SOCIAL HOUSING & COMMUNITY FACILITIES PAINTING FOR PERFORMANCE
Stephen Lenahan, Painting Operations Director at Ian Williams, discusses the evolving landscape of painting within both the commercial and social housing sector and shares insights into emerging trends.
As financial pressures increase across the public and private sectors, FMs and landlords are under growing pressure to justify spending and demonstrate measurable return on investment.
Painting and decorating programmes are often viewed as discretionary or purely aesthetic costs, but this perspective is increasingly outdated. When approached strategically, cyclical decoration can improve building performance, occupant wellbeing, and long-term asset value.
The role of painting has therefore evolved beyond appearance alone. It now supports health, safety, sustainability, and operational resilience, making it an important part of modern FM.
Beyond aesthetics: Delivering measurable outcomes Painting sits at the intersection of maintenance, compliance, and user experience. Its impact can be quantified across several critical areas:
• Health outcomes: through improved indoor air quality and damp mitigation
• Performance: influencing behaviour, concentration, and comfort
• Cost efficiency: via extended maintenance cycles and reduced reactive repairs
For social housing providers in particular, where tenant wellbeing is paramount, these outcomes are not abstract. They are directly tied to duty of care and regulatory compliance.
The challenge for FMs is to integrate decoration into a broader asset strategy, aligning specification and application with long-term objectives such as decarbonisation, structural longevity, and building occupier and user satisfaction.
Addressing damp, mould and condensation: a priority for social housing Few issues have highlighted the importance of proactive maintenance more starkly than damp and mould. Recent
tragic events have brought national to the consequences of inadequate responses, leading to increased scrutiny and regulatory change, including the introduction of Awaab’s Law, now moving to Stage 2. This requires swift, demonstrable remediation of identified hazards with strengthening accountability. Currently only applicable in social housing, this looks set to become mandatory too in the private sector.
Damp, mould, and condensation are distinct but interconnected issues. Damp refers to excess water within the building envelope, caused by water intrusion or condensation. Condensation occurs when warm, moist air meets cold surfaces. Mould then develops when there's prolonged dampness trapped inside a building. Poor indoor air quality, can cause respiratory conditions like asthma, as well as dizziness. Mental wellbeing can also suffer.
A multi-faceted,
preventative approach Effective management requires more than reactive treatment. It demands an integrated strategy. While here at Ian Williams, we can scale up to mobilise quickly for emergency remediation, we always recommend proactive action as a first line of defence. Welook at root cause analysis, identifying structural or environmental drivers such a poor ventilation or water ingress; undertake preventative maintenance through regular inspection of roofs, gutters and windows, and targeted treatment through fungicidal washes and mould-resistant coatings to inhibit regrowth.
Modern coatings play a critical role. Scrubbable, biocide- containing paints not only resist mould but also withstand repeated cleaning, supporting longer maintenance cycles and improved hygiene.
Safety as standard: Fire, accessibility
and air quality Another defining feature in the sector is the emphasis on building safety. The use of flame-retardant coatings is becoming standard in many environments, particularly where compliance requirements are tightening. These coatings can slow the spread of fire and contribute to broader fire safety strategies.
In settings such as retirement living and care homes, high-contrast colour schemes are increasingly used to support residents with visual impairments or cognitive conditions like dementia. Subtle design decisions, such as clearly distinguishing stairs or doorways, can significantly improve safety and independence.
While external pollution often dominates discussions, indoor air quality is equally critical. Historically, paints contributed to poor indoor air quality through the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Today, that is changing rapidly and low-VOC and zero-VOC paints are becoming the norm. Look out for accreditation schemes like BREEAM, LEED, and WELL.
32 | TOMORROW’S FM
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