David Little said he was caught completely unawares when he was named Property Personality of the Year at the 2024 Belfast Telegraph Business Awards in partnership with Openreach.
The award is an attempt by his peers to recognise and reward the contribution Mr Little has made over the course of a long career in housing and social housing. He is chair of the Forum for Better Housing NI, a former chair of Co-Ownership NI, and has contributed to the growth of many major housing associations here.
Mr Little filled the Belfast Telegraph in on his journey. “I was a civil engineering graduate and I’ve worked in housing for the last 30 years.
“I’ve sort of done everything, from running housing sites – which is probably the most pleasurable part of my life, actually. Handing over a new house to a young couple is lovely.
“Then I worked for the National House Building Council (NHBC) who look after the warranties for new homes and try to improve their quality – that was good. I actually retired seven years ago!”
Mr Little remains passionate about housing, and in particular the importance of making the standard of new homes, and new social homes, better.
“I’ve a lot of contacts in the social housing sector, and that’s the biggest challenge for the industry in the next 10 to 15 years, improving the quality of housing stock.”
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But he said continued problems with sewage system and water connections meant constructing new builds was not easy – and he made a dire prediction.
“Unless that’s resolved the new build housing market in Northern Ireland is going to die.”
Taken aback by the award, Mr Little was keen to pay tribute to his many friends, colleagues and associates who were at the awards, and to underline the importance of their work.
“As long as people keep asking me to do stuff, I’ll keep doing stuff.
“The people in this room are absolutely fabulous. The people in the management of housing associations now are absolutely brilliant. A lot of the house builders’ management are absolutely brilliant.
“You see a lot of people have come up through the ranks from the trades to running their own companies.
“You see second and third generation people here as well.
“But if we let the new-build housing market go here it’s hard to get it back. Its a big problem with getting tradesmen. There’s a lot more money to be had down in Dublin or across the water.”
Mr Little’s thoughts on what his legacy in the industry would be sum up the personality that so many others have gravitated towards: “I just tried to be useful.”