MONOLOGUES: Place first!
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MONOLOGUES: Place first!

Published on 21 January 2020

Clare San Martin’s perspective on the Housing Design Audit for England. 

A national housing audit conducted by University College London for the Place-Alliance and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), launched today. The audit reveals that 75% of new housing development should not have gone ahead due to ‘mediocre’ or ‘poor’ design. Here, Clare San Martin of JTP and one of the Housing Design Audit assessors, highlights her thoughts on the implications of the report.

The Housing Design Audit should embolden communities and planning authorities to insist on good design as much needed homes are delivered across the country. The audit dispels the myth that high-quality design can only be delivered in high value areas such as London and the South East. Examples of well-designed new neighbourhoods in less affluent areas demonstrate what can be done and what must be done if the country’s economic divide is to be tackled. 

There is a pressing need to address regional inequality, and preventing poor design being continually inflicted on poor areas must be part of the solution. A shocking number of new neighbourhoods across the country were evaluated as having ‘poor’ or ‘mediocre’ design but a much higher proportion of poor design was found in the less affluent areas of the East Midlands and South West.

The audit makes the interesting point that the cost factors separating ‘good’ from ‘poor’ design are a relatively small proportion of the total development value and that lower value locations with lower land values often provide a better return on investment. It recommends commissioning and publishing research on the economics of housing design to inform design decision making.

Examples of ‘good’ design in less affluent areas tend to be part of larger regeneration schemes led by public/private partnerships. The audit suggests that greater local authority leadership could be beneficial in these areas.

It highlights important issues to be addressed including sustainable phasing of new developments, blight caused by over-engineered highway infrastructure, poorly integrated car parking, unfriendly environments for pedestrians, the failure to respond to local character and the usual problem of how to deal elegantly with bins. 

One recommendation I would particularly like to see taken forward is for highway authorities to adopt a ‘place first’ approach and take responsibility for creating attractive streets and spaces that encourage sociability rather than simply delivering road infrastructure. To facilitate the creation of good streets, the audit advocates national guidance on reasonable charges for adopting street trees, swales and other landscape features which are all too often omitted due to high charges but are key to creating great streets and neighbourhoods.

The audit recommends improving the design quality of schemes through greater use of Design Review Panels and local Design Codes, which I wholeheartedly support. It also emphasises the role of the Government’s National Design Guide in helping planning officers and committees tasked with evaluating design quality by providing an approved benchmark. With these aids, plus the publication of the National Design Code early in 2020, there is hope that poorly designed neighbourhoods will not be granted planning approval in the future. 

Will the quality bar be raised across all regions in the future? It certainly needs to be.

The full report can be found here.

Tags
Housing Design Audit, UCL, CPRE, Place-Alliance, Housing design, monologues