David Ireland Email & Phone Number

I am Director at World Habitat ; an independent research organisation that promotes sustainable development and innovation in housing through collaborative research and knowledge transfer. In 2012 I was voted one of the 50 most influential people in housing by readers of Housing 24 Magazine. I believe in people’s resourcefulness, and the ability of communities to improve their own housing situation. I wrote How to Rescue a House published by Penguin to encourage more people to renovate empty homes, and was advisor to the BBC series of the same name. I was series advisor to “The Great British Property Scandal” TV Series that was broadcast on channel 4 in 2011 and 2012. I was awarded an OBE for services to housing in the 2013 Queens’ Birthday Honours list. I was a member of the DCLG’s housing sounding board, and I successfully campaigned for more legislation and funding for bringing empty homes into use. I was the originator of empty dwelling management orders that became law in England and Wales in the Housing Act 2004, and was instrumental in persuading the current government to adopt a range of measures to bring homes into use, from setting up a new grant fund to rewards for councils through the new homes bonus scheme.