A soft systems methodology approach to the improvement of a housing association’s defects management and learning systems

Rapid growth in the production of new homes in the United Kingdom (UK) is putting build quality under pressure as evidenced by rising numbers of defects. Housing Associations (HAs) contribute approximately 20% to the UK’s housing supply. HAs are experiencing challenges of central government funding cuts and rental revenue reductions. Maximising the benefit of learning from defects is recognised as being a key opportunity for HAs to help meet these challenges. This paper explores how a HA is introducing change to improve the way they learn from past defects in an effort to reduce the prevalence of defects in future new homes. Soft systems methodology was used to assist a HA who were intent on making such change, but were unable to identify a clear improvement opportunity. The findings identify a significant mismatch between what the HA’s system should be doing to enable the HA to manage and learn from defects and the current situation. The mismatch has revealed to the HA that a modification to their information system is necessary to improve performance and enhance learning via live data analysis and reporting. This research is ongoing and the HA is currently in the ‘taking action’ stage