Building Brum host Conor Nolan sits down with Joanna Lee-Mills, Partner at Ward Hadaway, examining one of Birmingham’s most urgent challenges: affordable and social housing. 

Joanna brings nearly 25 years of experience in housing, planning, and development to help unpack what “affordable housing” really means for families across the city, how Section 106 agreements shape delivery on the ground, and why—despite major funding announcements—social housing supply still lags behind demand.

We examine Birmingham’s wider growth story against the backdrop of rising costs and council pressures, examining where viability, planning delays, and policy gaps hold projects back. Examining big questions around access to home ownership, the future of shared ownership, and what meaningful reform could look like. 

A big thank you to our Building Brum podcast is sponsors reality capture and point cloud modelling specialists ScanTech Digital,  Solus, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of commercial floor and wall tiles, EH Smith Architectural Solutions Brick and Fascade specialsts and Sunbelt Rentals with over 1,500,000 items of equipment- they are the largest providers of equipment hire in the UK.