The government has committed to an ambitious target of delivering 1.5 million homes across the country during the course of this parliament. With 1.3 million households in England currently on social housing waiting lists, and research showing that building 90,000 social rented homes would add £51.2bn to the economy, there are clear moral and economic cases to make this happen.
However, we need to guarantee that we don’t sacrifice quality design in the rush to meet this aim. This means ensuring that buildings are designed proactively and strategically to meet the needs of residents and communities, while adhering to safety, sustainability and accessibility principles.
At the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), we know that this is sorely needed – data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has shown that 54 per cent of local authorities surveyed in 2023 reported skills gaps in urban design and architecture, impacting the quality of delivery at all scales.
Architects have a clear role to play in rectifying this, making sure that the homes we build are fit not just for the way we live now, but also for the future. This means designing homes with different typologies and prioritising a mix of tenures, with the aim of meeting current and projected need across all tenure types.
Our 2024 report, Foundations for the Future, looks at one way to do just that – through an innovative model which proposes a one-off initial investment from central government to local authorities to deliver high-quality, well-designed homes for social rent and market sale.
Making sure that social housing is also designed to exemplary standards is vital to the success of the government’s housebuilding programme, and we know what difference it can make to people’s lives. The winner of RIBA’s 2019 Stirling Prize, Goldsmith Street, demonstrates this – not only do residents live in attractive, well-built homes, but also enjoy reduced energy bills due to the design solutions employed.
On a wider scale, best practice design in terms of new homes also means considering design on the scale of place – bringing homes, public transport options, schools and workplaces, retail, green space and community space within close enough proximity to avoid overreliance on personal car use and maximise quality of life.
This could be medium to high density neighbourhoods, mixed use development to maximise opportunities for interaction and access to shops and community facilities, and utilising sites near transport hubs.
Architects are also well-placed to unlock challenging sites such as infill sites to deliver homes, using design solutions to increase volume and tackle viability issues. In doing so, new homes can benefit from existing infrastructure.
Putting design quality at the front and centre of the way we look at housing delivery will require a real change in the way we think, particularly given the bold target that the government has set. But the economic and social gains we can make from ensuring that the homes we build improve our quality of life mean that it’s one worth making.
Related
