Building the Case for Housing: How Innovation Unlocks Investment in Affordable Construction

This session brings together investors, developers, and innovators to discuss how conventional approaches to building are being reexamined through the lens of modern methods, reshaping the risk profile of housing development and turning projects that were once too slow, too uncertain, and too costly into viable investment opportunities. We will explore how innovation across the construction process can compress timelines and reduce cost volatility, creating conditions for capital to flow into affordable and social housing at scale. The goal is to increase supply, improve affordability, and demonstrate that closing the housing gap and generating strong returns are not opposing objectives. Ultimately, this session will make the case that the tools to unlock housing investment already exist, and that what is needed now is the right combination of actors, ideas, and ambition to deploy them.