A round table sponsored by Beauflor last week in London brought flooring experts together with leading social housing providers and resident representatives to explore why flooring needs much greater consideration in social housing projects, for wellbeing, safety and thermal comfort.

With the 2026 version of the Decent Homes Standard having conspicuously omitted flooring in its range of environmental factors, the round table ‘Decent Flooring for Decent Homes’ was a key opportunity to air some of the challenges around specifying good quality flooring in projects, and propose solutions.

The delegates, which included housing providers Peabody and L&Q, stressed the need for flooring to being given far greater focus for tenants, but agreed greater investment was not seen as a priority in many contexts, sometimes being sidelined on the basis of upfront cost. Confronted with a host of other challenges, delegates heard  social housing providers were not currently able to adequately resource what is a fundamental area for tenants.

Delegates explored what was needed from the Government to drive better specification, such as promised best practice guidance the Ministry of Housing has promised, which is to encourage social housing landlords to “retain good quality floor coverings between tenancies.” The agenda also covered current initiatives such as a specific working group the Government has set up with the sector to identify solutions for tenants “most in in need, how the sector was innovating with suppliers, and how there was an existing stigma around sheet PVC flooring as being ‘poor quality’ when it should form part of an ‘aspiration’ for better quality flooring in social housing.

The full list of attendees was:

Matt Baird Associate Consultant, Learning Curve Group (Event Chair)

Andrew Cameron-Smith Comms Director, Healthy Homes Hub

Chinyere Onyeka Property Services Manager, Peabody

Charlene Nevins Regional Property Services Manager, Peabody

Fayann Simpson Chair of Resident Services Board, L&Q

Chris Roberts National Key Account Manager, Beauflor

Steven Mcauliffe Regional Sales Manager, Beauflor

A Building Insights podcast capturing highlights and recommendations from the discussion, will be available soon at: insights.netmagmedia.co.uk