive colleagues and mentors, both inside and outside the workplace, and she recommends a career in Public Sector housing delivery to anyone who loves a good haggle.

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Many thanks to our founding sponsor Red Loft and this episode’s co-sponsor Hadley Property Group. And thanks to Hounslow Council for taking part.

0:00

hello I'm Toby Fox from 1.5 million new

0:03

homes the local government challenge

0:05

sponsored by Red Loft and Hadley

0:07

Property Group so the government wants 1

0:10

and a half million new homes built and

0:12

its key delivery arm in delivering that

0:15

National ambition is local government

0:17

either as the planning Authority uh

0:21

guiding the permission for new homes or

0:23

as a partner in a JV with the private

0:26

sector or in delivering homes directly

0:29

themselves

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so I'm visiting a different Council

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every month to ask what works and What

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needs to change for councils to be able

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to deliver more homes and one of the big

0:41

challenges facing councils is the

0:43

Recruitment and the retention of the

0:46

talent the skill that it requires to

0:48

deliver new homes so I'm here in hsow

0:51

with pratas suud from hsow Council to

0:53

find out a little bit more about careers

0:56

in public sector housing delivery so

0:58

pratar hello do you want to tell us a

1:01

bit about what your role is at hous

1:02

Council so I'm currently assistant

1:05

director for Housing Development Supply

1:08

and that includes delivering new Council

1:11

homes working with private developers to

1:15

um secure planning permission and

1:17

affordable housing on key strategic

1:19

sites within the burrow and in addition

1:23

to that it's working closely with our

1:26

asset management colleagues and our

1:28

housing management colleagues to

1:30

allocate these new homes as well okay

1:33

and what do what does that mean to

1:34

allocate the new homes to provide homes

1:36

for those most in need who are on the

1:38

council's housing register waiting for a

1:40

new home and making sure that we've

1:42

handed the properties over they meet bya

1:45

compliance and all the other sorts of

1:47

statue requirements of new homes um and

1:51

you know effectively pass the keys over

1:53

to new tenants to live in a new home so

1:56

you're going all the way from planning

1:58

where those homes are going all the way

2:00

through to actually talking about

2:02

handing the keys over to the new tenants

2:05

fantastic so what do you I mean a bit no

2:07

brainer what do you love most about your

2:08

job I think it's um It's The End Result

2:12

it's and it's doesn't isn't something

2:14

that happens quickly it takes a long

2:16

time you know it could take four years

2:18

from having an initial idea having a

2:21

piece of land going through planning

2:23

securing a contractor actually building

2:26

the homes and then once they built

2:30

actually handing them over to colleagues

2:33

to give to our new residents and I think

2:36

for me it's seeing that Journey um from

2:39

I've been fortunate enough to see that

2:40

Journey as well um at hanso from start

2:42

to finish and it's providing a safe warm

2:48

clean home for people that need it do do

2:53

you find yourself walking past homes and

2:55

thinking in your head oh that was one

2:57

that I was involved in delivering um

3:00

so it's sort of when you're walking

3:02

around the bar driving around it's oh I

3:04

was involved in that one um at planning

3:08

stages

3:09

and understand you know the difficulties

3:12

that the developer might have had with

3:13

local opposition from you know various

3:16

stakeholders whether that's residents or

3:18

politicians and um to see them s

3:21

overcome some of those challenges and

3:23

overcome you know some of um the

3:27

policies that the council set um and

3:30

actually see those new homes built is

3:31

always um an achievement um and it's you

3:34

know looking at the schemes right at the

3:36

beginning and and right at the end as

3:38

well and just following their Journey

3:40

has been really

3:43

um it's rewarding to see I've had a

3:47

small part in a number of different

3:48

schemes within the borrow but um you

3:51

were just sort of starting to open up on

3:53

some of the challenges involved in

3:54

getting those those homes built so

3:56

what's the toughest part of of what you

3:58

do um I think it is when you're on the

4:01

ground and you're actually trying to

4:02

build and at the moment we've got a

4:04

number of schemes that are really

4:06

struggling because they can't get a

4:08

utility connection for example so

4:10

whether that be um electricity or water

4:13

or and it's working it's not just

4:17

working the council trying to sort of

4:20

build it's working with all the other

4:22

different stakeholders as well um to get

4:25

that end product and often people think

4:28

oh it's just a developer building out

4:30

and it's not there's a number of

4:31

different people that are involved

4:34

different skills different Industries to

4:36

make something happen um and part of

4:39

your job is like assembling a jigsaw

4:41

puzzle by putting all of those different

4:42

stakeholders in place so that they're

4:44

they're all working and overcoming any

4:46

sort of challenges that come our way but

4:49

you know equally it's just it is

4:51

rewarding to see something built at the

4:53

end of the process as well now I'm

4:56

guessing from the interviews that I've

4:57

done so far that nobody told you that

4:59

this job was available to you when you

5:01

were younger you you just kind of

5:03

discovered it so what was your route

5:05

into into housing delivery so um I did a

5:08

geography degree en really enjoyed

5:10

geography and you know one of the

5:12

careers at the end of doing a degree was

5:14

oh you can go into town planning um

5:16

ended up doing a m in town planning um

5:19

which again was exciting always enjoyed

5:21

sort of architecture design places

5:24

creating communities and it felt like

5:26

sort of the N next sort of natural step

5:29

or knew what a planner did but more

5:32

mainly from a development management

5:34

side so you know householder

5:36

applications or developers submitting

5:38

planning applications and so this is

5:39

like someone wanting an

5:42

extension or wants to build a small

5:44

house or you know yeah um a block of

5:47

offices so un stent that side of

5:49

planning um never really knew about

5:51

planning policy and a local plan and the

5:54

planning framework until you know I

5:57

joined local government and

6:00

started my career out in planning policy

6:02

how did you join local government um so

6:05

I was fortunate enough to get onto a

6:07

program called tomorrow's planners um so

6:11

it was a program that was for primarily

6:15

from people from a ban background ethnic

6:17

minorities to get into planning at that

6:19

point in time n Only 3% of the planning

6:24

profession had was represented by ethnic

6:27

minorities 3% 3% um and it was a great

6:31

opportunity it was an opportunity that

6:34

provided me with a placement and the

6:35

local Authority um and provided the

6:40

funds that paid for my masters as well

6:43

right um so it was for me it was a bit

6:46

of a no-brainer and you wanted to do T

6:49

planning so to get the experience and

6:52

actually get my foot through the door um

6:55

right at the beginning of my career was

6:56

um I was really fortunate and I think it

6:59

probably have been harder if I'd just

7:00

done left University gone away and done

7:03

a masters full-time and then tried to

7:04

apply for a job it probably wouldn't

7:07

have been the easiest profession to get

7:09

into um so and then I was worked in

7:14

planning policy had Keen interest in

7:16

housing policy as

7:18

well um and then got the opportunity to

7:22

do some estate

7:24

regeneration so came over and sort of a

7:27

housing delivery role um Miss my

7:29

planning routes so missed um negotiating

7:34

with private developers on like

7:36

affordable housing sort of missed um the

7:39

interaction with planning and F back

7:42

into that through a housing enabling

7:44

role so a big part of my role was to you

7:47

know go into pre-application meetings so

7:49

these are meetings that planning

7:51

officers have um with developers before

7:54

an application submitted um to explain

7:57

what the planning policies are what

8:00

um would be accepted what won't be

8:01

accepted and you know that was the point

8:04

where I would step in and provide how

8:07

advice around housing for housing and

8:09

actually what the council's expectations

8:10

were in terms of per the number of full

8:13

housing that we'd want on every single

8:15

scheme going forward

8:18

um and that

8:21

was yeah probably lots of highlights in

8:24

terms of you know being able to achieve

8:26

40% affordable housing or meeting the

8:28

actual t that the local planers set for

8:32

schemes going through planning and going

8:34

to planning committee was always really

8:36

rewarding and this is like a negotiation

8:39

what so what you're saying is that as I

8:41

read it is that the bit you really enjoy

8:43

is negotiating sitting there looking

8:45

someone eye to eye and saying well you

8:47

want this and I want this so how are we

8:50

going to reach a compromise talk me

8:51

through the sort of skills and the exper

8:53

how you pick those skills up to do so a

8:56

lot fits around viability so you know

8:59

developer will say I paid x amount for

9:02

the land I've really got x amount left

9:04

to build here are all my bill costs and

9:07

you

9:08

know um this is the Quantum of

9:12

affordable housing that could provide

9:14

you and it was it's always negotiating

9:17

well actually you can get 40% we might

9:20

just need to play around with the mix

9:21

that you've got on site or actually I

9:24

can accept something slightly less than

9:26

40% um however need to make sure you've

9:30

got X number of three bedroom homes and

9:32

two bedroom homes one bedroom homes and

9:34

need to make sure that you're meeting

9:36

wheelchair requirements so it's not it

9:38

wasn't always about the percentage of

9:40

affordable housing you're getting a site

9:41

it's actually the quality as well um you

9:44

know a developer might come to me and

9:45

say I can give you 40% but they're all

9:47

one bedroom units and that doesn't

9:49

create a place or a community um you

9:51

know I need a mix of housing to meet my

9:54

housing need um to meet the needs of

9:56

those households on our housing stuff

10:00

and is this a natural skill that you've

10:01

got this ability to kind of negotiate

10:04

and argue and haggle or is this

10:05

something that you've you've had to

10:06

learn how to do it I think I it's

10:09

something that I learned and I learned

10:11

from sort predecessors who were in the

10:13

role who are very passionate about

10:14

afford housing so it was always very

10:16

nice to work in an environment where

10:18

people really believed in what they were

10:20

doing and I think a lot of it has been

10:23

learn it's not something that can be

10:25

taught to you um and lot of that

10:27

ambition sort of set out by are

10:29

political leaders as well so we at the

10:32

heart of the administration of for

10:33

housing is really important to them and

10:36

really important to planning committee

10:37

that gives you the confidence to be able

10:40

to go and negotiate and get you know a

10:45

politicians or Administration exactly

10:47

what they want um in terms of affordable

10:49

housing so you mentioned learning from

10:52

predecessors how important is mentoring

10:54

in in advancing your career in local

10:57

government and how do you go about

10:59

getting a mentor y um so I think it's

11:01

really important to have um line

11:05

managers who support you and you know um

11:09

who you learn from and who are

11:10

passionate about certain um subjects

11:12

it's also important to have colleagues s

11:15

outside of your area as well who helped

11:17

support you I think in terms of

11:19

mentorship I got a mentor when I did the

11:22

future of London leaders course which

11:25

was really helpful um and it was around

11:28

sort of developing my leadership skills

11:31

and you know helping me understand you

11:33

know what my next steps were in my

11:35

career and um they sort of help you find

11:39

your next PATH and um The Journey that

11:42

you're on so that's future of London is

11:44

an organization it's London only but um

11:47

it's formed by local authorities in in

11:49

London to create the next generation of

11:52

leaders right yeah um in this sort of

11:55

regen environment that we work in so

11:58

lots of leaders that go on the course

12:00

are from Li authorities or in planning

12:04

or in um housing delivery estate

12:07

regeneration um so it's really nice to

12:10

meet up with a cohort of people who are

12:13

on the same Journey as you but equally

12:15

for me it was like being able to have a

12:17

mentor um to help

12:19

me develop my leadership skills so who

12:22

is your Mentor who are you going to give

12:24

a shout out to um NY Stone who's really

12:27

passionate about for the housing um and

12:29

a key player when she was at hanslo

12:33

um other mentals have been sort of you

12:36

know ex-leader of the council as well

12:39

Council curan was like really passionate

12:41

about forall housing and I think he

12:43

drove that Um passion through to

12:46

officers developing you know affordable

12:49

housing um so I think yeah again being

12:53

very lucky to have different people

12:56

within um my career helping me on that

13:00

journey and you know most recently s of

13:03

Peter O'Brien as well who you know is

13:07

bringing a wealth of experience to

13:09

hanslow and helping us on our next

13:13

program and you so you talked about you

13:15

the sort of career Journey that you've

13:17

been on think about that that Arc of

13:20

your career the speed of which your

13:22

career has Advance how does that compare

13:24

with contemporaries of yours with people

13:25

you were at school and college with in

13:27

who were in other sectors

13:29

um I think so my contemporaries I think

13:31

we've all developed at a similar sort of

13:35

level um you know some of my

13:38

contemporaries lawyers and partners um

13:41

who you

13:43

know have done exceptionally well um

13:47

most have gone into sort of management

13:49

positions so I think it's um and even

13:52

the cohort that is started out with in

13:54

planning when I first started in my

13:56

career you know lot of them gone to be

13:58

heads of service and directors as well

14:01

um so I've been quite fortunate to be

14:03

surrounded by people whove sort of you

14:05

know excelled in their careers no matter

14:07

what they've done why is that fortunate

14:10

because you talk to each other and and

14:12

support each other or yeah I think so um

14:16

and you know come from a family where my

14:19

sisters as well you know who excelling

14:22

in their careers and I think growing up

14:25

it was always you know you work hard and

14:28

you'll reap the rewards and that's what

14:30

we s tend to

14:32

do so what advice would you have for

14:35

someone who is thinking about what steps

14:38

to take in their in their career may

14:39

maybe they haven't even started yet

14:41

they're at College they're thinking

14:42

about their future or maybe they're

14:43

doing something they're not that happy

14:44

with what what advice would you have for

14:46

them about about working in the public

14:48

sector housing the I think it's a really

14:51

interesting time so we've got had three

14:54

apprentices come through um join

14:56

recently so they've come through as

14:58

housing apprentices um and obviously

15:01

what we do in economic growth and

15:03

regeneration slightly different to you

15:05

know how in case work or um letting

15:10

houses and you know dealing with sort of

15:13

the people side of things we deal with

15:15

the bricks and the morar um but it was

15:18

sort of with them I've sort of said to

15:20

them you know there's a number of

15:22

different things that you can do in

15:23

local Authority go through your

15:25

different apprentices um I had one of my

15:27

apprentices who said to me can I stay in

15:30

um with you and you know do my two years

15:33

here and I've said no I'd like you to go

15:35

and actually experience all the

15:36

different departments within housing

15:38

within local government and then make a

15:40

decision because

15:42

actually there's more to local

15:45

government then just has of delivery or

15:47

planning or you know you could go and

15:50

work in the communities team or the

15:52

locali team and and I think that's what

15:55

makes local government really special

15:57

because actually you can find skill set

15:59

and you can move around and I've been

16:01

fortunate enough to do that within my

16:02

career as well that's a a Tough Lover

16:05

approach PR no I I think it's really

16:08

important I think if you're at the start

16:10

of your career you don't want to regret

16:12

having stayed in the same role and not

16:15

have the opportunity and the experience

16:17

I think when you're an apprentice and

16:18

you've got that opportunity to go and

16:20

experience different things you should

16:22

take it and then you make a decision and

16:24

it's not forever you know these

16:26

placements are for six months at a time

16:29

so PR thank you very much for your

16:32

contribution to 1.5 million new homes

16:35

and getting them built and so another

16:37

episode of 1.5 million new homes the

16:40

local government challenge sponsored by

16:42

Red Loft and Hadley Property Group comes

16:44

to a close we're going to be back with

16:46

more but until then if you like what

16:48

you've seen please click like or

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subscribe and we'll look forward to

16:51

seeing you next time thank you