Place RESI 2014: Jaimie Ferguson, Turley Associates

A place to live

Finding solutions to the housing crisis

Jaimie Ferguson

Head of Design, Turley Associates

The answer is already here isn’t it?

“apply the principles of garden cities”

“I am a very big supporter of new garden cities”

“We’ll identify new towns and garden cities”

And with almost universalpolitical support

Universal appealRural locations & village ideal

A nostalgic movement with a central contradiction

Controlling physical growth

• A victim of its own success this relatively low density housing began to create new pressures relating to loss of countryside

• Green belt policies became formalised over the early part of the 1950s

• A more intense programme of urban development ensued, clearing out ‘slum areas’

• Introduction of more experimental housing forms and system built neighbourhoods

Addressing ‘urban slums’ with system built solutions

Reinforced idea of urban decline and failed to help

Urban flight to the new wave of New Towns

Sustainable Urban Extensions

Finding a

solution

Viability(financial)

Feasibility(technical)

Desirability(people)

Processinnovation

Marketinnovation

Designinnovation

Finding a solution

Utopia?

Finding a SolutionIntensification & Renewal

Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands’ Masterplan

Example Project – Ferrier Estate, Kidbrooke• Physical transformation allied with significant

intensification from 1,906 predominantly council properties to over 4,000 mixed tenure homes

• Draws on existing infrastructure• £1bn project – significant capital risks but also

returns

Finding a SolutionNew Urban Communities

Example Project – Collyhurst / Irk Valley, Manchester• Reclaiming redundant or underused

employment sites for new development

• Estate renewal/intensification allied with new build

• Variety of products and potential development sites

Finding a SolutionNew Urban Communities

Finding a SolutionNew Settlement / Urban Extension

Example Project – Coed D’Arcy, South Wales• Reclaiming former BP Oil Refinery• Heavily contaminated brownfield site• New settlement on ‘New Urbanist’ principles• Strong involvement of Prince’s Foundation but

delivered by volume housebuilders• 12-14 years in planning and design with

delivery affected by remediation and economic cycles

Looking for inspiration

VINEX – A National Solution

Vierde Nota Ruimtelijke Ordening EXtra, or 4th Memorandum Spatial Planning Extra Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment response to increasing population Proposed 460,000 new houses between 1996 to 2005 Alongside brownfield infill a majority were to be built around existing cities in suburbs, with the requirement to:

be compact to preserve the countrysidelink to existing cities to minimise car use be developed around existing or new public

transportbe close to shops and employment

opportunities.

Facilitating developmentdelivering change

VINEX (1995–2005) offers an alternative gearing of housing production. The national spatial plan set the strategic framework for the decade and also created a public-private house production programme. VINEX agreements came in the form of package deals, with government funding for land purchase, remediation, regional environmental areas, and for transport infrastructure. An example: In Alkmaar (c 35km north of Amsterdam), subsidies per home were € 2.726, of which €561 accounted for land development and € 1.697 for transport infrastructure.

In practice in most of the urban areas land, amenities and infrastructure land was developed by the municipality, and developers filled in the housing and commercial plots.

In return developers committed to rates of delivery and quality as well as contribution to policy objectives:Afforable housing was delivered in new areas (capped at 30%) whilst targeted supply of higher value homes encouraged a freeing up of existing stock for more efficient or appropriate occupationClimate change mitigation was factored in from the outset, with a particular emphasis on sustainable drainage and intelligent landscapes were delivered against

VINEX outcomesUrban living on the edge

VINEX outcomes

The delivery targets were met through public-private partnerships on 86 ‘city edge’ sites

Housing was co-ordinated with other elements in the built environment, creating a socially focused house production programme

The aimed-for intensification of existing places was achieved (61% of new additions in urban regions).

Density varies by location but average net density of 34.3dph (with 80% houses with garden in greenfield and 28% in urban areas)

VINEX outcomes

New development supports services such as public transport (extensions to existing services)

Provision of new public transport for new/larger sites was still problematic given long build out times.

Netherlands continued to run with an ‘acceptable’ permanent housing shortage of 1.5% or more of total demand (as we have seen this is considerably lower than the UK)

Dwellings completed in the Netherlands over the period averaged at 55.5 per 10,000 inhabitants while the UK averaged around 32.5 per 10,000

The VINEX programme is based on a compromise (a usually very British trait):that compact cities were needed to be more sustainable and environmentally sensitive, but in order to achieve this a re-defined urban footprint was required.

Lessons and

conclusions

Lessons and conclusions

Vinex as just one example shows that urban growth needn’t be the same thing as sprawl. Well planned and well design expansion can reinforce existing settlements and control impacts on the natural environment.

If planning is to be reformed to boost delivery the focus should be on spatial planning and control rather than process of determining applications, allowing developers and Local Authorities to work together to deliver the change we need

In all previous movements now cited (Garden Cities, New Towns etc.) the identification of land at non-residential values for new development was required as a key part of the financial model.

A recent Shelter article estimated that we dedicate as much land in England to golf courses as we do to homes.

DefraUK National Ecosystem Assessment by identifies around 10% of land in England as urban, but majority of this is gardens, parks, roads, lakes and rivers. 2.27% of land in England is built upon while just 1.1% is domestic buildings.

Estimates for golf courses assume 75 hectares per course multiplied by 2000 full size courses which is 150,000 ha, or 1.1% of England’s 13.4m hectares.

Lessons and conclusions

• A ‘triple lock’ green belt control, protection of employment land (often in long term absence of demand) and requirement for infrastructure and other contributions has led to fewer and smaller homes over the last 30 years

• More land should be allocated for housing from a variety of sources:- Intensification of existing development- Urban infill and gap sites- Land use change- Designated urban extensions / New settlements

• Lessons from last cycle suggest new market entrants needed to respond to these varying conditions

• A broader and more diverse residential sector targeting the likely markets (people) for these areas

A place to live

Finding solutions to the housing crisis

Jaimie Ferguson

Head of Design, Turley Associates