A place to live Finding solutions to the housing crisis Jaimie Ferguson Head of Design, Turley Associates
Dec 24, 2014
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