HOME TRUTHS
THE ARCHITECT’S ROLE IN CREATING WELL-DESIGNED, AFFORDABLE HOUSING David Levitt, Founder of Levitt Bernstein Architects and Chair of the RIBA Housing Group
IN THE 30 YEARS since the 1980 Housing Act the public’s desire to own a home and the requirement to have more for less have undoubtedly influenced the way architects work. Some architects, sponsored by developers such as Manchester-based Urban Splash can justly claim to have revolutionised the market in high-density urban living mainly for the ‘pre- child rearing’ generation. However, their influence on the providers of family accommodation in suburban settings has been minimal. In terms of numbers of homes built it is fair to say that most new housing for private sale since the 1980 Act has been developed at suburban densities by a small number of large house- building companies. The influence of architects has been minimal, very largely because their actual involvement has also been minimal. How often, when passing the advertising hoarding at the entrance to a new housing development does the name of the designer appear? Almost never. One of the main reasons for this is that house builders develop their own standard ‘house types’ – more often than not standalone detached houses – which have been designed by little-known, diligent architects working away from the architectural mainstream, under the thumb of the house builder and its marketing department. The products of this building programme since
1980 are a reminder of the British motorcycle industry before the Japanese tide swamped it, although, as yet, there is little sign of any ‘Japanese- type’ tide of efficiency and better design moving in. As a result, very few talented architects have been able to make a dent in what the house builders
THE HOMELESS CHARITY’S VIEW Paul Anderson, Head of London, Homeless Link
Since the 1980 Housing Act there has been a noticeable difference in the pattern of UK housing tenure compared to other European countries. It would be fair to say that owning a home became an investment in which people felt they could make money. Prior to 1980s the aspiration to be part of a ‘property-owning democracy’ was less part of the language in the UK. The differences in the provision of social housing between regions create a complex picture. There are a few places where social housing supply surpasses levels of demand. However, generally, waiting lists are getting longer and longer. In most
cases people also need to show a local connection as part of getting assistance under the Housing Act 1996, so there is little point in moving from one area to another. There is a growing consensus that we need to move our approach to homelessness upstream – for example, through effective housing policy which creates affordable housing, instead of focusing on a benefits system and legislation which attempts to tackle homelessness once it’s occurred. It is a lot more effective, in both economic and social terms, to stop people ending up homeless in the first place.
claim is an overwhelming public preference for the unsustainable, land-hungry products on offer. There are however some notable exceptions – among them the Accordia development in Cambridge, New Hall in Harlow and, this year, houses at Street in Somerset – but success stories like these are, in the current economic climate, few and far between. The recession and reduced public funds are also putting us in danger of abandoning today’s high standards of sustainability and space for affordable and social housing. Funding for new affordable housing to the standards now set out by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and the Mayor of London is in crisis. Precisely at the moment when these standards are being introduced, in an attempt to raise the standard of UK housing up to anywhere near its equivalent elsewhere in northern Europe, the public subsidy made available by the outgoing Labour government has been exhausted. Moreover, the cross-subsidy, previously available from the surpluses created in the private sale component of almost all mixed tenure developments, has disappeared as well. However, the lessons of, and the procurement routes for, the high rise blocks of the 1960s and 1970s are not forgotten. That era of thoughtless scramble by local authorities – encouraged by government subsidies – to build high, using cheap concrete systems is unlikely to return. But there are signs that central government, through agencies such as the HCA, is unwittingly encouraging housing associations in the cities to ignore the lessons learned, such as too many flats sharing entrances, lifts, corridors and car parks that cannot be affordably managed. There is also an increasing tendency for housing associations to be obliged to ‘buy in’ unsuitable schemes that have already been cheaply designed by private developers under Section 106 Planning Agreements.
In terms of how the architecture profession is faring, the news is mixed. Hard times always act as a stimulus for innovation in architecture, but hardship is hitting architects hard. According to the latest university surveys architectural graduates are the most poorly paid of all the professions. The most talented architectural ‘foot soldiers’, the ones who actually do the design work, choose to work in housing because they believe in the long-term importance of well-designed, sustainable homes, rather than for financial reasons. But, like the building industry, ‘stop go’ government policies usually mean that when the brakes come off again many of the best skills have been forced to move. If all that talent has a fault, it is the unwillingness, or the lack of opportunity, to test out their radical ideas in the ordinary market place, among low-income, first-time buyers. Too often in the past it has been the affordable housing tenant, who has little choice in the home he/she is allocated, rather than the buying public, who has been on the receiving end of radical architectural designs, against which they have sometimes reacted negatively. n
AUTUMN 2010 SOCIETY NOW 13
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