Press archive 2020
The Planner – People should live ‘never more than 10 minutes’ from basic facilities
When designing neighbourhoods, the aspiration should be for everyone to live within a five-minute walk of ‘significant’ green space or a park and ‘never be more than 10 minutes’ from basic facilities.
This is one of several recommendations set out in a report – Home Comforts – published by the Place Alliance, which is hosted by UCL, with support from Urban Design London, Good Homes Alliance and the Urban Design Group.
The Conversation – New Research: people living in newer homes found lockdown more difficult
Lockdown provided a unique opportunity to stress-test our homes and their immediate environments, and to gauge whether or not they have supported our everyday needs. Exploring this was the purpose of the Home Comforts survey, conducted by the Place Alliance, a not-for-profit initiative at UCL. The survey was completed by 2,500 households across the UK during the early summer of 2020.
A key finding from this research was that the least comfortable dwellings, least supportive neighbourhoods for everyday needs, and weakest sense of community correlated directly with the age of housing.
Housing Today – Newest homes ‘least comfortable’ during lockdown
Small size and lack of outdoor space made residents less happy with new properties, study by UCL finds
Spending lockdown in a new-build home and neighbourhood has been more difficult than in houses built before 1919, according to a study of 2,500 homeowners.
The research for the Place Alliance group, conducted by UCL, found that people rated their home as less comfortable the newer it was, with those built in the past 10 years ranking the lowest.
The Planner – Coding Design
UN-Habitat’s Global Urban Lecture series Matthew Carmona: Place Value
This video is part of UN-Habitat’s Global Urban Lecture series. Find all seasons and full packages at https://unhabitat.org/knowledge/globa…
The quality of places can be measured by the value they return to communities, in health, social, economic and environmental terms. Research evidence globally tells us that this ‘place value’ is shaped by how places are designed and that well designed places are fundamentally good for us.
The Planner – Call for ‘new Cabe’ to oversee urban development
The government should set up a dedicated Design Quality Unit for England to build on the work of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission (BBBBC).
This is the conclusion of a consortium of organisations comprising the Academy of Urbanism, Civic Voice, CPRE, Design Council, Place Alliance, Trees & Design Action Group, UCL and Urban Design Group.
Citing the Housing Design Audit for England, which The Planner reported on in January this year, the consortium noted that there has been a systematic failure to deliver good quality urban development across England for “decades”, particularly in new developments.
BD- How to win the peace
“Now is the time to establish a design quality unit for England”, argues David Rudlin, former Chair of The Academy of Urbanism and Director at URBED)
We will be accused of reinventing Cabe and some might think that’s no bad thing. However the organisation we are talking about is much smaller and more sharply focused on the issues we need to address to achieve design quality. It also wouldn’t include design review which is being done effectively at the local level but would instead be based on a hub and spokes model linking diverse organisations already working in this space across the country.
Housing Today – Call for ‘new Cabe’ to oversee urban development
England needs a body dedicated to fighting for design quality in the built environment if it is to reverse decades of systemic failure, ministers were urged today.
A design quality unit must be established if the government is to succeed in its stated ambition to deliver good urban development across England, it was warned by a coalition of design organisations. The groups said a design quality unit was vital if the momentum created by the government-appointed Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission (BBBBC) was not to be lost.
A design quality unit for England – marmite to manna?
Back in February, in a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, a coalition of organisations – The Academy of Urbanism, Civic Voice, CPRE, Design Council, Place Alliance, Trees & Design Action Group and Urban Design Group – called for the setting up of a new Design Quality Unit for England. The call follows the report of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission and the publication of A Housing Design Audit for England.
The period since our letter has seen the country locked-down as part of the global effort to slow the spread of Coronavirus. Whilst these are exceptional times, a new pamphlet from the same consortium argues that we need to be thinking about the future, and with that in mind it is Time to get serious about design.
Housing Audit: Keeping up the momentum
Following from the publication A Housing Design Audit for England and the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission report Living with Beauty, Place Alliance coordinated a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, to argue the case for A Design Quality Unit for England. The text of the letter can be found here.
Get behind the call by forwarding the letter to your own MP, or re-tweeting the blog.
GBC – A housing design audit for England, 2019 results
Philip Box, policy and project coordinator at UKGBC, commenting at the launch of the report, said:
“This report notes some good examples of industry leaders going beyond the minimum, on energy efficiency, low carbon energy and biodiversity. However, it shows overwhelmingly that business as usual is not currently good enough to address the challenges we face. Our current minimum standards are inadequate, and we need to be more ambitious if we are to meet our legal decarbonisation targets.”
Inside Housing – The tension between housing targets and design standards
The Housing Design Audit report concludes that some house builders – especially the larger ones – are simply choosing not to build better-quality housing in England.
And even worse, the report found some evidence that some were using the planning appeals process to force through schemes with the lowest design quality.
It is disappointing that this housing audit only happened at all because the three co-authors were able to assemble partners to work on a voluntary basis (as detailed on page 18 of the report), rather than it being core funded by England’s dedicated housing agency.
The fact that they have produced such a robust, fact-filled, easy-to-read report make it all the more commendable. Read more →
The Guardian – Is housing design and planning safe in the Tories’ hands?
Inspired by the late philosopher Roger Scruton, the government talks about beauty, but promotes ugly development. If they’re serious about good design, they need a theory that’s not skin-deep. The Bartlett School of Planning has meanwhile reported that most new housing is “just not meeting the basic requirements for civilised living”. New developments, it says, lack amenities such as green space, playgrounds and access to shops. Read more →
RTPI – A Housing Design Audit for England (2020) – ‘shows promise but must do better’
Chair of the RTPI Urban Design Network, Justin Webber, comments on ‘A Housing Design Audit for England’ – a report, conducted by University College London (UCL) for the Place Alliance and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, which was launched on 21 January 2020. Read more →
Sky News – Leading architects hit out at ‘soulless’ cut-and-paste housing developments
An audit carried out by University College London of over 140 housing developments built since 2007 found 75% should not have gone ahead because of their “mediocre” or “poor” design. Architect Matthew Carmona’s team frequently found schemes “dominated by large areas of tarmac for parking and roads that weren’t very easy for people to walk around”. Read more →
24 housing – New housing design overwhelmingly ‘mediocre’ or ‘poor’
A new report damns the design of new housing developments in England as overwhelmingly ‘mediocre’ or ‘poor’, with less-affluent communities the worst affected, according to a national audit.
The study has already prompted the LGA to press for Right to Buy reform in the upcoming budget and a revocation of the permitted development right.
The Business Time – Most new housing designs in England are ‘substandard’: audit reveals
“It’s really a national tragedy,” said the report’s author Matthew Carmona, a professor at UCL’s Bartlett School of Planning.
“The pressure to build is in a sense absolutely right, we need more homes, but we need more homes of a good quality that people can thrive in and communities can grow in,” he said.
Building – Housing audit lays into ‘greedy’ firms over poor quality of designs
Report finds ‘unethical’ housebuilders are designing just 26% of homes well
“Greedy” housebuilders are constructing homes that are overwhelmingly of poor or mediocre design quality, according to a national housing audit conducted by University College London. Read more →
Architects’ Journal – Volume housebuilders blasted over design quality following Bartlett study
A damning audit of the nation’s new housing, which claims three-quarters are either of ‘mediocre’ or ‘poor’ quality design, has prompted calls for urgent action. Read more →
Architects’ Journal – Most new housing so poorly designed it should not have been built, says Bartlett report
Damage is being done to the environment and to residents’ health and quality of life through some of the poor schemes being built, the report says. The most common problem identified was an excess of tarmac or brick paving, due to poorly planned roads and a poor integration of bins and car parking. Read more →
FMB – Back small house builders to improve the design of new homes
Removing barriers to small house builders will deliver better quality homes and happier people, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in response to a national design audit conducted by UCL for CPRE, the countryside charity, and the Place Alliance, published today. Read more →
Building Design – Bartlett’s national housing audit finds ‘unethical’ housebuilders designing just 26% of homes well
The report, commissioned in June, is the first since Cabe, the government’s former architecture quango, conducted national audits in 2004 and 2007. It suggests the quality of design has improved somewhat, with the number of schemes being classed as poor or very poor since 2007 falling from 29% to 20%. Read more →
UCL – New housing design in England overwhelmingly ‘mediocre’ or ‘poor’
The design of new housing developments in England is overwhelmingly ‘mediocre’ or ‘poor’, with less-affluent communities the worst affected, according to a national audit conducted by UCL for CPRE, the countryside charity, and the Place Alliance. Read more →
BBC News – New UK housing ‘dominated by roads’
A new report from University College London (UCL) says too many highways engineers are still approving roads that do not fully account for pedestrians and cyclists. It follows a government survey suggesting three quarters of people want to drive less to protect our health and the environment.
Its author, Prof Matthew Carmona, told BBC News: “Far too many new developments are still all about the car. “It’s all about making sure cars don’t need to slow down. Pedestrians and cyclists just have to get out of the way. Read more →
The Guardian – Serious design flaws in many housing estates, report claims
Matthew Carmona, a professor at University College London, whose team has surveyed new housing schemes across the country as part of a major forthcoming report, says big developers are producing too many estates with serious design flaws. “At present we are just not meeting the basic requirements for civilised living that we should expect in a country like our own,” he said. Read more →
Bartlett school of planning is to undertake a national review of housing design quality
University College London’s Bartlett School of Planning is to carry out an audit funded by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Place Alliance, a non-profit network whose supporters include the Planning Officers Society, Civic Voice, and the Local Government Information Unit. Read more →
Housing design audit to assess large developments
Built environment organisations have come together to support the UK’s first national housing design audit, which plans to examine large-scale housing developments. Read more →
The Bartlett School of Planning to review design quality of nation’s homes
One of the country’s leading planning schools is to carry out an audit of design quality in housing developments across England, it has been announced. Read more here →
Bartlett professor to lead audit of housing design quality
The first systematic audit of housing design quality since CABE was scrapped has been announced. The project, which will examine at least 100 large-scale developments across England, will feed into the work of the government’s controversial Building Better, Building Beautiful commission. Read more →
Audit to assess housing design quality across England
An audit of housing design quality will examine at least 100 large-scale developments across England to help drive the construction of better-quality residential schemes. Read more →