On the 5th of March 2025, Convene hosted our first webinar in a series focusing on Governance, Risk and Compliance for Housing. In this webinar we launched our new GRC Housing Network, as well as Convene’s partnership with GovernWith for the Housing sector.

We were joined by Arturo Dell, and GovernWith’s Fiona Mercer and Carrie Marr to discuss why the sector needs this kind of network, and how Housing associations can get involved in co-designing our new Board assurance platform with GovernWith.

We started the session with Gemma Walford introducing the goals of our GRC network, and how Convene wants to bring together the Housing community to host conversations and talk about issues relating to Governance, Risk and Compliance.

Then Arturo Dell spoke about building the Housing GRC network, having conversations with our customers and exploring how we can learn from one another. He pointed out that while Convene offers a technical solution, the real value is creating a space where organisations can understand how others in the sector are doing, and share their own insights.

Arturo discussed what Convene wants to achieve with the network, wanting to create a high trust environment for sharing information and make the most of people’s time as a busy sector. He explained why we are calling it GRC, as it covers the full scope of the Board and its responsibilities with Governance, Risk and Compliance. Arturo also talked about wanting to discuss key topics like AI and its opportunities and challenges for the sector, and bringing innovation to Housing.

This was followed by some questions and discussions, looking at how the GRC Network might in the future need to splinter into interest groups for greater effectiveness with information sharing, like a Chairs specific session on using Convene.

Then Fiona Mercer and Carrie Marr were introduced, and Fiona began by discussing what GovernWith wants to achieve in UK Housing Governance Review and Development. She spoke about the platform being tailored to the sector, and what features would be important for Housing like affordability and being in line with contemporary governance obligations.

She used snapshots of the GovernWith programme to explore what it could do for Housing associations, with its governance review, skills matrix, Board succession and director recruitment, recommendations and sources, and action plan features, all being developed to coincide with the requirements of the UK Housing Governance Code.

Then Carrie Marr talked about what an effective Board looks like and how GovernWith helps with this, exploring different aspects of assurance and Board development. She spoke about the importance of topic-driven deep conversations, and how they are needed in the sector.

Arturo then asked about what GovernWith still needs to do to tailor itself to the UK Housing sector, and Fiona spoke about how they are currently examining all the regulations and compliance needs for Housing and working with organisations in the sector to test that the platform meets requirements. She discussed the importance of proof of concept, and invited Housing organisations to help with the process of fine-tuning the programme.

There was also a question about the skills matrix function on GovernWith, and whether it can be adjusted to individual needs within organisations, and Fiona responded that the platform can provide the necessary bespoke experience in tailoring the skills matrix to specific needs.

The session ended with a final crucial question, why the UK Housing sector in particular for launching GovernWith in the UK?

Fiona spoke about how Convene and GovernWith had previously partnered in Australia, and in this partnership shaped the platform to specific sectors in order to get the best results and tailor the experience. Because of this, when bringing GovernWith to the UK, they needed a sector that was open to it and willing to communicate with them. Housing is very important to Convene, so it was the obvious and best choice.

Arturo also added that Housing is non-competitive, so it is much easier to design the programme together and build that community surrounding it. It allows Convene and GovernWith to shape the platform so it can be the best it can be for the sector.

 

If you’d like to know more, or find out when our next webinar is, join our GRC Housing network on LinkedIn. There, you can participate in all important conversations surrounding the sector, and Governance, Risk and Compliance, and build a Housing community.