The Housing Design Handbook

ThE HOUSING
DESIGN
HANdBOOK
A guide
to good
practice

David
Levitt
Levitt
Bernstein
First published 2010 by Routledge Picture credits Joanna Shaw: pages 253, 255
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, The author and publisher gratefully ShedKM: page 256 (bottom left)
OX14 4RN acknowledge the following individuals Morley von Sternberg: pages 7, 9 (top), 11,
and institutions for giving permission to 13 (centre left), 15, 35 (top and bottom left),
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270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY10016 errors have been made we would be happy 187, 189, 261, 263 (top three)
to correct them in a later printing. Edmund Sumner: page 117 (top)
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Sylvie Turner: page 229
Francis Group, an informa business Tim Crocker: pages 18, 19, 33, 35 (top right, Charlotte Wood: pages 210, 211 (top)
bottom centre and right), 36, 37, 38, 47 Nick Wood: pages 23, 25 (centre left), 29
© 2010 David Levitt (top), 51 (top, right centre), 53, 55, 57, 64, www.ruralzed.com: pages 213, 214, 215
65 (centre left, right), 67, 69, 71 (bottom), 81
Designed by Claudia Schenk (top), 99 (top), 105, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, Other images Levitt Bernstein Associates
Drawings by Laura Weafer 115, 117 (bottom left and right),119, 122 (top),
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may (bottom right), 31 (top, left, bottom right), 101,
be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in 103 (centre right)
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, John Davies: page 65 (top)
or other means, now known or hereafter Peter Durant: pages 9 (bottom), 98 (top), 181
invented, including photocopying and Richard Einzig – Arcaid: page 177
recording, or in any information storage or Envac: pages 269 (bottom), 270, 271
retrieval system, without permission in writing Dennis Gilbert: pages 9 (centre left), 162
from the publishers David Grandorge: page 65 (bottom left)
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Hawkins\Brown: pages 221 (top), 223
Data HHP: page 272
A catalogue record for this book is available HHP/Bill Bolton: page 273
from the British Library Hufton and Crow: pages 185 (bottom left),
Library of Congress Cataloging-in- 197, 199, 249, 251
Publication Data Roger Holdsworth: pages 167, 169
A catalogue record for this book has been Katsuhisa Kida: pages 257, 259 (right)
requested David Levitt: pages 4, 5, 13 (top), 17, 25
(bottom centre), 70, 88, 96, 99 (centre and
ISBN10 0-415-49150-9 (pbk) bottom centre), 126, 137 (right), 149 (bottom
right), 155, 230, 236
ISBN13 978-0-415-49150-1 (pbk) Benedict Luxmore: pages 255, 257
John MacLean: page 159 (top and bottom
right)
Metropolitan Workshop: pages 39, 72
Killian O’Sullivan: page 125
Peter Barber Architects: page 176
Pollard Thomas Edwards: pages 8. 159
(bottom left)
PRP: page 269 (top)
Rolf Disch SolarArchitektur: pages 238, 243,
246, 247
Tom Scott: pages 31 (centre), 228
Galit Seligmann: pages 25 (top), 47 (bottom),
51 (bottom left)
Contents

Foreword 7 13
Introduction 1 Shared amenities, indoor Designing in flexibility 190
facilities and outdoor spaces 110 The CASPAR initiative, Leeds 196
Part 1_Built form 3 Chapel, St Mary’s, Southampton 114 Modular houses at South Chase,
St James Square, Bermondsey Newhall, Harlow, Essex 200
1 Spa, London SE16 118
Places that get better over time 4 Oaklands Court, Hammersmith,
Old Royal Free Square, Islington, London W12 124 Part 3_Technical issues 203
London N1 6
Wick Village, Hackney Wick, 8 14
London E9 10 Security without fortification 126 Environmentally sustainable
Ferry Street, Isle of Dogs, Holly Street, London E8: planning and built form 204
London E14 14 the early years, phases 1–5 130 Granville New Homes, Kilburn,
Abbotts Wharf, Tower Hamlets, London NW6 206
2 London E14 134 Midsummer Cottages,
Mixing houses with other uses 18 Milton Keynes 208
Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury, 9 ruralZED™ 212
London WC1 22 Privacy 138
Pimlico Village, Victoria, Old Royal Free Square, Islington, 15
London SW1 28 London N1 142 Sustainable structures 216
Odhams Walk, Covent Garden, St James Square, Bermondsey Park Hill, Sheffield 220
London WC2 32 Spa, London SE16 144 Greengate House,
Nile Street , Hackney, London N1 146 Plaistow, London E13 224
3
Terrace housing and layout 36 10 16
Holly Street area renewal, Dealing with cars 150 Considering ‘cost in use’ at the
London E8 46 Abbotts Wharf, Tower Hamlets, design stage 228
‘Simple Living Opportunities’, London E14 154 Bradwell Common 2,
South Chase, Newhall, Harlow 52 The Bolonachi Building, Site D, Milton Keynes 232
Accordia, Cambridge 56 Bermondsey, London SE1 156
Upton Site C, Northampton 66 Page Road, Bedfont, Hounslow 158 17
Design for sustainability 236
4 Solarsiedlung, Freiburg,
Flats: their configuration in Part 2_Social issues 161 Germany 242
blocks, and how to make a flat The Lighthouse 248
the home of choice for family 11 Moho, Manchester 252
living 70 Mixing tenures and flexible Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes 256
The Bolonachi Building, Site D, tenures 162 New housing in Bourbon Lane,
Bermondsey, London SE1 80 Adastral, Barnet, London NW9 166 Shepherds Bush, London W12 260
Aylesbury Estate regeneration, Aylesbury Estate regeneration, Flats for keyworkers,
Southwark, London SE1 84 Southwark, London SE1 170 St Matthew’s Estate,
Kenworthy Road, Hackney, Lambeth, London SE1 264
5 London E9 172 Wembley City: large-scale
Internal space: guidance, waste management by Envac 268
standards and regulation 88 12 The Hockerton Housing Project,
Tenure and style 176 Nottinghamshire 272
6 Old Royal Free Square,
Private open space 96 Islington N1 180 Glossary 274
Naish Court regeneration, Cremer Street, Hackney, Sources of further information 275
Islington, London N1 100 London E2 182 Index 278
Granville New Homes, Kilburn, Tabard Square, Southwark, Acknowledgements 281
London NW6 104 London SE1 186
 Foreword

In this book, David Levitt does what all good

architects should do. He takes a lifetime of
experience in housing, selects the best work
of Levitt Bernstein and others in the same
field, and distils all this accumulated wisdom
into a book that students and architects and
those both commissioning and regulating
housing will find invaluable.

David is concerned not only with the

practicalities of designing housing of all
types, in all kinds of different environments
from the urban to the rural, but also with
social, economic and sustainability issues.
Presented in a clear, logical fashion that
combines historical retrospective with an
up-to-the-minute knowledge of the rules,
regulations and attitudes that inform housing
design, this book demonstrates the value
of good architecture in this most vital of all
building types. It is a thoughtful, generous
and essential guide.

Hugh Pearman
Architecture critic, The Sunday Times
Editor, RIBA Journal

The book contains a number of references

to Regulations, Codes and Standards
applicable to Housing Design. The
references were current at the time of going
to press.

Where Regulations, Codes or Standards have

changed or been updated since publication,
the latest versions are listed on the web page:
www.levittbernstein.co.uk/
housingdesignhandbook_updates

housing-book_0.indd 6 20/9/10 15:34:06

Introduction

‘If only I had known then what I know now.’ not completed at the time of writing. The appreciated by some sections of the public
How many times have we all wished for book also uses examples from a variety of as well. Architectural tastes outside the cities
the benefit of hindsight in the design and different sources, and revisits examples may still be inherently conservative, but the
commissioning of new buildings – as in so of the past 40 years to see whether the same can no longer be said of those whose
much else? ideas that lay behind their designs have choice is to embrace higher-density urban
proved sustainable in practice, and what lifestyles. And whereas most experimentation
The Housing Design Handbook is a design fundamental changes are needed if the in housing during the post-war period up to
primer. It does not tell you how to be a objectives for environmentally sustainable 1970 was apparently imposed on those who
creative designer but it will help to unravel housing, as well as the challenges posed by had no choice, it is now those who can afford
the complexities of housing design. In increased densities, are to be met. to choose who are leading a change of taste
essence the creative skills involved in the and, in the process, carrying those who still
design of good housing are much the same With only two exceptions there are no have little or no choice along with them.
as those involved in the design of anything examples in this book from the heroic post-
else, and there is no substitute for them. war period of UK and European housing. The second part of the book uses recent
Architects feed their creativity as they gain This is partly because the best-known of examples to explore why certain social
experience until they build an intuitive base, them have been well-documented already groupings are more resistant to design
a kind of platform from which to develop their and partly because they represent a ‘top- innovation than others, and why there has
own innovations. down’ period of architecture, while this book been such an architectural breakthrough
is devoted to a ‘bottom-up’ approach. The in market-led higher-density urban living
Housing is the most significant built form best-known works of the period from 1945 while the volume housebuilders, providing
in the urban landscape and its success in to 1968 (when the collapse of Ronan Point essentially for families outside the urban
achieving a sense of place is one of the effectively put an end to the construction areas, seem unable to capture the public
bedrocks of social continuity. As a primer, of large-panel system-built tower blocks), imagination with well-designed, energy-
this book is intended to build up a firm hugely influenced by Le Corbusier and the efficient modern homes.
foundation of practical knowledge, as an aid Brutalist movement, put out an enormous
not only to architects but to everyone involved number of ideas, many of which are still The final part looks at as many aspects
in commissioning architects, placing on only partly digested by the public at large. of the ‘S’ word as broadly as possible.
record accumulated knowledge about the Much of the housing built during this period Sustainability, combating climate change,
practicalities of design and construction. fuelled a healthy dialogue between all call it what you will, is too urgent to permit
It does not attempt to address any of the the leading architects of the day, but this any more failed experiments in housing
categories of special-needs housing, passed completely over the heads of the generating yet another round of wholesale
particularly the needs of the elderly or people people it was built for – mostly tenants of demolition and replacement. This is the last
with any kind of physical disability beyond local authorities. That dialogue, part of the chance to get the design fundamentals of
the provisions of Lifetime Homes. Neither feverish post-war architectural debate about new housing right. What is built now has
does it attempt to tackle the implications every building type that continues to this day, to be sustainable in the broadest sense.
of climate change for the existing housing largely overlooked the domestic sensitivities True sustainability means getting the whole
stock. These major subjects all need that are so crucial to successful housing and balanced package right, not just tacking on
constant detailed study and are worthy of which this book attempts to address. a list of technical wizardry to an otherwise
separate publications altogether. outdated concept.
While some of the schemes that represent
The book is divided into three parts: built these ideas have not survived at all – James Unlike many other components of the
form, social issues and technical issues. Stirling at Runcorn – or have been altered built environment, housing cannot be
Included in each chapter is a range of beyond recognition – Darbourne & Darke’s completely recycled every few generations.
case studies used to illustrate the way that Marquess Road – while others such as the Communities do not flourish in decaying
different topics in the design of housing have Smithsons’ Robin Hood Gardens are under neighbourhoods and complete rebuilding
been approached, and with what degree of constant threat, Neave Brown’s Alexandra every 60 years or so is not affordable. What
success. The examples interleave the work Road in Camden and Patrick Hodgkinson’s we build now has to adjust not only to
of Levitt Bernstein with that of many other UK Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury are both climate change in all its aspects, including
and European practitioners to illustrate good listed, respected and influential. Without weathering, but to changes in building
practice. doubt many of these schemes and those technology and housing need as well.
by other UK architects such as Benson
As an aid for the future, the case studies & Forsyth, and much of the early work in
deal with schemes spanning from the 1980s the New Towns, hugely influential among
up to current practice, including several architects at the time, are now increasingly
Part 1_Built form_A sense of
place exists when residents
have a permanent sense of
belonging to somewhere
of value. This value can be
identified with a neighbourhood
or even with a component of a
neighbourhood that works and,
most importantly, is esteemed by
residents.
1 4_5
Places that get better
over time

A sense of place exists when residents continuity – much of the USA, Japan and
have a permanent sense of belonging to now China seem to value innovation before
somewhere of value. This value can be rootedness – and it is not just age that can
identified with a neighbourhood or even create the elusive feeling of permanence
with a component of a neighbourhood that that is so highly valued. But longevity is
works and, most importantly, is esteemed by important in creating stable communities and
residents. If we accept that a sense of place neighbourhoods. New places need to settle
has importance, obvious questions are: how into the topography of an area, and the use
large or small must a scheme be if it is to of indigenous materials and planting help a
create a sense of place, what components or scheme to appear rooted.
characteristics are essential, and what can
new buildings contribute to an existing place, The well-documented failures, often ending
either to reinforce what is there already, or in demolition, of large housing projects are
to provide the vital ingredient that cements uniquely confined to social housing, mostly
together a neighbourhood for the first time? put up by local authorities. The success of
new private housing is usually measured by
Part of the answer is longevity. Subsidised what happens to its market values relative
new housing used to have an official design to average local values once the initial gloss
life of 60 years and refurbished housing a has worn off; but this is a difficult measure
design life of 30 years. Around 1965, after the to use for social-housing schemes unless
government-funded local-authority building a widespread ‘right to buy’ makes market
spree of the early post-war years, many testing possible. Until the recent acceptance
social-housing programmes switched from of modern, mostly flatted developments in
new-build to refurbishing nineteenth-century the inner city, developers built what they
terraces. On the basis of funding for a 30-year knew they could sell and commissioned their Resident members of Wick Village
Tenant Management Cooperative
life, by 1995 they would have been due for designers accordingly. No such constraint outside the new homes for which
demolition, but of course they have not been applied to the designers of social housing they acted as client.
demolished. Bits of them – roofs, windows, and even the best talents in the post-war
services, fragile internal components – need world sometimes used these programmes as
replacing, which is hardly surprising as the experiments in architecture, urban design,
structures were already a century old when construction and social engineering. Every
investment for a further 30 years of life took flat and house would have been let, invariably
place. And the reason these nineteenth- to someone who had moved out of old and
century structures are still worth far more unsatisfactory accommodation. Even if it was
than their intrinsic value in bricks and mortar in a form that was entirely strange, the new
is that they form part of the backdrop to a accommodation – with central heating, fitted
square or a street that has itself acquired a kitchen and bathroom – must have seemed
sense of place almost beyond price. like heaven. But by the time these homes
proved to have serious problems, their
Several schemes built from the 1950s to the creators were far away and on to something
1980s exclusively as social housing can now else, or were riding it out, complaining that ‘it The Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury,
London. A stunning concept,
safely be judged as successes or failures wasn’t their designs at fault; it was the people never properly completed until
in place-making terms, while other more who lived in them’. So while the creators a makeover, 35 years after
completion, after which Patrick
recent mixed-tenure examples can usefully of private housing needed to satisfy their Hodgkinson’s idea of a centre for
be revisited although they have only been punters from the start, no such check was Bloomsbury came to be appreciated
inhabited for a few years. Architects tend to available to their public-sector equivalents; for the first time.

build reputations on what they have achieved they could engage in bold experiments
most recently, recording their latest built without market-testing their ideas on the
schemes for publication. However, in terms communities in whose name they were
of creating a lasting sense of place there is working.
much to be learned from a close and often
painful scrutiny of what has been subjected As well as tenure, location undeniably plays
to the test of time. an important part in the success of any
Not all cultures thrive on a desire for housing project, and if such schemes as
Places that get better over time

the Barbican in the City of London or the – than are ever seen in the completed space;
Brunswick Centre in the London University • taking care over the design of lighting. The
quarter, had found themselves in one of the method of lighting is important quite apart
less salubrious London suburbs they might from its role in providing security, and can
both by now be candidates for the wrecker’s contribute hugely to the night-time impact
ball. Interestingly, while other very similar of a public space. Lighting building fronts
projects have failed, several Modernist is almost always effective but often leads
schemes in London have survived a period to complaints about glare from occupants.
of intense unpopularity and are now highly Going beyond the basics of street lighting
valued by their residents simply because is not worth doing if lamps are difficult to
of the resources that have been poured into replace, and may be impossible if the public
keeping them in good order. realm is to be adopted by the local authority;
• choosing a palette of materials and A resident of Ferry Street, Isle
of Dogs, enjoying her garden in
The ability to capture the imagination of components, including planting, that wears August 2008, 25 years after first
residents, though nebulous, can combine well and is easy to maintain. While it is moving in.
with other essential factors to make the long- common sense to avoid obviously vulnerable
term difference between success and failure. details, the temptation to produce ‘vandal-
These factors can be defined as: proof’ details should be resisted. Oversizing
• creating a sense of enclosed external details in the hope that they will resist abuse
space, outside rooms balanced by buildings often just poses a challenge to see if they
of the right height, scale, proportion and able can be destroyed. Trees are important
to trap sunlight. Baroque architects studied components of the public realm but they
the cross-sections of streets and squares should be semi-mature when planted, well
to achieve this; the contemporary design of protected and irrigated in their early years;
external spaces is often determined by more • devising an architectural style that has
mundane issues of privacy distances, road a broad appeal to its client group. This
widths and parking-bay sizes; does not imply opting for some hopelessly
• designing routes from individual dwellings unconvincing and derivative style, which
to the public realm that are secure and will date as quickly as much of the A child’s birthday party in Old
Royal Free Square in Islington
friendly and feel connected. Shared Postmodernism of the 1980s. However in August 2008. The project was
circulation is dealt with in detail elsewhere; striking the initial impact of a good design, completed in 1994.
here let us just note that the way entrances it has also to be strong enough to allow
connect with outside spaces sets the tone for for some of the crispness to wear off after
what can be expected inside and needs to a few years. A sense of place grows out
have a positive impact; of continuity and the ability of buildings to
• eliminating the dominance of cars where weather gracefully.
they share space with residents: speeds
should be restricted to levels compatible with Apart from the built form itself, the ability to
children playing; provide continuity is likely to be particularly
• making sure that all outside spaces are evident in the quality of soft and hard
useful and well overlooked. These areas are landscape. Developers tend to plunder
not specifically covered by what is generally the landscape budget and to delegate
known as ‘defensible space’, a term that responsibility for maintenance. Similarly,
tends to be applied more to the private than they seem unable to see the importance
the public realm. However, providing a of keeping funding available to replace
feeling of security is vital for their success; damaged brickwork, paving, metalwork,
• devising ways of encouraging street life, fencing, grass and trampled planting in the
making people want to linger and to make early years, the most important period in the
connections with neighbours. Architects are life of a housing scheme. Whoever holds the
notoriously over-ambitious when they plan for freehold needs to be sure of the resources
the creation of a critical mass of pedestrians needed to demonstrate their on-going
in a space. Perspectives of unbuilt schemes commitment, until the landscape matures
invariably feature much larger numbers of and captures the imagination; a process that
people – adults using and children playing can take several decades.
Old Royal Free Square, 6_7
Islington, London N1

A collaboration between two housing through the central axis to encourage the Architects Levitt Bernstein Associates
associations and two firms of architects worthy burghers of Barnsbury to use it as a and Pollard Thomas Edwards
had the goal of creating nearly 200 flats and shortcut on their way to and from the shops, Architects
houses, all for affordable rent, on the site and thus to reinforce the ‘sense of place’ and Developers Family Mosaic Housing
and from the shell of a redundant maternity a feeling of ‘connectedness’. Association and Circle 33 Housing
hospital in the heart of fashionable Islington. Trust
How did such a thing come about when, at Using the best of the existing Grade 2-listed Site area 1.557 hectares
the height of a property boom towards the hospital buildings as a template, it was Number of dwellings 182
end of the 1980s, it was almost as difficult decided to form a central courtyard the size Density 117 dwellings/hectare
to provide affordable housing in high-value of a traditional London square, surrounded Mix 109 x 1B + 26 x 2B + 40 x 3B +
parts of London as it was 20 years later? 7 x 4B
by a mixture of terraced three-bedroom
Affordable 100 per cent
family houses and one-bedroom flats in small
Parking spaces per dwelling 0.5
The London Borough of Islington had blocks of not more than eight per common
Non-housing uses psychiatric day
acquired the old Royal Free Hospital site stairway. The architectural language aimed at
centre
some years earlier, but was unable to develop removing any implication of social housing,

en
it due to the embargo on new council housing picking up references to mews housing and

Gre
imposed by the Conservative government the remaining hospital buildings themselves.

ton
ing
then in power. The council’s solution was to Buildings in the central square are faced in

Isl
transfer the whole property to two housing second-hand London stock bricks and their
Uppe
associations that would do the job instead, details are deliberately not in contrast to r St
re et
the amount of public subsidy involved being those of the retained hospital buildings.
too much for one association on its own.
This is an area of very high property

Theberton Str
When the scheme was funded a much values. Every centimetre of space counts
larger proportion of the total cost of housing for something. It was not designing out
for affordable rent was eligible for public of character when – to achieve the target

Barford Street

Bromfield St
subsidy than is the case now. At the same density of around 80 dwellings per hectare,
eet

time, although the idea of mixing types of with 70 per cent car parking – all the ground-
tenure in a project was unheard of, there was floor houses and flats were given small
an interesting mixture of housing types for rear gardens, and the scale of the spaces

reet
rent to tenants who included ex-psychiatric between buildings was reduced. In the Liverpool Road
patients, young ex-offenders, nurses, the most extreme case this involved creating a

Bat
Clo
elderly and the disabled. Objections from street with houses on both sides that was just

che
ude
neighbours to some of these categories 7 metres across, one third of the normally

lor
s
ley
would normally have been inevitable, but the accepted minimum (see Chapter 9). The

Str
Cloudesley Street
authority chose to avoid this by the simple contrast between small-scale mews-like Pla

eet
e c
expedient of not telling anyone beforehand; spaces and the central square adds to the Site plan.
local people had no subsequent cause for emphasis on the square itself.
N

complaint.
This scheme – winner of Civic Trust and
The two architectural practices involved Europa Nostra awards – was popular with
adopted three over-riding principles: residents from the outset. Fifteen years
• to avoid wildly different architectural on, Old Royal Free Square is triumphantly
languages between the two halves; reaching a handsome maturity, and its public
• to avoid designs that looked obviously like spaces more than justify the higher than
social housing; average expenditure on materials and tree
• to avoid cul-de-sacs, especially any that planting.
consisted entirely of social housing.
The central courtyard, which is the only open
The existing hospital buildings more or space available for children, was originally
less covered a site stretching between two turfed but turned into a muddy patch after Right New terrace houses and flats
busy streets, Upper Street to the east and just a few months. Unusually, funds were on the site of the Old Royal
Free Hospital in Islington,
Liverpool Road to the west. It was decided found to replace the grass with AstroTurf, with photographed in 2009 after the
early on to make a public right of way straight the addition of much-needed play equipment. first 15 years of their life.
Old Royal Free Square, Islington, 8_9
London

This underlines the importance of funding for

adjustments once a building has had time to
settle down.

In many ways this was planned as a ‘home

zone’ (paved streets, without separate
pavements, that can be shared by slow-
moving traffic, pedestrians and children)
before the concept was imported from
Holland. The sense of intimacy in the small-
scale streets and squares is clearly popular
even if – as with the scheme in Ferry Street
on the Isle of Dogs – insensitive maintenance
has coarsened some of the details and the
choice of buff facing brick for the mews
houses would not be repeated.

Surprisingly, no community facilities were

planned into the original scheme. Although
at the time of completion there was much
pressure to provide at least a modest hall
and a site was located, funds have clearly not
been forthcoming.

Above Aerial view.

Right Layout plan with existing
buildings shaded. A combination of
1:1000
terrace houses and small blocks
of flats, about a third fitted into
existing buildings, form a new
square with a public pedestrian
right of way through the centre,
linking two major streets. The
scheme incorporates a psychiatric
day centre and accommodates
various groups of residents with
special needs.
Top A view of the main square in
2009.
Above Shared garden for sheltered-
housing tenants (1992).
Right One of two symmetrical
archways formed in the existing
buildings to give access to the
new square.
Wick Village, Hackney Wick, 10_11
London E9

Conceived around 1990 and completed in Funding was obtained through a central- Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
1995, this is one of very few entirely resident- government programme called Estate Developer Wick Village Tenant
inspired regeneration schemes in London. Action, which meant that the London Borough Management Cooperative
The architecture may now look quaint, but its of Hackney could retain the freehold of Site area 1.6 hectares
history explains a great deal about the design the new scheme while passing day-to-day Number of dwellings 119
of new homes that is genuinely client-led. management over to a tenant management Density 75 dwellings/hectare (240 HR/
cooperative. hectare)
The Trowbridge Estate was built by the Mix 28 x 1B + 47 x 2B + 38 x 3B
GLC in the 1970s. It followed a familiar So it was that the tenants, ably assisted by + 6 x 4B
pattern with its 22-storey system-built tower their advisors, became the very real client. Affordable 100 per cent
blocks consisting entirely of one- and Parking spaces per dwelling 0.8
This determined much of the eventual
two-bedroom flats, and a collection of outcome, influencing everything from the
austere terraces, up to three storeys high, of layout, the materials used, the external details
larger homes occupying the rest of the site. and, most importantly, the bespoke features
These were arranged in a Radburn layout of inside the new homes, some of which the

Me
completely separate vehicle and pedestrian tenants paid for themselves. Having actual

ad
y
wa

ow
st
Ea
access. While this principle, widely used future residents acting as a steering group is

Cl
os
e
throughout the 1970s, was intended to a formidable check on the architect at design
provide more usable green open space than stage, ensuring that what is built will fulfil the

Wi
nd
Os

so
bo
traditional street-based housing, in practice hopes and dreams of people who have never

r
rn re
ua

Wh
e
Ro Sq

ar
s
it was a sophisticated concept that allowed previously had the opportunity of choice. ad ll

f
i
lkm
Si
the anti-social activities of a small minority, In this case it resulted in some of the more
mostly teenagers, to disrupt the lives of obvious features, such as Victorian lamp
almost everybody. posts and porches with red-tiled roofs. ua
re

Be
q
k S
ban

rk
Lea

sh
ir
e
Within ten years of completion the first two As always in a rough neighbourhood, security

Ro
ad
precast-concrete-panel towers, suffering from was of paramount importance and the Site plan.
N

an alarming collection of serious defects, distinction between private open space and
were blown up. Even their ignominious communal areas was a strong determinant
departure was marked by a botched from the outset. The designers had to resist
demolition that left one tower reduced to half pressure on two main fronts, one from
its height protruding at a drunken angle from residents who, after their recent experiences,
a pile of rubble. would have chosen a ‘walled camp’ with only
one way in and one way out, and another
Some years elapsed before a group of from the police who thought that having the
residents, their lives in the remaining back gardens of houses running down to
towers now intolerable, made contact with a 3-metre-high metal fence right along the
a government-funded advice agency and river frontage was the only way to make sure
approached Hackney Council demanding that children would not fall in and drown. By
that they be moved out and rehoused. After choosing two linked courtyards with street
much negotiation over whether there was access at either end and a pedestrian way
sufficient space, the council agreed to make through in the centre, and with all three
the site of the demolished towers available access points protected by gates that could
for new homes. That a site previously be closed if intruders became a problem,
occupied by two 22-storey towers could be the scheme is neither a cul-de-sac nor a
considered large enough to accommodate thoroughfare, and a compromise was thus
the residents of two similar towers in new achieved between permeability and security.
homes of not more than three storeys was
partially explained by the fact that not only On the question of safety and the river
were half the occupants of the remaining frontage, the police met their match and had
towers found to be there illegally, but also by to compromise. Residents wanted a riverside
the rediscovery that streets and squares are walk with houses on one side that fronted on
an efficient way to achieve higher densities to the river. When it became clear that one
than the GLC’s Radburn layouts. of these houses was to be occupied by a
View from the River Lea. Terrace
houses and non-family flats in small
blocks – not more than eight to
ten flats in a block – replacing a
former tower-block estate in an area
of East London with a high crime
rate. Although the site is council-
owned, the existing residents formed
themselves into a tenant management
cooperative; this acted as client
throughout and determined what style
of building they wanted, including
the ‘Victorian’ lamp posts and red-
tiled porches.
Wick Village, Hackney Wick, London 12_13

tenant who had become a senior paramedic

in the London Ambulance Service, and who
maintained that there is less likelihood of
a child falling in and drowning when the
eyes and ears of 30 or so households are on
watch, the police backed off.

Returning after ten years, it is apparent

that the initial consultations have proved
triumphantly fruitful. The public realm is tidy
and the external environment is obviously
appreciated, with no evidence of vandalism
or graffiti. So much for resident control.

At Wick Village, as the ‘estate’ is still owned

by the council, the residents kept the right to
buy their homes, and a small number have.
Inevitably, many of the new owner-occupiers
are the same people who participated
actively in the early development stages and
this maintains continuity. Had there been no

River Lea
right to buy, these people would probably
have bought elsewhere and moved away.

What can be seen suggests that tenant

management is less effective at controlling
the quality of landscape management, the
pruning of trees, etc., and that ten years on
there is little sign that the few broken fences
and dilapidated children’s play equipment
are likely to be replaced any time soon.

Wick Village is largely home to tenants at

the lower end of the economic scale. Even
with a minority of owner-occupiers who have
exercised their right to buy, service charges,
whether levied through a TMC or a larger
absentee landlord, are a major issue that
needs to be addressed if the success of the
scheme is to be maintained.

While tenant management does not mean

that residents can be expected to roll up their
sleeves and get down to physical work to
make up for the shallowness of their pockets, 1:1000
Layout plan. The layout is dominated by the
it does clearly mean they feel more of a sense need to make residents feel secure in their
of ownership of their homes and the spaces new environment, a contrast to the brutality
of the former tower-block estate. Some terrace
roundabout. This is a fragile success story, houses face on to a new riverside walkway. The
much in need of encouragement. rest are grouped around two squares that only
have a pedestrian link. Car parking is visible
from residents’ homes. The ‘estate’ has only
two entrances and can be ‘gated’ if threatened
by vandalism from outsiders: however, this has
not yet happened. At the centre is an equipped
play area for small children, overlooked by the
largest family houses.
Above One of the two central
squares.
Left The small children’s play
area is overlooked by surrounding
houses and flats – in this case a
block containing just six flats.
Below left Pedestrian walkways are
secured as there are only two
points of entry into the whole
development.
Below right Terrace houses with
small front gardens face on to the
riverside walk and the river.
Ferry Street, Isle of Dogs, 14_15
London E14

Ferry Street is a small scheme of 46 rented This presented a design challenge: how Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
houses and flats, completed in the early to give every household a clear view of Developer Circle 33 Housing Trust
1980s on the southernmost tip of the Isle of the river. It was answered by placing the Site 0.6 hectares
Dogs. One of the most strategic sites in the single-storey dwellings closest to the river Number of dwellings 46
whole of London Docklands, its acquisition and planning the family houses behind them; Density 76 dwellings/hectare
for affordable rented housing by a housing their living rooms were at first-floor level, Mix 10 x 1B + 24 x 2B + 12 x 3B
association was only possible because of allowing views over the roofs of the single- Affordable 100 per cent
one of the periodic dips in the property storey flats in front. It was therefore essential Parking spaces per dwelling 0.5
market – this one in 1974. It was built before to avoid steep-pitched roofs and the solution
the explosion of development started was to use coated corrugated aluminium
by the London Docklands Development at a shallow pitch in long sheets with no
Corporation that produced Canary Wharf lapped joints. The single-storey flats for the
and enormous amounts of almost exclusively elderly have their own riverfront patios, while hest
er G
rov e
Manc
private housing along the river frontages. the houses behind them have ground-level
oa d
gardens tucked in at the rear. In this way the ste
r R

et
che
Man

re
This is a design that needs to be seen in whole depth of the site has been used to its oad

y St
Westferry Roa
d
hoe ess R
ses s N

reet
context. The collapse of the Ronan Point maximum and there are well-overlooked Hor se der

Ferr
n
Clo Sau

Ferry St
tower block in May 1968 initiated a popular pathways to and from dwellings sandwiched ry
Str
eet
Fer
reaction against Modernism as it had been between the two rows of housing.
applied to the design of social housing, and Battlewell

along with it buildings faced with concrete Also groundbreaking was the use of timber Thame
s
River
and with any form of flat roof. And although cladding for external walls, the upper floors
this was a rare opportunity to maximise the
N

on the exposed river-facing elevations being Site plan.

potential of a south-facing riverside site, clad in feather-edged pressure-treated
the Ferry Street scheme was limited by a softwood with lapped joints, laid horizontally.
maximum allowable density of only 250
habitable rooms per acre (approximately 60 Twenty-five years on, it is apparent that this
per hectare) and a restriction, introduced in is successful housing, and obviously much
1976, limiting access to socially rented family cherished by residents, some of whom
homes to not more than two storeys above have lived here since it was built, even if by
ground level. current standards in Docklands it represents
an extravagant use of land. All residents
Given a superb site looking south over the enjoy a combination of living at a domestic
Thames to Greenwich, the objective was scale with generous private gardens and
to give every flat and house its own view of direct entrance to the street from every
the river, its own south-facing private open dwelling, as well as the best-possible
space, minimal common circulation, and orientation and a stunning view. Both the
public access to what the local authority aluminium roofs and the timber cladding
originally intended to be a continuous remain in good condition and the common
riverside walk right around the Isle of Dogs. areas, with much of their original planting
However, the project was also something of intact, have reached a maturity seldom
an experiment in terms of form and external achieved in affordable rented housing.
materials, having stock brick and timber
Right A collection of 46 houses and
cladding with pitched roofs, chosen as an Less successful are some of the maintenance flats completed around 1980 on the
antidote to the severity of the social housing decisions made by the managing housing southern tip of the Isle of Dogs
facing the River Thames, laid out
of the previous 25 years. association, allowing the replacement of on the principle of giving every
windows with uPVC, an incongruous variety house and flat the spectacular view
and south-facing orientation. A
The solution to the density problem was to of cheap uPVC front entrance doors, and passageway separates the elderly
avoid a simple multi-storey wall of flats facing an unsuitable choice of white paintwork people’s single-storey houses on the
south across the river and, instead, to use the insensitively applied without regard to the river from the three-bedroom terrace
houses behind them. The houses are
full depth of the site to satisfy the need for original design intentions. planned with their living rooms at
family accommodation in houses. first-floor level so that each has a
view to the south and the river,
over the roofs of the single-storey
houses in front of them.
Ferry Street, Isle of Dogs, London 16_17

River Thames

A A

Layout plan and section A–A. 1:1000

Top Single-storey houses for
elderly people overlook the river
and a public-access riverside
walk.
Above left The three-storey houses
are arranged in a staggered
‘V’ formation. This allows all
their living rooms to have an
uninterrupted view of the river.
The windows facing the street have
a good view of the two triangular
parking areas.
Above right Between the backs of
the single-storey houses and
the gardens of the three-storey
terrace houses is a walkway.
Right All gardens face due south.
2 18_19
Mixing housing with
other uses

Combined facilities for the

Chalkhill estate regeneration
in Brent, north-west London, by
Levitt Bernstein Associates.
These consist of 42 flats for
shared ownership, a community
centre, regional offices for the
Metropolitan Housing Trust, two GP
surgeries and a health centre.

There was a time when every new housing which there is plenty of passing car traffic.
estate came with a central parade of small Ideally, in suburban locations they need a
single-storey shops and a stand-alone small amount of short-term parking. The
community hall. All subject to periodic bouts latest examples of community facilities avoid
of vandalism, they were, in any case, a bad the kind of institutional architecture that
use of land. When the parade of shops was seems to invite vandalism.
located under three or four storeys of flats
there was some protection from vandals but, Now that most regeneration schemes involve
as their viability reduced, the obvious lack increasing densities, and faced with the need
of commercial success blighted the whole to intensify the use of urban land and reduce
neighbourhood. the amount of private-car use, architects
have successfully demonstrated their ability
Changes in the patterns of shopping and to ‘think outside the box’, providing various
the tendency of these small neighbourhood combinations of living, working, trading and
centres to become targets for anti-social leisure activities on the same sites. They
behaviour have left many of them sad and have also been able to show how the housing
neglected places and forced a rethink of the component can benefit financially from these
needs of ‘out-of-town’ communities. Although combinations.
local food outlets may no longer be viable
propositions for every neighbourhood, ways Land shortages mean that developing sites
have been found to incorporate a newsagent/ classified as brownfield for housing alone
convenience store in a position that means is not enough in the areas of highest value
it can flourish from passing as well as and greatest need. Here, radical solutions
local trade. Research into the viability of have to be found where housing – that is,
convenience stores shows that they need a flats – needs to be combined with other uses
surprisingly large catchment area in order that have previously always kept themselves
to succeed, and for this reason have to be to themselves. Aside from the obvious
located on a local distributor road along economic sense of sticking flats on top of
Mixing housing with other uses

other street-level uses, especially when the balconies to replace private space at the
street is unsuitable for housing, there are now rear, this kind of accommodation is popular
numerous successful examples of flats and in high-density locations. Given that the
maisonettes located over modern large- average fully fledged supermarket needs
volume retail outlets, notably supermarkets, an area in excess of 3700 square metres
and other non-housing uses. Apart from the (40,000 square feet), there is considerable
obvious financial advantages of the dual scope for establishing a secure podium
use of sites, housing can very successfully above the main retail floor. To achieve
help to overcome the urban-design dilemma adequate security the number of access
posed by the economic need to have points to this kind of residential podium
supermarkets or other major retail outlets may be restricted to a single core, an ideal
in town and city centres while also wanting location for concierge control, but only if the
to avoid large amorphous sheds with no scheme is large enough.
windows and no presence on the street apart
from their entrances. Whatever the ground-floor use is to be, the
housing above needs more space at street
The reason for concentrating here on housing level than just an entrance lobby if it is to
over major retail is that this combination is cater successfully for the needs of today’s
one of the most challenging types of mixed residents. Recycling facilities, secure cycle
use to achieve satisfactorily. There are, stores and general storage all need to be
however, dozens of other built combinations, provided.
of which primary healthcare, primary
schools, nurseries, offices, small business Open courtyards above a ground-floor use
units and small shops are just a few. Offices such as a supermarket form useful amenity
usually have very defined bay requirements, spaces for residents: they are also ideal
while education, leisure and community locations for transferring access to the flats Chalkhill: entrance foyer to
the community centre, housing
facilities need a wide range of spaces that themselves from a single point of entry at association offices and GP
can be difficult to fit into the residential street level to a number of separate lift and surgeries.
grid – so a transfer structure is usually stair cores at courtyard level. Groups of
inevitable. These building types sometimes preferably not more than 25–30 flats can be
include large structures such as sports halls, served from each core. Using a courtyard as
performance spaces and sometimes even the point of transfer also guarantees that it
pools, which must be column-free and need will function as a lively meeting place.
a range of ceiling heights, making it difficult
to establish a consistent podium level for Such schemes inevitably involve elaborate
the housing above without wasting space in vehicle-servicing and storage arrangements,
some areas. usually combined with car parking for the
supermarket as well as residents. Successful
The transfer structure is primarily selected though the idea may be, by revisiting several
for the upper levels of flats and the services examples after some years of use it is
for the flats also need to pass through the possible to get some idea of the complexities
lower levels with the minimum of diversion that inevitably arise when entirely different
or complications to the layout of the ground uses are sandwiched one above the other.
floor. A particular opportunity sometimes If housing management and maintenance are
provided in mixed housing above a complicated enough when large numbers
supermarket stems from the fact that retailers of homes of different sizes and tenures are
prefer not to have either natural daylight squeezed together on one site, the problems
or window displays at street level. If the become vastly magnified when that housing
surroundings are suitably residential this sits on top of other uses. Foremost among
allows for single-aspect flats or maisonettes these problems, apart from the occasional
to provide a live street frontage with their own need for a transfer structure to carry the
direct entrances from the street. Providing housing loads through the retail levels, is the
the orientation is suitable for single-aspect untangling of responsibility for the various
dwellings and allowance is made for large services that thread their way through the
Mixing housing with other uses 20_21

different layers of the building, establishing

who is responsible for what and how access
is provided when something ceases to work.
Services and security systems, etc., for the
different uses should be kept as separate
as possible.

Clients with experience of this type of

development believe that the key is to devise
and sign up to a joint management plan
before handover. And from the outset the
architect needs to play a key role towards
this end in order to ensure that future
maintenance and management regimes can
operate efficiently.

Mixed use, Bermondsey, south-east

London. The diagrams on these
pages show the three lowest floors
(left, street level; top right,
first-floor level; below right,
second-floor level) of a nine-
storey block of flats (in blue),
which have a two-storey primary
health-care centre below them
(in white). They give some idea
of the complexity of planning
different uses above each other
and of getting the circulation and
service cores and access for the
flats above to work efficiently.
Mixing housing with other uses
Brunswick Centre, 22_23
Bloomsbury, London WC1

Much has been written about Patrick the establishment of the Greater London Architects Levitt Bernstein Associates
Hodgkinson’s design for what is now called Authority after 1997), all in one building of not with Patrick Hodgkinson
the Brunswick Centre but which started more than eight storeys. However, a reverse Developer Allied London Properties
life around 1959 as a replacement for the in the developer’s fortunes resulted not only Site 2.6 hectares
Foundling Estate, a portfolio of eighteenth- in the sale of the project to the contractor Number of dwellings 385
century residential street properties whose and to the mass exodus of potential high-end Density 151 dwellings/hectare
revenues provided the income for the nearby retailers, but also to a wholesale redesign Mix 201 x 2B + 140 x 1B + 44 x 1B
charitable Foundling Hospital. Radical of the accommodation to fit government studios
redevelopments were not unusual at the standards for social housing. Affordable 75 per cent
time: Denys Lasdun’s London University Parking spaces per dwelling 1
buildings cut another great swathe through Non-housing uses retail and cinemas,
For almost 20 years after completion in 1972
1.3 hectares
Bloomsbury, while Sir Leslie Martin proposed the Brunswick staggered on, the housing
to demolish half of Whitehall and all the leased to the London Borough of Camden,

Regent Square
streets south of the British Museum down as while a succession of freeholders struggled

Brunswick Square
far as New Oxford Street to make way for the to keep the shopping street economically
new British Library. active, until in 1998 Allied London Properties Grenville St

saw the potential that could be realised by

Guildford Street
Hunter St Brunswick Square

Bernard Street
et

Tavistock Place
Stre

Handel Street
Judd

The Brunswick took twelve years from the massive reinvestment.

architect’s inception to completion. During ens
Marchmont Street

the final few years Hodgkinson was excluded Although David Bernstein and David Levitt
rd
ht Ga
wrig
Cart

eet re

from the project, his commission having been

nd Str

had both worked on the original design

Herbra Squa
ell
Russ

terminated as the result of a belt-tightening programme in the 1960s, Levitt Bernstein’s Wobu
rn
Plac
e

exercise by the contractor, who purchased involvement only began after Allied London Tavist
oc k Sq
ua re

the building from the original developer in became the owner. By the end of the 1990s it
re
Squa
ell
Russ

1967. The gestation was therefore turbulent was possible to take stock of what priorities Site plan.
N

and the completion far from what had been had changed in terms of the design.
conceived and hoped for. Inevitably the scene had shifted, both for
shopping and social housing, since this
In mid-1950s’ London most new housing outstanding and unique building was first
development concentrated on replacing conceived by an architect who had been
what had been lost in World War 2. It was schooled in the very latest thinking about
mainly for the benefit of those who could not social housing some 50 years earlier.
afford to house or rehouse themselves, the
middle classes who had been bombed out of Specifically:
London having largely removed themselves • only two-thirds was built owing to
to the wealthier suburbs. What Hodgkinson difficulties in assembling the land north of
was asked to do – a brief to which he Handel Street. This ragged and unresolved
enthusiastically responded – was to explore northern elevation had been left by the
new urban housing for the middle classes original team in the vain hope that somehow
and to provide a new centre for Bloomsbury, the remaining third up to Tavistock Place
which, although immortalised for its literary would be added to complete the whole
and university associations, had become a grand design;
faded shadow of its confident pre-war self. • the idea of security, now on the lips of
anyone involved with urban design, was
The original scheme proposed expensive scarcely thought about when the building
shops, lots of underground parking (the was conceived. By the time Camden Council
Buchanan report of 1963, Traffic in Towns, had erected crude barricades to all the
had encouraged the opening up of London housing entrances in the 1980s, five of the
to hitherto unimaginable levels of traffic), grand staircases and two ramps leading from
and generous flats for the middle classes, street level to the residents’ terrace had been
built to the highest density permitted demolished;
anywhere in London (200 people per • since the shopping level had been so
acre – approximately 500 per hectare – was unsuccessful commercially, it was time to
the highest density permitted from 1945 to take stock and to discover what needed to Usage diagrams. Residential Commercial
Brunswick Centre refurbished. One
of the most heroic examples of
mixed use from the 1960s, once
written off as a failed council
estate before being completely
remodelled as a thriving retail
centre for Bloomsbury. Although
the housing itself remains
unaltered, external cleaning and
painting alone have given it a
completely new lease of life.
Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury, London 24_25

be done for twenty-first-century retailers and have shop windows right down their frontage
shoppers. on to Bernard Street. Combined with new,
shallower steps and diagonal wheelchair
The new owner’s analysis was that: ramps, this opens up the new shopping
• the emphasis on security was irreversible street to the outside world.
and the architecture needed to be sensitively
modified to accommodate these changes; Developing housing regardless of tenure
• the central street was too wide and above shopping clearly has many advantages
not legible from the surrounding streets, and very few disadvantages. Land devoted
particularly from Bernard Street at the solely to modern retail has a deadening effect
southern end; on the urban landscape but, conversely,
• shop fronts set at the back of an arcade of towns and cities that have seen their principal
robust circular columns down each side of retailers move camp to the periphery are
the street were too hidden; experiencing an inevitable decline at the
• the only supermarket was much too small; centre. Even without a complete level of
• as freeholders they had inherited shopping the Brunswick would be a high-
responsibility for repairing the fabric of the density housing development in its own right.
entire building, but the revenue from the However, by combining a number of uses
shopping centre was totally insufficient to on one central site residents enjoy many
meet all the costs of long-outstanding repairs. advantages from the location, particularly
those of good public transport and access
By the time the building had been listed to facilities. At these densities flats take the
Grade 2 in 2001 it proved difficult to place of houses, but even when it comes to
convince the conservation lobby that any private open space, at the Brunswick sunny
radical change was needed, especially the private balconies replace the small rear
idea of closing off the northern end to the yards of the traditional houses, many of them
street, even though it had not been built as north-facing, that were on the site before.
designed. Nevertheless, eventually planning
consent did allow the formation of a large While the retail revenues have exceeded
supermarket right across this end, leading to all expectations and have been sufficient to
a resolution not unlike Hodgkinson’s original cover all the freeholder’s repair obligations
design for a central covered shopping on the housing, the same cannot be said
hall. This was a clear improvement to the for those parts of the housing that are the
by-now-permanent end to the building at council’s responsibility and in need of repair
Handel Street. An overwhelming advantage after nearly 30 years of underfunding. Around
of this approach has been to disguise almost 25 per cent of the flats have been bought by
completely what would elsewhere have been tenants who have thus become leaseholders,
a large ugly metal shed: surrounded with but the value of flats has increased so much
housing, only the supermarket entrances that it is most unlikely that this percentage
are visible. will increase any further. Meanwhile, there
are proposals to add another complete floor
The ‘illegibility’ of the shops was addressed to the housing and this may help to fund the
by bringing the line of all shop fronts forward remaining, long-awaited repairs.
and providing lightweight fabric canopies for
weather protection instead of the arcades.
This had the double benefit of increasing the
area of each shop and reducing the width of
the street.

At the southern end, a ramp leading up to

the residents’ terrace on each side had been
long since barricaded off when security first
became an issue. Two large units, one a café
restaurant, now replace those ramps and
Top Aerial view of the refurbished
Brunswick Centre looking north.
Centre Views of the main shopping
street.
Bottom left Interior of a flat.
Bottom right Main circulation area
to the housing.
Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury, London 26_27

1:1000

A
Above Typical upper-floor plan
showing the circulation cores
to the housing, the residents’
upper-level open space and the
supermarket built across the
northern end of the main street.
Below Section A–A through the
cinema also showing both levels of
car parking with service roads for
delivery vehicles on both sides.

1:1000
Above Street-level plan. Flats 1:1000
line the two external street
frontages disguising the backs
of the shops which face on to
the remodelled central street.
The supermarket is clearly the
anchor for the whole retail centre
but its two entrance portals are
the only external signs of its
presence.
Below Plans of typical two-bedroom
maisonettes, and one- and two-
bedroom flats.

1:250
Pimlico Village, Victoria, 28_29
London SW1

With a redundant London Transport bus lift and stair core from different streets. This Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
garage covering the whole site and a very was done in a way that entirely separated Developers Stadium Housing
large basement, this was an ideal location for the two types of tenure although the external Association (part of the Network
a large new Sainsbury’s supermarket. Being treatment is identical in both cases. Housing Group), Grainger Trust.
just behind Victoria Station, the site was too J Sainsbury plc and Southern
valuable to be occupied by a single use and The building spans between two parallel Properties
Westminster Council, still smarting from bad roads, one a shopping street in which the Site 0.71 hectares
publicity generated by a gerrymandering entrances to the new supermarket and a Number of dwellings 160
scandal of the 1980s, wanted 50 per cent of number of smaller retail units were located, Density 113 dwellings/hectare
any housing to be provided as ‘affordable’. and the other residential, which was ‘plated’ Mix 57 x 1B + 78 x 2B + 25 x 3B
Eventually a partnership was established Affordable 50 per cent
with single-aspect maisonettes with direct
Parking spaces per dwelling 0.85
between Network Housing Group and access to the street in order to disguise
Non-housing uses retail, 5480 square
Sainsbury’s in which high-density flats would entirely the supermarket behind them.
metres
be built above a retail floor occupying the
whole site at street level. In an attempt to break up the bulk of such

ce
Pla
a massive development, much sabotaged

et
's

re
As costs rose so did the height of the

St
by the claims (some spurious) to rights to

son

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an
building, especially after it was discovered light, the form was conceived as a series of

Fr
et
that two basement levels of parking were separate buildings of different heights, rising m
St
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unaffordable and the second floor of parking from a level podium. ll
in
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Va
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Gi ha
would have to be sandwiched between the

Wi
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lt
Br
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on
retail floor and the podium from which the After the first five years, it can be seen that ge

Ro
Ro

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Up
Be
housing would rise. Parking requirements the formula is successful for the housing St

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were always demanding: a complete floor association in management terms. There Ro
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for the supermarket and a second floor for were initial doubts over whether it would

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private residents; the allocation of spaces be possible to avoid the security issues

re
to

et
es
for the affordable tenancies was much that might arise from having a single street cl
Ec

less generous. entrance serving nearly 90 affordable Site plan.

N

tenancies. While this approach has failed

Among the design problems were: dismally in the past, the problems seem to
•how to integrate in the same building have been avoided here by Westminster
some 180 flats, of which half were to be for Council’s careful selection of residents.
affordable rent and the other half large, high-
value apartments for private sale; The scheme does, however, make it possible
• how to prevent the street frontage of a large to see the stark difference between what
supermarket, essentially an unacceptable is achievable in the entrance courtyard
blank wall, blighting a residential street of and common parts of a high-value block of
small Victorian terrace houses; flats, where the annual service charges are
• how to provide access points to obviously steep, and a similar arrangement
the housing at podium level when all for affordable flats, where every effort is
supermarket operators want their stores to made to keep service charges to a minimum.
be clear, uninterrupted spaces with as few
columns as possible; At street level the private flats have a
• and finally, how to prevent the building of generous lobby manned by a concierge.
a solid wall of flats to a height far exceeding This leads to a well-planted and landscaped
any buildings in the surrounding streets. Not courtyard, complete with an ambitious
surprisingly, the density of the residential water feature, which in turn leads, via
parts is high, 267 dwellings or 800 habitable various separate lift and stair cores, to the
rooms per hectare. flats themselves; all very welcoming. This
contrasts sharply with a modest street-level
The solution, eventually compromised entrance lobby for the rented flats and a
by several surrounding owners pursuing central courtyard in which the landscaped
‘rights to light’ claims, was to construct two features and much of the planting have been
back-to-back courtyards each served by a stripped to their bare essentials, so much so Usage diagrams. Residential Commercial
A landscaped courtyard leads to
the private flats.
Pimlico Village, Victoria, London 30_31

that there have been residents’ complaints

about noise from flats ricocheting round the
walls, passing from one dwelling to another.

Another surprising outcome, given the

location and its excellent access to public
transport, is the number of complaints
from tenants about what they consider to A A
be a meagre allocation of off-street parking
spaces. It would appear that here, as
elsewhere, many tenants own cars even
if they do not use them every day, while
others – such as nurses on night shifts – need
them when travelling to and from work at
anti-social hours.

Below Typical dwelling floor plans.

Note the considerable difference
in size between the high-value,
central-area apartments for sale
and the affordable flats and
maisonettes, designed for the
housing association, separated
by an eight-storey party wall.
Although from outside all tenures
look the same, in fact they never
meet, even having their entrances
in different streets.

Above Plan and section A–A showing the 1:1000

principal distribution of uses. The whole
street level is dedicated to retail.
The original intention was to have two
levels of basement car parking but costs
determined that the second residents’
parking level was placed above the
supermarket, raising the main podium level
still further above the streets.

1:250
Top Views of the podium-level
garden for the affordable flats and
maisonettes.
Above Affordable single-aspect
maisonettes disguising the blank
rear wall of the supermarket in an
otherwise residential street.
Above right Podium-level garden with
a large water feature for the
private flats.
Bottom The supermarket, largely
column-free in the sales area,
needs a transfer structure at high
level to take the loads from the
housing above.
Odhams Walk, Covent Garden, 32_33
London WC2

After failing to demolish Covent Garden in achieved that could not have been bettered Architect Greater London Council
the early 1970s, the Greater London Council by repeating the indigenous local forms, Architects Department
identified just one major site, the redundant dual-aspect terrace housing around the Developer Greater London Council
headquarters of Odhams Press on the perimeter with a shared upper-level open Site 0.66 hectares
north side of Long Acre, for redevelopment. courtyard in the centre. Number of dwellings 102
Fortunately, even at that early stage the Density 154 dwellings/hectare
potential of Covent Garden for specialist In complaining that the housing makes no Mix 61 x 1B + 9 x 2B + 25 x 3B +
retail had been recognised and in any case contribution to the surrounding streets (the 7 x 4B
the street level was far too lively to be suitable phrase ‘live frontage’ had yet to be invented) Affordable 50 per cent
for housing. By the early 1970s high-rise he was surely right; the corner treatments Non-housing uses ground-level retail
rented housing had already been discredited are disastrous at street level and not enough
as a manageable form and the GLC is made of potential retail frontages on Dr
ur

Street
y
Architects Department set about a layered Shelton Street. But Covent Garden is such La
ne

En
Ne
development of housing above shopping

de
a lively place that the absence of a live

Monmouth

al

ll
St

St
above parking and servicing. frontage has hardly been noticed. What he

re

re

re
e

e
t

Ac
et
Stre
failed to concede, but which is noticeably ham

ng
Earl et

Lo
re
St
The scheme, completed in 1982, is extremely successful 25 years later, is that by allowing to
n

Bo
Martins Street
el

w
complex: 150 flats and maisonettes, many the dwellings to turn their backs to the street, Sh

St
re
et
of them free-standing structures, rise from the quality of peaceful and shared enjoyment

Ja
a podium level above the shopping. As all in the multiplicity of small central spaces,

me
s
St
Upper Saint
roofs are flat, the roof of one dwelling forms walkways and terraces that are the focus of re

re
Ac

Co
et

ve
ng
a private open space for the one above. all dwellings is unusually successful. Lo

nt
Ga
Full use is made of sunlight and daylight

rd
en
Site plan.
penetration into all the dwellings, which have Apart from the GLC’s use, standard at the N

their principal windows opening on to private time, of a dull dark-brown brick throughout,
terraces and overlooking a series of internal and the inherent problems of water
courtyards at different levels. penetration associated with accommodation
ambitiously located directly below trees that
By the standards of today the residential have outgrown their large brick planters,
density at 154 dwellings per hectare is not Odhams Walk is clearly a great success and
high. The maximum building height is only is managed by the residents themselves
six storeys above street level and as the through a tenant management organisation
layout principle resembles a Mediterranean with an on-site manager. Security is achieved
village with four-storey residential structures with just two gated street entrances leading
tightly packed into a small, traffic-free site, it up to the podium, and these are locked at
is not a model that could be used to achieve night, only accessible with fob keys or by
a higher density. remote entryphone.

At the time of its completion two completely The layout is probably not a model to be
contrasting critiques appeared in the exactly repeated if the aim is to achieve very
architectural press (The Architects’ Journal, 3 high city-centre densities but it challenges
February 1982) and the comparison between the more formulaic ‘doughnut’ alternative,
them is still interesting. One, by Colin put forward by Woodward, where the
Campbell, then chief architect to the GLC, courtyards that are so often trapped at the
was naturally very supportive of the design back of continuous terraces make little
and the ideas behind it, only criticising beneficial contribution to residents’ lives.
the severity of, particularly, the external And by arranging the access to all dwellings Residential Commercial
elevations. The second piece, by Christopher from the first-floor podium via only two street
Woodward, who had been responsible for entrances there is very little interruption to
much of the design of the Smithsons’ Robin the continuity of the retail frontages. Above Usage diagrams.
Right From almost any view, the
Hood Gardens in Poplar, pulled no punches. housing at Odhams Walk is a
Woodward’s view was that by laying out riot of planting. Each flat or
maisonette has its own terrace and
a ‘casbah’ on top of a podium, little was seems remote from the bustle of
Covent Garden.
Odhams Walk, Covent Garden, London 34_35

A A

Above Key plan at podium level and 1:1000

section A–A showing the mixture of
flats and small retail units that
line the street frontages. Beneath
the podium is an underground car
park, part of which is rented
commercially.
Below Examples of flat types.
Mostly single aspect, they are
grouped around private terraces.

1:250
Above View of the exterior looking
down the busy Neal Street with
shop fronts on to the street
itself.
Right and below left and centre Views
of the podium above the shopping
level.
Below right One of the private
terraces.
3 36_37
Terrace housing and
layout

The traditional terrace-house plan is as benchmarks emerge and what can be learnt Highworth Cottages, Leighton
Buzzard. A recent photograph of
relevant today as it was two centuries ago from past examples. terrace housing built in 1954
but the size and shape of the footprint is by Powell & Moya. Note the wide
crucial to its flexibility for future change and From several points of view – urban design, frontage and generous plot size
associated with early post-war
to the quality of life of its occupants. It also economy of construction, environmental housing.
clearly defines the cut-off between the public performance and land use – the terrace
and private realms, and it makes good use house remains the most relevant
of land. compromise between the desire of family-
size households for space and independence
Years of experimentation in designing houses and the unalterable need to regard land as
on urban sites provide a wealth of different a scarce resource. Among the objectives –
approaches to the width, depth, orientation subject to frequent change – that affect the
and appearance of new homes, all of them way they are designed and laid out are:
ultimately related to the questions of density, • current regulations;
space standards, the needs of children • standards and use of internal and external
and the blurring of class distinction. Large spaces;
estates all of one tenure are now things of • frontage and achievable densities;
the past, prompting the need for a language • different kinds of tenure;
that is of this century but that also meets the • responses to climate change.
aspirations of both owners and tenants. At the
same time, in practical terms the tendency Regulations and their constraints on the
to raise densities has increasingly collided terrace house
with demands for much greater accessibility. Today’s extensive regulations and guidance
Houses designed 30 years ago with frontages have a strong impact on the size and shape
as narrow as 3.6 metres and no provision for of the footprint as well as internal layout. The
wheelchair access would not meet current principal national standards, both regulatory
standards. This section explores the options and advisory, that affect the design of terrace
and the principles behind them to see what homes, are outlined here.
Terrace housing and layout

Building Regulations (Department of crime’ in dwellings and housing estates

Communities and Local Government) Part have been the source of considerable
B can be onerous for three-storey houses disagreement between the police, the DCLG
because a protected staircase route to the and CABE. One of its key recommendations
main exit must be provided unless there is – street access only to terraced houses and
an approved means of escape from the top back-to-back gardens —has significant plan
floor. This can rule out certain open-plan implications as access to the garden has to
layouts and make future loft conversions be through the kitchen or, even worse, the
problematic. However, the latest revision living room. These recommendations must
to Part B (April 2007) encourages a fire- be assessed on a case by case basis.
engineered approach using a combination
of fire detection, warning and sprinkler Design and Quality Standards (The Housing
systems, allowing more flexibility in open- Corporation, since January 2009 merged
plan layouts. with English Partnerships to form the Homes
and Communities Agency) These establish
Part E lays down clear requirements for the requirements and recommendations for
The terrace-house frontage
acoustic performance of the party wall and all new homes that receive Social Housing reinterpreted by Proctor and
has an impact on wall construction, which Grant. Since April 2007 new schemes Matthews at South Chase, Harlow.
in turn influences street frontages between have been assessed according to Housing
dwellings. The latest revision to Part E (April Quality Indicators under three headings:
2003) changed the range of frequencies location, site and unit design, and external
that are tested in an attempt to control bass environment. The requirements for unit size
frequencies from loud music. and layout rely on Standards and Quality in
Development: A Good Practice Guide from
Part L limits glazing areas, which can make the National Housing Federation, which
it difficult to achieve adequate daylighting includes furniture and activity diagrams and
when deep plans are combined with narrow implies minimum acceptable dimensions
frontages. for living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens.
While the essential requirements are broadly
Part M has a major impact on the design of compatible with Part M and Lifetime Homes
entrances, corridor widths and the location (see below), the NHF standards are in some
of accessible WCs. Reasonable measures cases stricter, requiring, for instance, that
must be taken to enable wheelchair access entrance doors be at least 800mm clear and
to the main entrance, and main entrance not permitting stair winders.
doors must have a clear width of 775mm, and
in all ground-floor corridors and rooms. A Lifetime Homes (Joseph Rowntree
wheelchair-accessible WC must be provided Foundation) Local authorities are increasingly
at entrance level or on the principal storey applying Lifetime Homes standards to new
of a house that has no habitable rooms at homes. For terrace houses, some of the
entrance level. associated recommendations are particularly
crucial. By requiring a 300mm-wide space
Accessible WCs must be 1 metre wide beside the leading edge of doors, the width
internally with a clear space 750mm deep of the internal entrance area grows to 1.3–1.4
outside so that the door can open outwards. metres. The standards also require provision
This requirement makes it difficult to locate for a shower to be fitted in the future for
the WC beneath the stairs, which means the entrance-floor WC: this means that the
that it is located either next to the front door, room needs to be at least 1.4 x 1.8 metres.
forming a barrier between the two ground- Additionally, a requirement for stairlifts
floor rooms, or at the back of the house, increases costs and support tracks have
blocking a through route to the garden. longer over-runs.

Secured by Design The rigid The main living room has to be at entrance
recommendations of this non-statutory level and while a kitchen/diner is sometimes
accreditation scheme for ‘designing out regarded as acceptable for the ‘hospitality’
Terrace housing and layout 38_39

aspect of this requirement, it would not 1979 when council-house building ceased
satisfy the need for a temporary bed space. and with it Parker Morris standards. First
The bathroom must be suitable for use by a introduced in 1961, Parker Morris standards
person in a wheelchair and the need to plan have never been a requirement for housing
for the provision of a hoist from bedroom to associations, the main providers of social
bathroom may mean that the size of ceiling housing in the UK since 1979, although there
joists or trussed rafters has to be increased. is much current discussion regarding the
imposition of new minimum internal space
Code for Sustainable Homes (Department of standards that reflect changes in lifestyle.
Communities and Local Government) Since The initiative for these derives largely, in Reconstructed terrace housing
by ShedKM Chimney Pot Park in
April 2007 publicly funded new housing has the UK at least, from ideas put forward by Salford, Manchester. Parking and
been required to meet level 3 of the Code for English Partnerships and the GLA. shared open space at rear.
Sustainable Homes, a six-level environmental
performance standard for new homes. Solar In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
orientation is a key aspect of the code with the basic terrace house usually had only two
impact on terraced housing. The need to rooms on each floor; the nineteenth-century
optimise passive solar gain is difficult to model acquired a third room in a rear
reconcile with urban-design considerations extension accessed from the half landing,
of streetscape as the optimum orientation an efficient plan but one which had a low
from an energy point of view cannot always space-to-external-wall ratio, often resulting in
be achieved. Similarly, as the installation poor daylighting in the narrow slot between
of renewable technologies such as solar two facing extensions.
panels and photovoltaics becomes common,
the built form of terrace houses will need to The terrace house form appeared long
balance the need for south-facing roof slopes before ideas of internal sanitation, and when
with irregular street patterns. A secondary the bathroom first appeared it was located
concern is provision for recycling, cycle either at the far end of a ground-floor rear
stores and individual metering, all of which extension or on a first-floor half landing. Both
impact the design of semi-private space on options were a compromise that has still not
the street side of terraced homes. been satisfactorily resolved in many of the
terraced forms in use today.
Building for Life (CABE/Home Builders
Federation /Civic Trust) The Building for This section explores how lifestyle
Life standard is intended to be the national opportunities for modern terrace-house
benchmark, encouraging house builders in dwellers increase with increases in frontage.
England to provide new housing projects These might include garden access or
that demonstrate a commitment to high naturally lit and ventilated bathrooms, rather
design standards and good place-making. than internal artificially ventilated and lit
Most of the 20 criteria in Building for Life bathrooms, as space becomes available with
apply equally to all types of housing; but increases in frontage.
question 8 (Is car parking well integrated so
it supports the street scene?) and question With increases in frontage, however, come
15 (Do internal spaces and layout allow reductions in density, and a point is also
for adaptation, conversion or extension?) reached when it is no longer economic to
deserve particular attention in relation to span floors from party wall to party wall
terraced housing. without intermediate support and consequent
loss of internal flexibility.
Standards and the use of internal and
external space: keeping up with lifestyle Different kinds of tenure
changes Lifestyle and per capita incomes have
Internal space standards continue to be an enormous effect on the long-term
largely unregulated in private housing sustainability of terrace houses. The essential
and there has been no formal attempt at and very important design differences
regulating space in social housing since responding to the varied lifestyles of different
 Terrace housing and layout

Terrace housing in the Greenbelt.

This 1.6-hectare site at Roding
Lane in the London Borough of
Redbridge was in industrial and
storage use before the original
Greenbelt designation, and the
Borough of Redbridge has been
seeking a solution to this
anomalous situation for years.
In complete contrast to the normal
association of the Greenbelt
and suburban detached houses,
architect Metropolitan Workshop
was commissioned by the landowner
and his agents to transform the
site into an elegant and well-
planned ‘hamlet’ surrounding a
large ‘oasis-like’ open space.
The green at its focus will
be a new managed open space
surrounded on two sides by an
L-shaped development of 26 terrace
houses and 12 flats at an overall
tenures are discussed in Chapter 11. They deeper than 10 metres should have an density of 123 HR/hectare. The
have a particular impact on the design of access route to the garden that is not through terrace houses have their access
from Roding Lane and the newly
terrace housing. the living room; created mews, but front on to the
• dual-aspect houses with a net frontage of green space from which they are
separated by a swale forming part
With the aim of building sustainable terrace less than 4 metres should be avoided. of the urban drainage system. The
housing designed to have a predicted houses and apartments are tightly
lifespan equal to that of any of the historic, Frontages and achievable densities packed on both sides of the mews
but, as the model shows, top-floor
and highly adaptable, traditional terrace- As the summary of regulations implies, the balconies provide private outdoor
house forms, certain principles apply not introduction of Lifetime Homes with the space and identify each home in
the terrace. A new route allows
only to owner-occupation but also to all forms requirement for a wheelchair-accessible WC pedestrian and cycle connection
of tenure if there is a likelihood that houses at entrance level has ruled out many of the from nearby Repton Park through to
Roding Lane.
built for sale could be rented out at some experiments in very narrow-frontage houses
stage in their life cycle, or vice versa. beloved by architects in the 1960s, notably
Bill Howell’s terrace of private houses in
These principles are: Hampstead, built around 1960.
• north-facing single-aspect houses should
be avoided; Very narrow frontages, such as 3.6 metres,
• all principal rooms in single-aspect houses can only work if there is no separate
should have natural light and ventilation; circulation, particularly from the front door to
• single-aspect houses should have sufficient the centre of the house, so the entire width of
private open space at the front as garden or the house can represent the width of a living
patio; parking spaces don’t count; room or double bedroom, and all ground-
• two-bedroom, four-person houses are floor rooms are interconnected so that the
inflexible for households with two children stair rises directly from the living space. Such
even if both children are of the same sex; houses are most unsuitable for affordable
• suburban terrace houses with gardens rent or for large families and, in any case, are

housing-book_3.indd 39 20/9/10 16:51:08

Terrace housing and layout 40_41

limited to two storeys due to the impossibility running east–west or for those on either side Terrace house types and density

of meeting Building Regulations without of streets running north–south. A useful range of definitive standard
a direct half-hour resisting lobby from the house plans does not exist. Any attempt
to introduce one has always proved to be
staircase to the street door. There was a time when architects would insufficiently flexible to make the most
simply design one house type and lay them efficient use of a site, except the very
At the opposite extreme, on awkwardly all out with the same orientation, a design largest and most regular in shape.

shaped sites where it is the plot depth rather solution that might have been sustainable Different house types can have a significant
than the frontage that is limited, it is feasible in technical terms but was definitely not effect on density. The following diagrams
show the footprints and land take (including
to design wide, double-fronted houses that sustainable in social or urban-design terms. a nominal parking zone and part of the road)
are only one habitable room deep, with Taking advantage of passive solar means of seven different terrace house plan types.
They are ranked in order of relative density,
service areas, kitchens and bathrooms having relatively large glazed areas to living-
A being the densest. In general, as frontage
at the back. The internal plans work well room elevations oriented between south-east becomes more generous so do the lifestyle
since circulation is limited to the centre of and south-west. If these elevations face the opportunities for the occupants in terms of
the sort of issues discussed in the chapter.
the house on each floor. The back-to-back street there is likely to be a visual privacy
distance between houses can be reduced to problem to be overcome. In most situations the frontage of each
house, measured between the inside faces of
an absolute minimum of around 10 metres party walls, has the most crucial impact
and overlooking can be avoided at first-floor These differing sensitivities suggest that, on the overall density that is achievable.
level by having all the bedrooms facing the while the bedroom-floor plans in any On sites where frontage is less important
than the front-to-back dimension it may be
street, and at ground-floor level by having given scheme of houses can remain pretty appropriate to place houses back to back but
a 2-metre-high brick wall between back-to- standardised, the living-floor layouts need with a much wider frontage in order to make
the best use of land.
back gardens. In general this arrangement to be capable of a number of different
results in uneconomical amounts of roadway variations. Almost all of the terrace housing built over
the last 50 years has been some variation of
and is not a way of increasing densities types C or D, and for good reason; these are
overall. A similar approach needs to be taken with the most practical, simplest layouts and the
roof design where simple front-to-back most likely to suit a wide range of families.
Interestingly, they are the most economical
Going back to the GLC in the 1970s, various double-pitch roofs will be suitable as in terms of overall floor area, but the least
attempts have been made to produce ranges platforms for solar panels for water heating efficient in terms of land use.

of standard terrace-house types based and for PVs when either the front or the back With density so high on the agenda but with
on different frontages, but none has been of each house faces south. For east–west a recent and vociferous demand for houses
rather than flats, the other types – A, B, E,
widely adopted. Obviously these exercises orientations the same house layout may F and G – are examples of the very narrow-
have concentrated on producing the most need double roof pitches with valley gutters frontage, three-storey or single-aspect
economical layouts within given increments running from front to back along the party- forms currently being explored in order to
push densities above the 50 dwellings per
of frontage. As the size of terrace houses wall line. hectare limit achieved by the commonplace C
goes up, the range of potential layouts and D types. The effect on density is quite
significant (type F occupies a little over
increases and the imagination of the designer two-thirds of the plot area needed for the
takes over. most greedy, type D). But each of these
generic alternatives has significant quirks or
limitations rendering them far less suitable
The drawings on pages 41–43 show floor as fully accessible, general-needs homes that
plans of narrow-frontage house types starting can be fully occupied and amenable to almost
any orientation.
from an internal frontage of 4.0 metres.
These incorporate the current regulations In most situations at initial concept stage,
some idea of the relationship between
listed above and from them several general different layouts of terrace house and the
principles emerge. densities likely to be achieved on sites
that are a regular shape is a useful tool,
especially bearing in mind the dimensional
Responding to climate change constraints imposed by Lifetime Homes,
Compared to detached houses, terrace furniture layouts, garden access, whether
bathrooms are likely to be internal or not
housing is a thermally efficient plan form in and whether the house is likely to provide
terms of the ratio of internal space to external ‘eyes and ears’ on to the street for security
purposes.
wall. On the other hand, if full advantage is
to be taken of measures such as passive Facing north, type F would be completely
unacceptable but confronted by an east–west
thermal gain, solar and PV panels, since by site too narrow for a conventional back-to-
definition terraces follow the line of streets, back garden arrangement, this back-to-back
it is no longer appropriate to use exactly the house type has interesting possibilities and
considerable commercial advantages.
same house type on either side of a street
 Terrace housing and layout

Type
Type AA: 4.0 metres internal 1:250
frontage. 3B5P three-storeys,
4.0sqm internal frontage
3b5p 3storey 103sqm
103 square metres – not LTH. Type
Type C C: 5.0 metres internal frontage.
3B5P, twofrontage
5.0sqm internal storeys, 95 square metres –
A A B A B B C C C3b5p 2 storey 95sqm
LTH. D D D
102sqm over 3 floors 102sqm over102sqm over
3 95sqm
floors 3 floors
over 2 floors Type
95sqm B: 4.0
Type B over 95sqm
metres
2 95sqmover
floors internal
2 floors
over 2 floors 95sqm over 95sqm
2 floorsover 2over
95sqm 2 floors 95sqm over 95sqm
floors over 2 floors
2 floors
frontage. 3B5P, two storeys,
4.0m internal frontage
3b5p 2 storey 95sqm
95 square
(with en-suite) metres - not LTH
(with en-suite).

varies varies varies

(garden) (garden) (garden)
31.55
31.55

31.55

29.15
29.15

29.15
28.15
28.15

28.15

27.55
27.55

27.55

varies varies varies

(house) (house) (house)

4 x 8.5 int 4 x 8.5 int4 x48.5 int int

x 11.9 4 x511.9
4 x 11.9 int int
x 9.5 int 5 x 9.5 int5 x 9.5
6 xint
7.9 int 6 x 7.9 int6 x 7.9 int

2 2 2
(garden) (garden) (garden)

2 2 2
(paving) (paving) (paving)

2 2 2
(parking) (parking) (parking)

2.75 2.75 2.75

(half road) (half road)(half road)

4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 6.3 6.3 6.3

O/A landO/A
O/A land take 102.6sqm take take 102.6sqm
land102.6sqm 135.7sqm 135.7sqm135.7sqm
154.5sqm 154.5sqm154.5sqm
173.5 density173.5
173.5 density dc
comparisons
density density
density (dw/ha) 82.9 (dw/ha) 82.9
(dw/ha) 82.9 73.7 73.7 73.7
64.7 64.7 64.7 57.6 57.6 57.6 at 3b5p hous
3b5p houses 3
4.0, 5.0, 6.0 int4.0, 4
frontag
5.0,
ranking 2 ranking ranking 2 2 3 3 3 6 6 6 7 7 7

housing-book_3.indd 41 20/9/10 16:51:24

 Terrace housing and layout 42_43

Type
Type E E: 8.0 metres internal frontage, single aspect.
8.0sqm internal frontage
3B5P, two3b5p
single aspect storeys,
2 storey 96sqm96 square metres – LTH.
E F
95sqm over 2 floors 112sqm over 3 floors
Type
Type D D: 6.0 metres internal
6.0sqm internal frontage
frontage. 3B5P, two storeys,
3b5p 2 storey 95sqm
95 square metres – LTH.
D
rs 95sqm over 2 floors

varies
(house)

8 x 6 int 6.2 x 6 int

18.85
18.3

18.3
varies
(garden)

2
(parking)

2
(parking)

2.75
(half road)

8.3 6.5
27.55

O/A land take 151.89sqm 119.0sqm

density (dw/ha) 65.8 84

ranking 5 1
6 x 7.9 int

6.3

173.5 density comparisons

57.6 3b5p houses at
4.0, 5.0, 6.0 int frontage
7

housing-book_3.indd 42 20/9/10 16:51:42

 Type
Type F F: 6.2 metres internal frontage, single
6.2sqm internal frontage
aspect. 3B5P, three storeys 111.6 square metres
singel aspect 3b5p 3 storey 111.6sqm
F(LTH?). G
E
112sqm over 3 floors 100sqm over F2 floors G
95sqm over 2 floors 112sqm over 3 floors 100sqm over 2 floors
Type
Type G G: 7.8 metres internal frontage, single aspect. 3B5P,
two-storey courtyard house, 98.7 square metres – LTH.
7.8sqm internal frontage
single aspect 3b5p 2 storey courtyard house 98.7sqm

varies
(house)
6.2 x 6 int
8 x 6 int 6.2 x 6 int

7.8 x 9.4
18.85

int 7.8 x 9.4

18.3

18.85

int
18.3

18.3

varies
(garden)

2
(parking)

2
(parking)

2.75
(half road)
6.5 8.1
8.3 6.5 8.1

119.0sqm 147sqm density comparisons

O/A land take 84151.89sqm 68 119.0sqm 147sqm
3b5p single aspect houses density comparisons
density (dw/ha) 65.8 84 68
at 6.5-8.3 int frontage 3b5p single aspect houses
1 4 at 6.5-8.3 int frontage
ranking 5 1 4

housing-book_3.indd 43 20/9/10 16:51:55

Terrace housing and layout 44_45

GOOD PRACTICE

3B/5P house, GLA 99.2m², 5700mm (w) x 8700mm (d)

5700
Typical 3B5P house for affordable rent
3500 100 2100
min. min.
As has been shown, the plans of terrace 50 600 700
houses evolve into a wide variety of
configurations. Attempts to develop a standard
range of house plans for use in different
locations usually fail because briefs, sites boiler +flue SVP

drawer
broom

unit
and design preferences vary so much that it cupboard
is rarely possible to replicate the same 0.5m²

dishwasher
r’
‘corrido

possible
plans on different projects. 2 shelves wc
700 min. 1m²
450
But the common denominator for all affordable

1900
600x700
WC

base unit
housing that is in receipt of public subsidy activity zone
washing
is the need to comply with the requirements
KITCHEN/DINING machine 3.3m²
of the grant-giving body. In December 2008 4 shelves basin min.

mirror
this became the Homes and Communities Agency 13m² 2.7m² 1100x700 350 x 250
activity zone
(HCA). Its aim is to ensure that affordable

recycling

beneath
3850

housing is well-designed, sustainable,

100
bins
provides value for money and suits the needs C/O 785

300
of a wide range of people whose voices cannot
S/O 934
be individually heard. In order to measure drawer
unit
counter top

1100
grant eligibility, design proposals are

C/O 785

S/O 934
450 above

assessed in relation to a set of standards by 1400x1700

converting design and quality performance, activity zone /
wheelchair turning
into a numerical score.

100
drawer unit and
tray space
Standards are continually being revised but, full-height
min.

600 cooker 5 shelves tall storage up to

fridge
600

1500 0.7m²,

500
for the time being, the HCA is adopting the high freezer 1.8m²
wall units 2 shelves 1.4m²
Design and Quality Standards published by
100

1500
its predecessor, The Housing Corporation.
Essentially, these set minimum standards for space for future toy storage
through-floor lift 5 shelves
the internal environment (under the Housing

8700
9400

3.5m²
Quality Indicators) the external environment armchair
(under Building for Life) and sustainability visitor’s

100
future bedspace
(under the Code for Sustainable Homes). chair
Lifetime Homes is also due to become a
mandatory standard but probably under
the Building Regulations rather than HCA

1400
standards as the government intend to apply
it to all new housing, not just that for
visitor’s
chair
LIVING C/O 785

affordable rent. 16.6m² S/O 934

As a demonstration of the current range of 1500 wheelchair

min.
4750

turning space stair wide enough and

issues and regulations affecting the detailed
300

sufficient landing space

layout of houses this is a worked example of for future stair-lift
a typical ‘good practice’, two-storey, 3B5P 1100 1000
house. settee
coffee 2750x2200
table activity zone

500x HALL

2500
2000
11m²
pram ‘park’
coat hooks

occasional
armchair
table tv

C/O 867

S/O 1020
min.
3500 100 2100

Good practice 3B5P house

GLA, 99.2 square metres, 5.7
metres wide, 8.7 metres deep:
left, ground floor; right, first
floor (dimensions in mm unless
otherwise annotated).
Holly Street area renewal, 46_47
London E8

This is the final phase of the renewal of candidates still in the race to redevelop the Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
what used to be the Holly Street Estate, Holly Street Estate. Although the council’s Developers United House Developments
now once more merged into the original brief stipulated that 20 per cent of new Limited with London Borough of
pattern of streets lying between Dalston housing should be for private sale, neither of Hackney
and London Fields. A comparison between the two shortlisted developers was prepared Site 1.2 hectares
this development of 151 terrace houses and to entertain the idea of integrating any Number of dwellings 151
apartments and the first phase of the original housing for private sale into the new street Density 126 dwellings/hectare
renewal programme dating back to 1992 pattern. The winning proposal offered to Mix 42 x 1B + 59 x 2B + 34 x 3B +
reveals the sharpest of contrasts – phase 1 reserve one corner of the ‘estate’ for private 16 x 4B
compared with phase 6 – and the changes development once everything else had been Affordable 26 per cent
in expectations for the quality of affordable Parking spaces per dwelling 0.47
demolished and rebuilt.
housing that have taken place over the
intervening years. Twelve years on, what was architecturally Forest Road

acceptable to members of the average

Mayfield Close

Mayfield Close
Between 1980 and 1997 there was a huge London neighbourhood had changed

Holly Street
Forest Grove
revolution in the funding of social housing. radically, greatly assisted by the fact that
Gone was the open-ended approach to integrating different tenures in the same
subsidy that had characterised the preceding street had become the norm, and tenants Richmond Roa
d

Queensbridge Road
three decades, during which many of the could appreciate that private buyers Beehive

Buxted Road
most celebrated examples of publicly funded were themselves choosing to be more

Celandine Drive
Close

housing were completed only after last- adventurous. But there is another important
minute injections of additional money. During distinction between phase 6 of Holly Street

Holly Street
the years of rule by Margaret Thatcher new and the previous five phases, in that the Mapledene Road

Glebe Road

Freshfield Avenue
housing had to be built under the constraint developer of the social-housing component Evergreen Square

Mulberry Road
of subsidy levels that were announced at the of phase 6 is the local authority rather than
Jacaranda Grove
beginning of the project and never increased one of the housing associations involved in
thereafter; additionally, official dogma the earlier phases.
decreed that ‘what was good enough for the Middleton Roa
d

private buyer should be quite good enough From the earliest years of the regeneration
for a subsidised tenant’. project some tenants were resistant to the Site plan.
N

idea of transferring their tenancy to a housing

As a result – and this was the case at the association, an attitude reinforced to some
beginning of the Holly Street renewal extent by reservations over some of the
programme – the successful developer built standards of the houses and flats built in the
both houses and flats to the standards then early phases. The regeneration programme
current in the private sector (see Chapter 5). from the outset up to the completion of
Although the three-bedroom houses were phase 5 had been a partnership between
not far short of the Parker Morris standards Hackney Council, a consortium of housing
that had been in use since 1961, the house associations and a developer who withdrew
frontages were narrow, with the result that it before the final phase began. The council
was possible to stand in the kitchen, at the retained all the affordable homes in the final
front of the house on the ground floor, and phase, thus fulfilling its obligations to this
reach out to touch both opposing walls at the particular group of tenants.
same time.
All apartments have generous balconies.
As described in Chapter 8, the conservative In addition to their rear gardens, the houses Right The final phase of the
approach to design of the early 1990s have south- or west-facing single-glazed solar Holly Street regeneration shows
a mixture of family houses and
evolved from a period of intense consultation sunspaces as a thermal buffer to their living non-family flats for both rent and
with tenants who wanted nothing resembling rooms. Other features include: private sale, indiscriminately
modern architecture and who chose what • U-values down to 0.18 and 0.12 for walls mixed. Flats line the main road
with houses on the side streets.
was normally built for private sale at the and roofs; these are up to almost 50 per In the distance can be seen
time. By the end of the competition to select cent better than current Building earlier phases of the Holly Street
development, giving some idea of
a developer, at a time when the UK was just Regulations; how residents’ tastes have changed
emerging from recession, there were two • airtightness of only 7m3/hm2, which is over a 12-year time span.
Holly Street area renewal, London E8 48_49

The whole Holly Street 1:2500

regeneration area masterplan, with
the final phase highlighted.
A A

Above The layout plan shows a

range of different terrace house
types interspersed with flats on
street corners or along the busy
Queensbridge Road frontage.
Below Section A–A.

1:1000
Holly Street area renewal, London E8 50_51

30 per cent better than current Building

Regulations;
• entrance/draught lobbies to all houses to
reduce heat loss and to provide useful space
for buggies and boots;
• a utility zone/cupboard separating the
washing machine from the kitchen/dining
room;
• houses for affordable rent were designed
with cut timber roofs rather than trusses, to
allow for storage and/or future conversion to
an extra bedroom/study;
• PV solar panels have been fitted to houses
to meet the requirement for 10 per cent
renewables and the second phase is due to
trial ground-source heat pumps.

Apart from better space standards,

more adventurous architecture and the
indistinguishable integration of tenures, the
other major change over the 12-year period
was an awareness of climate change and
other environmental issues.

1:250

Top left Plan of two-bedroom flat for

sale.
Top right Plans of two-bedroom house
for rent.
Above Plans of four-bedroom house
with sunspace.
Top View along new Central Street.
Below Kitchen/dining room – house
for sale.
Right Massing of houses and flats.
Below right View of rear gardens.
‘Simple Living 52_53
Opportunities’, South
Chase, Newhall, Harlow

Newhall is a new settlement of approximately completely remove any of the monotony that Architect Proctor and Matthews
2700 dwellings being created in two phases is often associated with terrace housing in Architects
broken down into approximately ten parcels. suburban locations. Developer South Chase Newhall Limited
The development occupies a greenfield with Moat Housing Association
site close to Harlow New Town and the The two small blocks of flats are placed Site 1.5 hectares
M11 motorway. The proposals developed on street corners, with the internal corners Number of dwellings 78
from the winning submission of a design/ used as parking courts. This is always an Density 52 dwellings/hectare
developer competition, intended to respond economical use of land, and allows more Mix 52 houses, 26 flats
to a masterplan and design code drawn up generous footprints for some of the larger Affordable 45 per cent
by Roger Evans Associates. houses. Parking spaces per dwelling 1.5

In the words of the design team, the intention The public realm promises to be delightful,
was ‘to develop an architectural vocabulary especially when the tree planting matures.

et
re
which combines a contemporary aesthetic Every street intersection is articulated by

St
and response to twenty-first-century living a raised platform that adds intimacy and

r
ge
reet
patterns with sensitivity to local materials, pedestrian priority as well as reducing

Au
Brickcroft Hoppit
colour and texture. The designs also exploit driving speeds.

Honor St

t
a desire for light and airy modern dwellings

ea
Gr
and an aspiration to create a sustainable Internal planning is equally inventive
residential community of distinctive character and is dominated by the open staircase
and lasting quality. The architectural placed down the middle of the house, with
Braggowens Ley
language adopted rejects the notion of circulation down one side. On the other
pastiche in favour of a modern vocabulary side is the ground-floor kitchen with the Site plan.
which is overlaid into a townscape-driven bathrooms above it, which makes for an N

urban framework to create a vibrant street extremely economical service layout. This
scene of incident, articulation and variety’. means that the under-stair area is open
and becomes part of the kitchen, while the
The houses in this scheme embody many stairwell is lit from above.
inventive ideas, all based around lightweight
steel-framed volumetric construction
enclosed in a rendered blockwork outer skin.
The basic module is a 4.45-metre-frontage,
two-bedroom, two-storey house to which
either one or two extra bedrooms can be
added. As the plans show, the additional
bedrooms are added to the side of each
house, forming a courtyard. In the case of
the four-bedroom house the extra bedroom is
above a carport at the front of the courtyard.
All houses have rear gardens and an average
of 1.5 parking spaces.

By producing a range of different typologies

for the houses – including, in land-use terms,
an extremely economical two-bedroom
terrace house with a steep and immaculately
detailed gabled roof forming a valley gutter
Right Modular two-storey terrace
along the party-wall line of each house – the houses at South Chase. Houses
architects have been able to develop a plan in this range vary between a
two-bedroom version to both
that has all sorts of variety; some houses
three- and four-bedroom houses.
are even placed lengthways on to the Construction is of lightweight
street with wide frontages and shallow rear steel, externally rendered and
with inventive features such as
gardens. The frequent breaks in the frontage, the prefabricated entrance canopy/
articulated by the steep white gables, refuse store/bicycle store.
‘Simple Living Opportunities’, South 54_55
Chase, Newhall, Harlow

1:1000

Above Layout plan showing the variety of

ways in which these modular houses can
be laid out either as narrow-frontage
terraces or sideways on to the street.
Below The range of two-, three- and
four-bedroom houses, all based on the
standard two-bedroom module with the
stair located in the centre of the
house.

1:250
Top Typical street frontage of
two-bedroom houses. The steep-
pitch gabled roofs are not part of
the standard module.
Above A standard module placed
parallel to the street.
Right Views of the unusual
interiors created by placing the
staircase in the middle of the
house rather than along one wall.
Accordia, Cambridge 56_57

Architects Feilden Clegg Bradley

This substantial residential quarter is widely references taken from Cambridge college
Studios with Maccreanor Lavington
regarded as setting a new benchmark for garden courts and the city’s public ‘greens’.
Architects + Alison Brooks
large-scale housing in the UK and was the In place of traditional gardens, private
Architects
first housing project to be awarded the RIBA’s open spaces in the form of courtyards, roof
Landscape architect Grant Associates
Stirling Prize, in 2008. It is the result of an terraces and large balconies are designed Developer Countryside Properties
unusual collaboration between three of the as an integral part of the architecture. In Site 9.5 hectares
UK’s most highly regarded architects: they combination with the generous communal Number of dwellings 378
and their developer client have taken full gardens, this aims to reflect the changing Density 47 dwellings per hectare,
advantage of a site that has much to offer. aspirations of modern lifestyles and including public open space
Brooklands Avenue is in a high-value and continues a strong tradition of domestic Mix 212 houses + 166 apartments
traditionally secure part of Cambridge and architecture in Cambridge. Affordable 30 per cent
this offered possibilities for the creation Parking spaces per dwelling 1.26
of a public realm that can safely break The masterplan was designed for pedestrian
some of the rules about defensible space and cycle demands, with landscaped
and Secured by Design that so often stifle pedestrian ‘streets’, mews streets with shared
innovation in UK housing. surfaces, discreet car parking and integrated
cycle parking for all dwellings. Each
This is a strategically important new

Brooklands Avenue
dwelling is accessed from an urban shared-
residential quarter for Cambridge, sited on surface street side and opens out at the rear
the last major undeveloped brownfield site on to a communal landscape that includes
close to the city centre, in a key position amenities for passive and active recreation.
between the city and open fields. The There is no need for defensible space on
site was formerly occupied by low-rise the street-entrance side of the terrace and Shaftesbury Road

government offices built in the 1940s. The courtyard houses and this gives the streets
scheme has been masterplanned by Feilden their mews-like quality, reminiscent of much
Clegg Bradley Studios with landscape new urban housing in the Netherlands. Site plan.
design by Grant Associates. Feilden Clegg
Bradley designed 230 of the dwellings, The form of the buildings is not only
and subcontracted Maccreanor Lavington determined by the relationship and scale
Architects and Alison Brooks Architects to of the open space and urban frontages but
design 118 and 40 dwellings respectively. also by solar orientation. The larger-scale
apartment buildings and terraces are
The design includes a variety of innovative associated with the larger-scale open spaces
house and apartment types in the form of and are typically on an east–west orientation
terraces, courtyard houses and set-piece to minimise overshadowing adjacent homes.
apartment buildings, composed within The lower terraces and courts are arranged
landscaped public gardens covering around the more intimate landscape spaces
approximately 3 hectares – a third of the site. with south-facing terraced gardens.

The buildings are arranged in three dense The buildings and landscape have been
groups of up to 65 dwellings per hectare, designed with sustainability in mind,
separated by mature landscape, with houses including the environmental performance
ranging in size from three to five bedrooms of each dwelling type, water usage, and the
(90 to 350 square metres) and apartments materials and methods used for construction.
of one, two and three bedrooms (45 to 145 The external elevations – predominantly an
square metres). The scheme includes 30 per improved imitation of a Cambridge stock
cent affordable dwellings in mixed tenure, brick for the terrace housing – maintain a
integrated in design and materials with the discipline across the whole site and their
private housing. success is achieved by the different ways in
which openings are treated on the different
As part of a strong existing landscape floor levels. By contrast, the apartments are
framework, including more than 700 mature finished externally with copper and green Right At Accordia the common
areas are characterised by a
trees, the principle concept is about ‘living oak. high standard of planting and
in a large garden’, informed by contextual landscape.
Accordia, Cambridge 58_59

Overall layout plan. Accordia has

a number of different terrace-
house types and tenures, varying
from high-value semi-detached
houses on the main street
(Brooklands Avenue) to smaller and
more conventional terrace houses
for affordable rent, grouped
together at the rear of the site.
The sale houses are distinctive
for a number of reasons, but
particularly in that their private
patio gardens are contained within
the overall footprint of each
house and most have access from
both front and rear.

1:2500
 Top and bottom Ground-floor plans of
two house types by Feilden Clegg
Bradley.
Centre Ground-floor plans of two
terrace-house types by Maccreanor
1:500 Lavington.
Accordia, Cambridge 60_61

Section A–A of a house type by Maccreanor Lavington

1:250
with additional room above the garage and an open
courtyard between the garage and the main house.

Section B–B of a house type by Maccreanor Lavington

with additional living area at ground-floor level. 1:250
 B B
B B

A A
Floor-plan layouts of two A A
different house types varying
in size between four and five
bedrooms. 1:250
Accordia, Cambridge 62_63

C C

4B7P house, type 08 by Feilden

Clegg Bradley: plans and section 1:250
C–C.
 D D

4B7P house, type 12: plans and 1:250

section D–D.
 64_64

Top Rear elevation of Feilden

Clegg Bradley house type 12
opening on to shared green.
Above Shared open spaces
throughout.
Top and centre left Front and flank
elevations of Maccreanor Lavington
house types.
Above Rear access mews to
Maccreanor Lavington house types.
Left Terraces to Maccreanor
Lavington terrace houses.
Upton Site C, Northampton 66_67

This scheme won an open competition The competition for this site was promoted Architect HTA
between developers in 2005. The design by English Partnerships, the Prince’s Trust Developer David Wilson Homes
by HTA works within a code established by and Northamptonshire County Council to Site 0.87 hectares
English Partnerships. provide a model for a sustainable urban Number of dwellings 30
neighbourhood. So it is perhaps not Density 34.5 dwellings/hectare
Strictly speaking this is not terrace housing surprising that the developer has gone to Affordable 13 per cent
at all but a rare contemporary example such lengths to incorporate many features Mix 1 x 6B + 6 x 5B + 13 x 4B +
of detached and semi-detached houses for saving both energy and water when 10 x 3B
Parking spaces per dwelling 1.5
designed as a group and intended to read most housebuilders still claim that they add
together in a formal orthogonal relationship to nothing to market value.
one another. Although the density is obviously
low by comparison with the examples of Although these are either detached or
terrace housing explored elsewhere in this semi-detached houses, the orthogonal layout
chapter, and the houses are much larger, the provides wide south-facing frontages to

Main
layout is economical in terms of making best maximise winter solar gain. Most dwellings
use of external space. front on to streets that are within 15 degrees
of east–west and the majority of houses

Stree
It is fashionable for the ‘style fraternity’ have a sunspace behind the south elevation.
of broadsheet readers to decry estates of Floors and walls are of masonry construction

t
detached houses placed close to each other to even out temperature variations.
with narrow gaps between them. And looking West Street
at the average estate of this sort they have By combining high-efficency gas condensing

Upton Lane

Suds Street
Suds Street

Suds Street
Suds Street
good reason, simply because the average boilers delivering locally controlled
housebuilder’s product is designed as a underfloor heating with solar collectors
stand-alone villa that happens to have landed for hot water, the aim is to reduce CO2
between two similar villas for no other reason emissions to only 27kg/m2/per year, or less. Parkside Parkside
than lack of space. In addition, six houses are to be fitted with Site plan.
7.5 square metres of PV panels that are to be
At Upton, by contrast, everything in the grid connected with a total annual output of
layout is done for a reason, the use of space 115kWh/m2.
is economical, the advantage of being able
to access your house from front or back With houses of this size, side passages
is overwhelming, and each house forms from the rear garden to the street facilitate
part of an ensemble that reads together. domestic waste management – including
Combined with the use of local materials, recycling – and there is a purpose-built
this should rapidly lead to the development waste-storage area big enough to allow for
of a collective sense of place. Undoubtedly, more on-site separation in future.
the decision to adopt the local configuration
of relatively narrow, deep plans provides
the perfect form for a street composed of
identical steep-pitch gabled roofs, even if the
ratio of external wall to internal space is high
as a result.

The various different house designs have

been unified by the constant gable width and
roof pitch. In the same way that additions
are added to simple vernacular buildings,
simple cubic volumes or smaller gables
are added to the one-room-deep house Right Houses at Upton have strong
form. This allows the creation of a variety of unifying features that visually
internal and external living spaces, enables link them. This can be seen in
this view of the mews, which is
the integration of green roofs, and creates a secured from the public but gives
varied roofline. rear access to all houses.
 Upton Site C, Northampton 68_69

A A

1:1000

Above Layout plan and section.

The groups of detached houses
are separated by swales (areas
of low marshy land), part of
the Sustainable Urban Drainage
(SUDS) layout, and are connected
to each other visually by their
repetitive gabled roofs and
physically by their strict
orthogonal layout and garden
walls.
Right Floor plans of a typical
three-bedroom house. 1:250
A

Top left View across the new public

open space towards the first
completed groups of houses.
Top right Although there is more than
one external cladding material
the palette is small enough to act
as a unifying feature and large
enough to provide variety.
Left and above External views of the
street frontages showing the range
of different side extensions held
together by the strong gabled roof
forms.
4 70_71
Flats: their configuration
in blocks, and how to
make a flat the home of
choice for family living

Roof terrace of private housing

at Freiburg (see Chapter 17).
Note the protection provided by
enclosing the space within the
extended external walls.

Ask a UK city dweller whether he or she Closer examination of the issues and
would prefer to live in a house or a flat and implications reveals a confusing mix of
the response will usually favour the former. benefits and drawbacks. Many could be one
But few flats notionally built for families to or the other depending on how the flats are
occupy can compete with the equivalent designed and grouped and who occupies
house: they simply lack the conveniences them.
that houses can offer. This chapter explores
those missing facilities and ways through Take security. Many people would feel safer
which they can be provided. tucked up inside an eighth-floor flat than
in a house. Away from the street, with just
In the minds of most people, houses imply, a few neighbours (all of whom they know)
among many other things, direct access nearby on the landing and at least two locked
to the real ground level and a certain doors between them and the pavement, it’s
independence of living. Flats, on the all quite comforting. But getting to that safe
other hand, evoke a sense of remoteness haven has too often involved a convoluted
from the ground and a definite degree of and sometimes threatening journey through
interdependence. Concerns include density, the no-man’s land of not-quite-defensible
private open space, access and parking, and shared lobbies and corridors. Of course,
there are correspondingly clear implications good design and layout, high-quality digital
for security, privacy, waste disposal and the entryphones and careful lighting should, and
management of shared spaces. More subtle often do, dispel any feelings of insecurity; a
questions arise around the ease with which concierge, though rarely affordable, provides
flat dwellers can make social connections, the ultimate reassurance.
offer hospitality, develop relationships within
the home, enjoy privacy and do practical Apart from the question of privacy (see
things like dry clothes, wash the car, store Chapter 9), the critical issues connected with
cycles and keep pets. living in flats can be listed under three main
headings:
Flats: their configuration in blocks,
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living

• quality of internal planning and layout; on to the street and a garden at the back.
• sharing circulation spaces (that is, Examine that preference further and two
entrances, lifts, stairs and corridors), underlying reasons seem most significant:
common facilities such as refuse disposal • a house is entered directly from the street
and parking, services such as aerial systems with no intervening space that has to be
and deliveries, and, most importantly, shared with anyone else. When children get
maintenance; to an age at which they can be trusted in the
• aspect and orientation. street by themselves they are not far from the
watchful gaze of a parent. And houses are
Quality of internal planning and layout easier for visitors to find: you don’t need to
As discussed in Chapter 5, designing the provide a sheaf of special instructions and a
layout of flats, like that of terrace houses, map to guide someone to your front door;
involves fewer crucial issues as size • a house invariably has a garden of sorts
increases. As flats get bigger it becomes behind it, conjuring up the possibilities of
possible to be less careful in the use of space lazy afternoons surrounded by dogs and
by providing halls and passages and large happy children playing on sun-filled lawns.
rooms whose function, no longer essential, However, if you unpack the word ‘garden’ it
is just to make life more pleasant. Taking can either cover the 30 x 10-metre garden
the layout of bedrooms as an example, the that is found in many traditional suburban
number of furnishing options in a large streets, or something as small as the 10 x
room of more than 15 square metres is 5-metre patio that comes with a terrace house
considerable, whereas in a small room in a layout of 50 houses per hectare. While
every bit of space counts, while the position either alternative satisfies the aspiration to sit
of the window and doors and the overall outside and entertain friends while toddlers
shape are all critical in providing even one play and clothes dry, only the larger of the Roof-top view of the flats and
maisonettes at Odhams Walk in
satisfactory option. two permits anything like real gardening, a Covent Garden, London. This is
shed for extra storage or space for children’s urban living that is suitable for
Commonly, therefore, both developers and play well into their teenage years. families.

users of new flats are engaged in exercising

ingenuity, not only in making the most use So there is an argument to be made for
of the space they can afford to build or buy, bringing up a family in a flat, as opposed
but also in organising the planning of flats so to a narrow-frontage terrace house with a
that land use is maximised while providing 10 x 5-metre patio, if a flat can be equipped
each flat with access to optimum conditions with other features that are adequate
of daylight, sunlight, fresh air and a good compensation for not living in a well-
view. This is all very well in the design of flats designed house. These are:
for small households, but when the goal is • a balcony that is large enough for the whole
to squeeze as many people as possible into household to use for meals and that gets
the smallest possible amount of space it is direct sunlight at some time of the day;
hardly surprising that families prefer living • one extra living space – to make up for the
in houses. lack of a ‘garden’, somewhere for teenagers
to hang out;
The most radical innovations in the layout of • flexible internal planning so that all
flats for more than half a century have come children can have a room of their own as they
about when various uses are combined and become teenagers;
overlapped through open planning. • a utility room with affordable drying
facilities; for example, a tumble dryer with an
There is obviously a distinction between the external vent; Bennet’s Yard, Merton Abbey Mills,
layout of flats for family (three people and • secure and unthreatening storage at London SW19, by FCB Studios.
Shared circulation in an elegant
over) and for non-family households (two ground level, large enough for buggies and top-lit atrium.
people and under). There is no such thing as rarely used bulky items;
‘one size fits all’ in relation to the best place • secure cycle storage;
to bring up a family, although most people • secure facilities for parcel and mail
prefer the idea of a house, with a front door delivery;
Flats: their configuration in blocks, 72_73
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living

• good sound insulation to compensate for leads to the lift and stair core;
the lack of two separate floors. • accessed from an external corridor, usually
referred to pejoratively as an ‘access gallery’,
Priorities for non-family flats are different. In which leads to the lift and stair core.
addition to cycle storage, a secure place for
deliveries and good sound insulation, they Needless to say, each of these alternatives
usually include: has both advantages and disadvantages.
• making the use of space as economical as
possible, concentrating on affordability; Flats grouped around a core This can be the
• making the best use of living space through ideal arrangement with the shortest distance
open plans, combining various combinations between lift and stair to the front door; more
of living, eating and cooking, either as a than five dwellings per floor usually means
single space or two spaces with the dining the lift lobby turns into a corridor. It restricts
area as part of the living room or of the the number of people sharing circulation
kitchen; space on each floor to a minimum but the
• having the bathroom accessible from the total number of households sharing the core
bedroom. depends, of course, on the overall height of
the building.
Sharing circulation spaces
Obviously, most flats are in blocks of more In the case of tall buildings, grouping small
than two storeys. Two-storey blocks without numbers of flats around the core may still
lifts used to be quite commonly built for mean that the lifts, stairs and entrance lobby
the ‘ambulant’ elderly, a short-sighted may be shared by an unacceptably large
arrangement that inevitably meant a move for number of households. In many tall post-war
older people at the most vulnerable time in local-authority blocks it was the total number
their lives, when they could no longer climb of households sharing a single entrance
stairs. Even for general needs, lift access that became difficult to manage, especially
to every upper-floor dwelling has become when family-size flats were involved. Where
essential if the concept of Lifetime Homes anti-social use of these common areas in
(see pages 37–38 and 192–195) is being new developments is likely to be a problem
taken seriously. Where the installation of lifts some form of concierge control has proved
is not possible because of the economics of to be the only solution, but this has cost Proposed flat types in small
pavilions for Adamstown, Dublin,
a scheme, for instance in a small block with implications, especially for residents’ service by Metropolitan Workshop.
only four or six upper-floor flats, the design charges. And this is where affordability and
should at least incorporate the physical security become competing priorities.
space and the foundations necessary for a
lift shaft. Without these simple provisions, The burden of service charges falls much
retrofitting lifts can be prohibitively more heavily on shared owners and rent-
expensive. paying tenants who may be on benefits
already and for whom any additional
As buildings with flats rise to seven storeys weekly cost should be avoided wherever
and above, more than one lift becomes possible. So at design stage the temptation
necessary, as six floors are considered to is to reduce the service-charge element
be the most that residents can be expected by increasing the number of households
to climb in the event of lift failure or sharing each core and, particularly, each lift.
maintenance. As a general principle, however, planning
flats for affordable rent so that more than 25
Assuming that a lift and stair core leads tenancies share a single lift/stair/entrance
from a single street entrance and lobby, flats lobby runs the risk that the scheme may later
can essentially be arranged in one of three fail by becoming unmanageable. Even flats
different ways. Their front doors can be: built for sale may be risking failure if they
• grouped around the lift and stair core have been sold for investment purposes to
without internal or external corridors; owners for private renting. Of course there
• accessed from an internal corridor that are exceptions and the success of shared
Flats: their configuration in blocks,
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living

entrances and cores can depend on whether of an affordable scheme cannot be as

incoming residents already know most generous as those that can be specified for
of their neighbours and on the number of owner-occupiers. Long, narrow, badly lit and
teenagers. Some social-housing developers ventilated internal corridors with hard, poor-
operate ‘local lettings’ policies; these assist quality floor finishes can have, and often have
the formation of strong local communities had, a most depressing effect on residents
and are a means of avoiding random letting whose flats open off them.
to homeless households. It may be the
difference between success and failure. But the worst aspect of flats off double-loaded
internal corridors is that the flats themselves
A few bold experiments have been attempted have a single aspect. This means that for
that combine tenants and owners sharing every flat facing south there must be another
the same common access, with very mixed facing north and therefore deprived of
results. In several well-documented cases sunlight, while the south-facing flat runs the
owner-occupiers, sharing a core with people risk of overheating in summer and has no
on affordable tenancies and having their opportunity for cross-ventilation.
lives disrupted by the activities of neighbours
with whom they are of course at very close External access galleries Most developers
quarters, have found that they are unable of private residential properties maintain
to sell and move away without taking a that there is a stigma attached to external
considerable loss on the resale value of their access galleries and that potential
flat. On the other hand, cores shared between purchasers associate them with often very
much larger numbers of owner-occupiers dreary municipal housing. Their principal
and even shared owners, with no affordable advantage, as with central corridors, is
tenants, are usually quite sustainable. to increase the number of flats serviced
by a single lift and stair core. They are
Internal corridors As the pressures to raise less efficient than internal double-loaded
densities and to reduce both construction corridors, although chief among their
and service-charge costs increase, an advantages are the opportunities for natural
obvious reaction is to reduce the number cross-ventilation that they offer, and, when
of lifts and stairs by introducing corridor designed in conjunction with two-storey
access. However, this can give rise to an maisonettes, each alternate floor can have a
immediate security problem. As the distance dual aspect with a consequent reduction in
between a flat and a sole protected staircase unit frontage.
used as the means of escape reaches or
exceeds 7.5 metres, unless a fire-engineered The justifiable prejudice against narrow
solution is achieved it becomes necessary access galleries in their normal UK
to introduce an alternative means of configuration is not shared on the Continent,
escape leading directly to the outside. This particularly in the Netherlands. Design
is covered under part B of the Building subtleties – such as moving the access
Regulations. In affordable housing the gallery away from the rear wall of flats or
presence of a secondary escape route is maisonettes with short bridges across to
likely to cause immediate security problems the entrance doors – have enabled Dutch
because of unauthorised use by people architects to locate the only windows of
trying to bypass the controlled-entrance bedrooms adjacent to the access gallery
security system. without an appreciable loss of privacy.
Varying the width and providing opportunities
Although there have been recent examples for planting and sitting out further humanises
of private housing successfully planned with such spaces. They have a further advantage
generously wide and naturally lit central as the front entrance door is in the open air.
corridors, it is unlikely the same principle
would work as well in schemes containing Shared circulation at high densities
a high proportion of affordable homes. The As densities increase above 150 dwellings
dimensions, finishes, lighting and details per hectare some of the options already
Flats: their configuration in blocks, 74_75
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living

described become inappropriate or even true for those who spent most of their time
contradictory. In particular, the principle of in their homes without any real prospect of
limiting the number of affordable rented or holidays in sunny places or of weekending
private rented dwellings per shared entrance in the country. Making sure that the living
to 20–25 becomes impossible to achieve as rooms of all dwellings would face the sun
the number of storeys increases. for a significant part of the day had a higher
priority than the formation of real streets
What may then develop is a number of lined on both sides with the front doors of
separate, different lift/stair cores, each with houses and flats. In addition, most dwellings
its own street entrance, or a single street had a dual aspect, so flats with east-facing
entrance leading to a number of separate living space almost certainly had west-facing
cores, or even a single entrance and multi- bedrooms that got the afternoon sun and the
lift core leading to a series of corridors possibility of cross-ventilation in hot weather.
or access galleries. From these two last
alternatives various types of central atrium With the recent emphasis on high urban
have developed that serve several purposes densities these principles, which had in
very well. They celebrate the notion of a any case become somewhat discredited as
single controlled entrance for all comings a result of the unsatisfactory priority given
and goings and they also facilitate a much to orientation rather than street- and place-
more acceptable version of the access making – seem to have been overlooked.
gallery and single-aspect flat. The atrium is Flats in many high-density schemes have not
usually top-lit and has strategic views out, only had their principal living rooms facing
and it can be either totally enclosed but east or even north, but by planning them on
unheated, or covered but with large enough either side of a central corridor, they only had
openings to the outside air to qualify as an a single aspect, making those not getting
externally ventilated space. direct sunlight very gloomy and those with a
lot of direct sun at serious risk of overheating.
Atria perform a useful social and community
function as pleasant buffer spaces between
the anonymity of the street and privacy
behind each individual front door: good
places for a chat with neighbours.

In such situations, and where the number of

flats exceeds 200, it is possible to consider
a manned concierge at the strategic point of
entry, rather than simply a secure fob key or
similar control on the entry door. Of course
concierges can perform other functions
such as monitoring underground or covered
parking and any other shared facilities,
secondary escape routes, cycle stores, etc.,
but their inclusion largely depends on the
level of revenue costs that have to be passed
on to residents, particularly to affordable
tenants.

Aspect and orientation

Architects from the 1960s until the start
of Postmodernism in the 1980s regarded
orientation as a principal determinant in the
form and layout of housing, rightly taking
the impact of sunlight to be an important
factor in people’s lives. This was especially
 Flats: their configuration in blocks,
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living

Guidelines on built form as densities increase

The following eight diagrams describe various

low- to medium-rise generic solutions that are
typical for the density bands indicated.

To achieve theoretical but comparable densities

each is drawn:
• on a 1-hectare plot;
• to include one parking space per dwelling;
• to allow at least 20 metres between principal
Shared Shared Shared
windows facing each other; Maisonettes Internal Spaces External Spaces Flats Houses Internal Spaces
• to include a strip of defensible space between
building line and pavement;
Solution 1: 50–75 dwellings per hectare Solution 2: 50-75 dwellings per hectare
• to include private amenity space, balcony,
patio or garden for each unit;
Double-stacked family maisonettes with stair Houses and flats with stair cores
• to include shared street-level shared cycle
cores 24 two-storey family houses + 32 flats at three
storage, refuse and recycling storage for homes
64 family maisonettes at four storeys: storeys:
without gardens;
• maisonettes double stacked with upper units • four shared cores;
• on the assumption that all dwellings can meet
paired around stairwells; • four combined refuse/recycling and cycle
Lifetime Homes standards.
• no houses or flats; stores for flats;
• lift access not viable; • all parking on street: not well overlooked by
The mix of units shown in each layout varies
• two upper-floor units per core; flats;
according to what seems appropriate for the
• shared outdoor space for cycle storage at the • approximately 50 per cent of dwellings could
built form. House and maisonette footprints
rear of stairwells; have own front doors at street level;
represent three-bedroom, five-person homes and
• 100 per cent parking on-street and close to • approximately 50 per cent of dwellings have
flats are based on either one or two bedrooms.
homes; private gardens;
The densities shown would change if the mix were
• 50 per cent have own front door to street; • no shared amenity space for remaining
to change.
• 50 per cent have private gardens; dwellings so these rely on balconies or private
• upper dwellings rely on balconies or roof roof terraces.
All layouts set out to test what is possible
terraces for private amenity.
in relatively low-rise development in order to
Management implications fairly low.
relate to a hypothetical urban street context.
Management implications very low.
Good solution where providing some houses is a
The diagrams highlight the implications of
Good solution where predominantly larger family priority:
providing lift access as density rises. The
units are needed: • provide terraces of housing with corner flat
optimum number of units per core in order to
• provide double-stacked maisonettes around blocks;
make lifts financially viable but keep numbers
stair cores; • restrict flat blocks to three or four storeys
manageable is between 15 and 25 for affordable
• provide balconies or roof terraces to upper- where lifts are not essential;
rent – and slightly more for market sale. At
floor homes; • provide stair-only cores serving small
the lower densities it is difficult to group
• use ground-floor space for private family numbers of dwellings;
enough dwellings efficiently around each core to
gardens rather than for shared gardens; • use ground-floor space for private family
make lift access sensible, but as buildings get
• consider an alternative arrangement with gardens.
taller this becomes easier and, above a certain
access galleries where lift access is required.
density, it is desirable to restrict dwelling
Additional possibilities: flats could increase
numbers to just a few units per floor.
Additional possibilities: single layer of to four storeys; density would increase to 68
family maisonettes with small flats over; dwellings per hectare, but lifts not viable at
In layout 8, which is close to 150 dwellings
density, in terms of dwellings per hectare, nine units per core. On-street parking would
per hectare, on-street car parking is no longer
would remain the same but height would reduce remain possible.
possible, so a managed solution is necessary.
to three storeys.

housing-book_4.indd 75 20/9/10 16:52:49

 Flats: their configuration in blocks, 76_77
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living

Shared Shared Shared Shared Shared

Flats Maisonettes Internal Spaces Flats Internal Spaces External Spaces Flats Internal Spaces External Spaces

Solution 3: 75-100 dwellings per hectare Solution 4: 75-100 dwellings per hectare Solution 5: 75-100 dwellings per hectare
Flats and maisonettes with lift access Flats with stair cores Flats with lift access

48 maisonettes + 32 flats at three storeys: 88 flats at three storeys: 88 flats at minimum three storeys:
• four shared cores; • eight shared cores with short internal or • four shared cores with short internal or
• four combined refuse/recycling and cycle external corridors; external corridors;
stores for flats; • eight combined refuse/recycling and cycle • secondary security advisable on landings as
• all parking on street: not well overlooked by stores – one per core; eight flats per floor to each core;
flats; • shared outdoor space secured for use only by • four refuse/recycling stores and four
• approximately 50 per cent of dwellings could residents; separate cycle stores – one each per core;
have own front doors at street level; • all parking on street well overlooked; • shared outdoor space secured for use only by
• approximately 50 per cent of dwellings have • approximately 25 per cent of dwellings could residents;
private gardens; have own front doors at street level; • all parking on street, well overlooked;
• no shared amenity space for remaining • only eight dwellings have private rear • approximately 25 per cent of dwellings could
dwellings so these rely on balconies or private patios; have their own front doors at street level;
roof terraces. • high-quality shared amenity space to • only eight dwellings have rear patios;
compensate for lack of gardens • high-quality shared amenity space to
Management implications fairly high. compensate for lack of gardens – not easy for
Management implications fairly high. all ground-floor users to access.
Good solution where some larger family units are
required, and lift access is needed: Good solution for lower-rise layouts where lift Management implications fairly high.
• provide lift cores to groups of flats and access is not essential:
extend access galleries to serve upper floor • provide stair-only cores each serving small Good solution for lower-rise layouts where lift
maisonettes; number of flats; access is needed:
• restrict each length of gallery to six • restrict number of three-bed and larger flats • achieve at least ten upper floor units per
dwellings or fewer; to a minimum; lift core, preferably 15, but not more than 25;
• provide secondary security at head of the • retain individual access to street-level/ • keep corridors or access galleries as short
gallery on each floor; ground-level flats where possible; as possible by placing cores centrally in a
• achieve at least 10 upper-floor units per core, • provide balconies or roof terraces to upper- group of flats.
preferably 15, but not more than 25; floor homes;
• provide balconies or roof terraces to upper- • where more larger family homes are required, Additional possibilities: floor height could
floor homes; make ground-floor units maisonettes or revert to increase, on-street parking would remain
• use ground-floor space for private family a lower-density solution. possible; introducing family maisonettes to
gardens rather than for shared gardens; reduce density not advisable as lift viability
• avoid locating habitable rooms on gallery Additional possibilities: could increase to is marginal already.
side; four storeys – see Solution 7; on-street
• use sound-resilient flooring to gallery. parking would remain possible or some family
maisonettes could be introduced at ground level
Additional possibilities: single layer of family to reduce density, especially as lifts not
maisonettes with small flats over; density would viable anyway.
remain the same but height would reduce to three
storeys.

housing-book_4.indd 76 20/9/10 16:53:28

 Flats: their configuration in blocks,
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living

Shared Shared Shared Shared Shared Shared

Flats Internal Spaces External Spaces Flats Internal Spaces External Spaces Flats Internal Spaces External Spaces

Solution 6: 100-125 dwellings per hectare Solution 7: 100-125 dwellings per hectare Solution 8: 125-150 dwellings per hectare
Taller flats with stair cores Taller flats with lift access Flats with raised courtyard over parking

120 flats at minimum four storeys: 120 flats at minimum four storeys: 145 flats at minimum four storeys:
• eight shared cores with short internal or • four shared cores with short internal or • eight shared cores with short internal or
external corridors; external corridors; external corridors;
• four combined refuse/recycling and separate • secondary security on landings highly • four combined refuse/recycling and cycle
cycle stores – one each per core; desirable; stores;
• shared outdoor space secured for use only • four refuse/recycling stores and four • raised, shared outdoor space for use only by
by residents (could be subdivided to provide separate cycle stores – one each per core; residents. Needs ventilation to car park below
dedicated space for each core group, but better • shared outdoor space secured for use by and may need irrigation to planting;
as a single shared space); residents (could be subdivided as shown); • on-street parking can no longer provide 100
• all parking on street well overlooked; • around 20 per cent of dwellings could have per cent secure parking; controlled access
• approximately 20 per cent of dwellings could their own front doors at street level; essential.
have own front doors at street level; • only eight dwellings have rear patios.
• only eight dwellings have rear patios. Management implications very high but relatively
Management implications high. good for this density range.
Management implications fairly high.
Good solution for denser layouts where lift Good solution where density has increased beyond
Good solution for denser layouts where lift access is needed: the point where on-street parking is no longer
access is not essential: • achieve at least ten upper floor units per possible:
• provide stair-only cores, each serving a lift core, preferably 15, but not more than 25; • achieve at least ten upper-floor units per lift
small number of flats; • keep corridors or access galleries as short core, preferably 15, but not more than 25;
• restrict number of three-bed and larger flats as possible by placing cores centrally; • keep corridors or access galleries as short as
to a minimum; • restrict number of three-bed and larger flats possible by placing cores centrally in a group
• retain individual access to street-level/ to a minimum; of flats;
ground-level flats where possible; • retain individual access to street-level/ • restrict number of three-bed and larger flats
• provide balconies or roof terraces to upper- ground-level flats where possible; to a minimum;
floor homes; • provide balconies or roof terraces to upper- • consider maisonettes on lowest two floors with
• provide small rear patio gardens to ground- floor homes; living rooms at first-floor level in order to
level flats combined with shared outdoor space • provide small rear patio gardens to ground- avoid single-aspect flats here; provide balconies
rather than large private gardens to a few level flats combined with shared outdoor space or roof terraces to upper-floor homes;
flats; rather than large private gardens to a few • balance mix to check that user numbers and
• restrict height to three storeys where flats; child density are within manageable limits;
possible, four storeys maximum; • balance mix to check that user numbers and • provide CCTV and an on-site caretaking
• consider a caretaking service; child density are within manageable limits; service, or consider a concierge;
• where more larger-family homes are required, • consider a caretaking service; • where more larger-family homes are required,
make ground-floor units maisonettes, consider • where more larger-family homes are required, consider top-floor three-bed flats with private
top-floor three-bed flats with private roof make ground-floor units maisonettes, consider roof terraces or revert to a lower-density
terraces, or revert to a lower-density top-floor three-bed flats with private roof solution.
solution. terraces, or revert to a lower-density solution.
Additional possibilities: could introduce some
Additional possibilities: could introduce Additional possibilities: core numbers now family maisonettes but now better at first floor
family maisonettes at ground level to reduce at the high end of the optimum range; could as ground-floor units are single aspect without
density, especially as lifts not viable anyway. introduce some family maisonettes to reduce gardens.
density and restrict number of users, especially
children, per core.

housing-book_4.indd 77 20/9/10 16:53:59

Flats: their configuration in blocks, 78_79
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living

Diagrammatic circulation layouts for flats around lift and

stair cores With two dwellings per floor, the block would
need to be at least seven or eight storeys
This series of diagrams illustrates the high to make a lift affordable – but at that
relationship between the way that flats are height it would need two lifts, which would be
grouped around a core, building height and the uneconomical.
affordability of providing lifts.
With three dwellings per floor, a lift would be
In order to keep lift-service charges at a
affordable at five storeys and numbers would be
reasonable level, it is usually necessary
manageable up to nine or ten storeys (24–27
to share the cost between at least ten
upper-storey units), although a second lift
dwellings, and preferably between 15–20. In
should be provided above seven storeys.
lower-density areas, where buildings are
three to five storeys high, a reasonably large
number of flats must be provided at each floor
level, often resulting in extended horizontal Five dwellings per floor is the maximum group
circulation. that can be achieved without significant corridor
areas. A lift would be affordable at four
As density rises and storey heights increase, storeys (15 upper-floor units) and manageable
lifts become viable with far fewer dwellings up to six or seven storeys (25–30 upper-floor
per floor, allowing circulation to be units).
significantly reduced. But above seven storeys
it is considered good practice to provide
two lifts – to provide cover in the event of With eight dwellings per floor, a lift would
breakdown or repair. That inevitably means be affordable at three storeys (16 upper-floor
that dwelling numbers have to be increased units) but above four storeys (24 upper-floor
beyond the minimum needed to cover the costs units) numbers would be difficult to manage.
of a single lift, so the optimum grouping
patterns change again.

With ten dwellings per floor, unit numbers

quickly become unmanageable. Deck-access
solutions are not usually suitable above six
storeys.

With 12 dwellings or more per floor, an

alternative means of escape is inevitable unless
a fire-engineered solution is possible. This
solution is best when managed by a concierge.
 Flats: their configuration in blocks,
and how to make a flat the home of
choice for family living
GOOD PRACTICE

3B/5P Flat, G.I.A. 92.4m², 12885mm (w) x 7285mm (d)

(area excludes external store and riser)

12885

2800 100 715 100 1500 925 100 1350 100 5095

1850 S/O 1020

C/O 867 300
700

window indicative only

level
External lockable Riser access
685

services in wall

300 50
store 1.1m2 boiler +flue
hood above extract above wall units
service in 600 mm

min
normal recycling
take / meters storage high 450 mm
bins cooker

785
4 shelves wall units above
200

beneath

min
600
washing 2.8m2 counter top
machine drawer drawer
1305
SVP mirror unit
min 400 unit
tall storage up possible 400 1200
basin 700
to 1500mm0.4m2, dishwasher
min 600 broom 600x700
2 airing cupboard
x 450 cupboard activity zone
wc

shelves above

600
shower over &
min
400 0.8m2 0.6m2
basin min
KITCHEN/DINING
full height tiling
15.3m2

mirror
350 x 250 1100x700
1950
min

activity zone
shower gulley
BATHROOM normal
1400x1700
785
S/O 934

WC activity zone /

3570
beneath bath storage full height
5.5m2 700 4 shelves fridge
wheelchair turning
C/O

2.4m2
bath 1100x700
600x700
activity zone 3m2 freezer

activity zone
min
200

2316 coat hooks table

250
C/O 785 800 x 1350
100

Knock out panel above door S/O 934

wardrobe
1500 wheelchair
HALL
785
934

785

934
turning space
1235

12.8m2
S/O
C/O

S/O
C/O
S/O 934 S/O 934 min
C/O 785 C/O 785 200
1210x770
sliding or demountable partition

100
7985

7285
activity zone
C/O 785
bedside 1500 wheelchair home office space (1800mm)
6750

table turning space S/O 934 configuration TBC

1210x770
activity zone armchair armchair
r'
wardrobe do toy
1210x770 ri
chair or storage
'c
BEDROOM 1 activity zone min
700
bed
13.2m2 chest of
bedside
table chest of
4700

drawers drawers visitors

chair
1210x770
1210x770 activity zone 1500 wheelchair
occasional turning space

3615
activity zone bed coffee
cot
chest of
BEDROOM 3 table

bedside
drawers
BEDROOM 2
table 8.3 m2 storage
1210x770 12 m2 bedside
chair table
500x LIVING
table 2000
activity zone
15.1m2 settee

bed occasional
chair table
2750x2200
wardrobe
bed tv activity zone

visitors
chest
table chair
of
drawers
cill height max. 750mm above f.f.l. cill height max. 750mm above f.f.l. cill height max. 750mm above f.f.l. full height window
level
window indicative only window indicative only window indicative only window / door indicative only access

furniture not specified in HQI 4165

2800 100 3320 100 2300 100

13195

6 sq.m. balcony -
area & use requirements
dependant on Planning Authority

What needs to go into a typical three-bedroom flat for cloakroom each allow for wheelchair access Good practice 3B5P flat
affordable rent? to the WC, and the second or twin bedroom GIA, 92 square meters,1 13.195
contains a long desk, suitable for homework metres wide, 7.285 metres deep
This plan shows a typical layout for a and large enough to qualify as a ‘home office (dimensions in mm unless otherwise
straightforward, efficient five-person family space’ under the Code for Sustainable Homes. annotated).
flat. Much of what it shows would apply equally 1
area excludes external store and
well to layouts for flats with more or fewer The plan is designed for full occupancy: there riser
bedrooms but it serves to illustrate the are no spare rooms and little spare space, but
basic requirements, some of which are easy even this unremarkable layout provides some
to forget. flexibility for the time when children leave
home and priorities change. The kitchen/diner
Although designed to have all principle rooms could be combined with the living room and the
facing in the same direction, it assumes hallway shortened to provide a large open-plan
that natural light and ventilation are also space. Similarly, the single bedroom would
possible to the kitchen and bathroom at work well as a study or dining room or it
the rear of the plan, located on an access could be combined with either Bedroom 2 or the
gallery. A separate kitchen/dining room is living space. As household size reduces, the
therefore possible, giving the family more separate WC may be considered unnecessary and
space to engage simultaneously in different could become a utility space or absorbed into
activities. the kitchen and the hallway reduced further.

Internal storage is reasonably generous and Structure permitting, the combined effect
easy to access, and there is provision for of these modifications would create quite a
‘external storage’ – space for bulky or different home with two double bedrooms and a
dirty items, to be kept close to but outside very large, almost square living/dining/kitchen
the home. The Lifetime Homes bathroom and space occupying half of the total plan area.

housing-book_4.indd 79 20/9/10 16:54:19

The Bolonachi Building, 80_81
Site D, Bermondsey,
London SE1

The background to the whole development against the car park, with a dual-aspect first Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
of what is known as Bermondsey Spa is floor that has a rear patio at the same level Developer Hyde Housing Association
described in the case study covering the as the main first-floor courtyard. This is Site 0.583 hectares
early phases in Chapter 7. This site on the perforated with openings to accommodate Number of dwellings 138
landward side of the railway was acquired large species trees in the courtyard. Density 237 dwellings/hectare (682
from the borough as a result of competitive HR/hectare)
tender by Hyde Housing Association in Mix 18 x 3B + 69 x 2B + 51 x 1B
2004. Council policy was aimed at attracting Affordable 50 per cent
owner-occupiers into the area, as well as Parking spaces per dwelling 0.4
increasing the stock of affordable homes.

Southwark was a London inner borough that

Rd
used to be subject to a ‘density ceiling’ of 150 Abby

Fred
dwellings per hectare (500 habitable rooms

a St
Ja
per hectare). However, the introduction of

Old
ma
ic
a

ree
Ro

Jama
government guidance encouraging the reuse ad

t
ica
of brownfield land, coupled with the Mayor of

et
re
St
Rd
London’s lifting of density ceilings after 2000,

ne
ri
caused an immediate hike in land values, so

Ma
Old Jamaica Rd
that developing housing even to the previous Fre
an

d
maximum was no longer an option. What Str

Roa
eet

would previously have been considered the

el
Rou
maximum of about 90 dwellings on this site
had to be increased to nearly 140 without, if
possible, any reduction in the quality of life of Site plan.
N

future residents.

The tallest buildings, up to eight storeys,

are placed on the eastern edge of the site,
mirroring the new buildings of equivalent
height on the other side of the railway,
and a block of only four storeys is sited
along the western boundary. The intention
is to temper the abrupt change of scale
that would otherwise occur between the
traditional estates to the west and the new
taller, denser buildings on the other side of
the railway. For the flats on the eastern side
one distinguishing feature is the circulation
system incorporating a covered ‘atrium’
– a device that has the benefit of reducing
the number of separate lift and stair cores
without resorting to open-access galleries
or, worse still, to long internal double-loaded
corridors.

The design incorporates a car park at street Right External detail and general
view. The scheme has ground- and
level beneath the main amenity space, in first-floor maisonettes. The former
the form of a raised courtyard enclosed are single aspect, backing on to
by housing on all four sides (see Chapter the undercroft car park at the
rear but with their own front-door
10). The car park is disguised and the ‘live access to the street. On the upper
frontage’ on to the surrounding streets is floor they are dual aspect with a
rear patio that opens on to the
preserved by adopting a family maisonette main shared podium above the car
with a single-aspect ground floor, backed park.
housing-book_4.indd 81 20/9/10 16:54:38
The Bolonachi Building, Site D, 82_83
Bermondsey, London SE1

1:2500

Tucked into a corner beside the

main railway line from London
Bridge, this is a high-density
mixed-tenure development of flats
and maisonettes. Half of them
enclose a raised podium with car
parking below and the other half
are accessed from a glazed atrium.
A A

Above and below The plan and section

A–A show both courtyard and
atrium. Flats off the atrium are
single aspect but get both light
and cross-ventilation from the
atrium. Flats and maisonettes on
three sides of the courtyard have
dual aspect.
Top right Axonometric diagrams of
ground- and first-floor maisonettes
backing on to the car park at
ground-floor level and on to the
courtyard at first-floor level.
Centre right Three-bedroom corner
flat.
Bottom right One-bedroom flat accessed
from the atrium.

1:1000 1:250
Aylesbury Estate 84_85
regeneration, Southwark,
London SE1

This is the initial phase in the replacement amenity spaces. Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
of a very large 2760-dwelling estate A ‘green route’ runs through the site, linking Developer London & Quadrant Housing
bequeathed to the London Borough of a new urban-scale square at the northern Trust
Southwark at the dissolution of the Greater end – which will be the location for the Site 1.247 hectares
London Council in the early 1980s. When local street market as well as the entrance Number of dwellings 260
completed, this phase will comprise 260 to the new resource centre – with the open Density 209 dwellings/hectare (655
dwellings, a neighbourhood resource centre expanses of Burgess Park to the south. HR/hectare)
and some retail. The entire development is Mix 26 x 3B + 135 x 2B + 99 x 1B
being undertaken by a single large housing Although each circulation core largely serves Affordable 35 per cent
association. a single tenure, in external appearance Parking spaces per dwelling 0.22
Non-housing uses Aylesbury Resource
the three different forms of tenure are
Centre, 1500 square metres
The estate had defied three previous indistinguishable from one another (see
attempts to rescue it from total demolition Chapter 11). eet
Str
but has now finally succumbed and is due to s ide

Que
Arn
be redeveloped in phases over a period of In spite of its high density, the design does

en'
Road
years to provide 4200 homes, a considerable not resort to single-aspect flats reached via

s R
ow
increase on the original. Several of the a central double-loaded corridor. Where the West

orth
more
land

ow
Road
earlier proposals failed when the existing two courtyard blocks converge, an atrium

Walw

n R
residents, mostly affordable tenants, has been formed between them, with dual-

Lio
campaigned against what they perceived as aspect flats accessed by a series of bridges

Red
the threat to their council homes posed by and galleries through which light from the
the involvement of private house-building roof glazing filters down to the floors below. ane
ary L
Bound
companies. By the time the third attempt to Elsewhere the flats are served by lift and
refurbish the existing flats had failed, due stair cores but without corridors. Although

Camberwe
to a combination of cost and the discovery the design avoids long internal corridors or oad
ny R
of further structural defects, residents were external access galleries, the number of flats Alba
ll Road
persuaded that the only possible course of per core is more than the recommended
action was to replace the entire estate, much limit of 20–25. The design solution is to
of which is in the form of very large 14-storey introduce a secondary controlled entrance
system-built slab blocks. at each floor level as well as keeping the Site plan.
N

number of affordable rented flats per core to

But the council’s declared aim of diluting the a minimum.
enormous number of flats occupied by their
tenants with a very significant percentage of Because of the additional social pressure
privately owned homes necessarily meant brought on by high-density living, the
that overall density had to be increased affordable flats have been designed to larger
without resorting to building high. The initial than normal space standards (Parker Morris
phase averages around six storeys with a + 10 per cent) and all flats have access
taller block of ten storeys overlooking the either to large private balconies or to terraces
park on the other side of the road, but the of at least 10 square metres.
density of around 220 dwellings per hectare, Right Computer-generated images of
around twice the existing, demanded a the first replacement housing for
the Aylesbury Estate Regeneration
built form of urban-scale blocks closely project, in which tenures are
lining both existing and former streets. The mixed and all flats are accessed
latter have been reopened to increase the from secure individual lift and
stair cores. Large areas of common
pedestrian permeability of the estate, as a open space are avoided and the
way of integrating the new buildings into the entire layout is integrated with
existing surrounding streets.
neighbourhood. Far right Street level on the
existing estate is almost entirely
dominated by parked cars and
The urban form encloses a series of three lock-up garages. It was designed
open courtyards: one is publicly accessible for all pedestrians to use the
and uses a converted Victorian school upper-level walkway system, which
is both inconvenient and insecure.
building as an attractive backdrop, while The 14-storey blocks have a single
the other two are entirely enclosed shared- entrance with no access control.
Aylesbury Estate regeneration, 86_87
Southwark, London

1:2500

Above left Masterplan.

Left Layout of 131 mixed-tenure
flats showing four different
stair and lift cores, the
largest of which incorporates
a covered atrium. Ground-level
flats have their own independent
street access. The four cores
serve 38, 29, 36 and seven flats
respectively. The cores serving
the largest number of flats have
the highest concentration of flats
for private sale. In addition,
each of the three largest groups
have secondary access control at
each landing level.
1:1000
Top Section through the same block
showing the two shared internal
courtyards. Entry is restricted to
the flats that surround each one.
Centre Typical one-bedroom flat with
inset balcony.
Right Perspective of access to flats
from the atrium.
5 88_89
Internal space:
guidance, standards and
regulation

Research into the amount of space that the considerable difference in the space
households of different sizes need is usually standards set for affordable rented housing
confined to homes at the lower ends of either and what the market usually provides in
the private or the affordable market. Given homes for sale. In both sectors homes have
the opportunity, most people rent or buy as normally been classified by the number of
large an area as they can afford. At the upper, their bedrooms. Whenever there is a straight
luxury end of the private market people buy comparison between the net internal floor
more space so they can have larger living areas of affordable homes for rent and
rooms, room for entertaining, separate dining private sale, and shared-ownership homes
rooms, extra bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms, in the first-time-buyers’ sector, each with the
utility rooms, larger hallways and, of course, same number of bedrooms, the affordable
more storage capacity. At this end of the rented house or flat is invariably larger than
market there is no need to codify how much its private-sector equivalent. This causes Designers need to be acutely aware
that furniture for bedrooms and
space is needed for any given number of problems with any attempt to develop a ‘one living rooms comes in a surprising
occupants. The situation can be compared size fits all’ approach to building schemes in variety of shapes and sizes! The
with some of the vast nineteenth-century which tenures are mixed together. shape of rooms and the positions
of openings in them are therefore
terrace houses with enormous rooms and crucial, as well as their overall
space for innumerable servants and in Closer examination of the way households size.

which overall occupancy would have been in the two sectors actually use their homes
very low. At the same time there would have reveals an entirely different method of
been every reason to set standards for the comparing them and also reveals why they
minimum nineteenth-century ‘two-up, two- tend to have different sizes for the same
downs’ that covered vast areas of Victorian number of bedrooms. Affordable tenancies
cities and in which many people endured are usually occupied up to the maximum
miserable, overcrowded lives. number of bed spaces provided and there
is little chance of moving as children grow
Merging the standards of different tenures older and need more space. In contrast,
Where the situation is cost-critical, the private sector can very often afford
developers of affordable housing for rent to under-occupy by using at least one
need to be sure they are providing sufficient bedroom either for guests or for storage
and well-organised space, while the builders or as an office/workroom. And when the
of private homes for sale usually provide just owner-occupier grows out of one home
as much space as their first-time, entry-level he or she has the option of trading up to
purchasers can afford to mortgage. something bigger. Once comparisons are
based on the amount of space each member
The amount of internal space to be provided of either type of household actually needs for
in houses and flats in the UK has never everyday living or to sleep comfortably, there
been officially controlled as part of Building should be no difference between the two
Regulations. However, standards have been types of tenure.
applied as a condition of subsidy in publicly
funded rented housing throughout most of Standards of social (affordable) housing
the period between the end of World War 1 to regulated through subsidy
the present day. Space standards in private Internal space standards for rented social
housing, on the other hand, being free of housing have, until recently, only been
subsidy, have escaped any form of regulation expressed in the relatively crude terms of
and have consequently been determined by overall net internal floor area per dwelling,
the market. and there has been a long history of tying
them tightly to the amount of subsidy
Recent efforts to blur the social and receivable per house or flat. Parker Morris
physical distinctions between private, standards applied to the development of
owner-occupied homes at the lower end social housing by local authorities were
of the market and those for affordable rent, regulated in this way until the Thatcher
in order to create communities that are government abandoned both the standards
‘tenure neutral’, have been complicated by and the housing they were designed for in
Internal space: guidance, standards
and regulation

the early 1980s. After that, responsibility for how much space should ideally be allocated
providing social (now known as ‘affordable’) for various functions: whatever the reason,
housing passed to the housing associations, Homes for Today and Tomorrow was rapidly
regulated by The Housing Corporation. followed by further government clarification
This effectively dodged the issue of space in various Design Bulletins. In particular,
standards, introducing instead a space these covered the layout of kitchens and
banding system, known as Total Cost bathrooms and generally gave optimum sizes
Indicators, tied to the subsidies that were and arrangements for internal layouts. Parts
made available. of these were published in an expanded form
in The Architects’ Journal Metric Handbook.
Affordable space standards now form part of
a complex briefing document called Housing These were, and still are, usable tools.
Quality Indicators. Though the relationship However, throughout the 1980s and the
between unit size and subsidy is not a direct first half of the 1990s the Conservative
one, designers need to understand it in government had been philosophically
order to ensure that dwellings comply with opposed to the idea of reviving any notion
the minimum standard required for grant of space standards in social housing and
eligibility, and that where they exceed the it formally ceased to refer to Parker Morris
minimum they optimise their ‘point scoring’ standards, on the principle that whatever ‘the
position in the higher bands defined by market’ produced for sale was good enough
percentage increase. Realising that there for social housing.
has to be some flexibility, The Housing
Corporation (since January 2009 replaced It was not until 1998 that the Joseph Rowntree
by the Homes and Comunities Agency) Foundation prompted the National Housing
publishes bands of normal range areas for a Federation to get round this embargo by
variety of dwelling types. These are based on looking at the activities that new homes
the number of bed spaces and the number needed to accommodate, rather than
of storeys for each type with a subsidy figure reviving minimum space standards.
based on accumulating points, as long as The National Housing Federation duly
plans fit somewhere above the minimum and published Standards and Quality in Housing
below the maximum. Of course, this leads Association Development, now in its second
clients and designers to fix their dwelling edition. Although this document is only for
layouts fractionally above the minimum in guidance, and avoids any reference to actual
each band in order to attract the maximum space standards, it does for the first time
subsidy with the minimum buildable area set out guidance on how to accommodate
and, therefore, cost of construction. essential activities in all the principal rooms
of a house or flat, expressing minimum
Guidance on dwelling layout space requirements for those activities and
The imposition of minimum overall space the furniture needed in each room. These
standards per dwelling on their own is no standards are now incorporated into Housing
guarantee of good internal layouts and Quality Indicators and are the basis for
permits designs that feature awkwardly scoring points under ‘unit layout’, another
shaped rooms and space wasted through criterion for which a minimum score is
inefficient circulation. The standards essential for grant consideration.
introduced in 1961 as Homes for Today
and Tomorrow (better known as the Parker Space standards applied to both private
Morris report) were based on allowances and affordable housing
for net internal floor areas for different Useful as the first edition of Standards and
sizes and types of dwelling. Intentionally, Quality was, it was not convenient as a
it contained no guidance on the sizes of design tool in the early stages of new housing
individual rooms, as the idea was to leave design. It was only the second edition,
all such decisions to designers. Either early published in 2008, that provided something
results were considered quite unsatisfactory more up to date for this purpose than the
or designers themselves wanted guidance on 1961 Parker Morris standards.
Internal space: guidance, standards 90_91
and regulation

As recently as 2006 the Greater London Originally it was intended that these
Authority became increasingly alarmed by proposals for the GLA should be bound
the large number of very small dwellings – into the latest version of the London Plan
particularly one- and two-bedroom flats in for application in both housing sectors,
the private sector – that had been appearing but strong representations from the house-
in the planning applications it reviewed. building industry succeeded in limiting the
Consequently the GLA commissioned an publication merely to an advisory document.
entirely new report on space standards that However, at the time of going to press it
set out to resolve the apparently conflicting seems likely that the GLA will adopt a set of
approaches of the private- and affordable- mandatory space standards for all tenures
housing sectors by proposing that internal across the board – it is not yet clear what
space allowances should be related not to the these standards will be.
number of bedrooms a dwelling contains –
the traditional measure – but to the expected In November 2007 English Partnerships, a
occupancy of each dwelling, applied across body set up by government, now also part of
both social and private sectors. It went the Homes and Communities Agency (and
further and suggested allowing more design with its influence growing through the merger
flexibility by not attempting to set space with The Housing Corporation to form the
standards for individual rooms but to break HCA), published its own standards: Spaces
down the internal floor area of dwellings Homes, People, English Partnerships’
into just three ‘zones’. It concluded that Quality Standards. These are intended to
as long as circulation and bathrooms are apply to all housing schemes, regardless of
adequate, what really matters to occupants tenure, over which the organisation has any
is the amount of usable space in the main control, usually through ownership of the
functional areas, and that this is a more land. In terms of internal space the English
reliable means of achieving reasonably Partnerships’ document sets out higher
spacious dwellings than simply dictating standards than anything previously available
overall floor area. including all but one of the ‘normal range’
standards of the Housing Corporation’s
At the same time, it set out to allow more HQIs; however, it is clearly a work in
flexibility in design by defining two main progress. For instance, generous as they
‘zones’ within the dwelling rather than by appear, these standards cover only a small
setting fixed standards for individual rooms. range of dwelling types, with fixed couplings
This encouraged different types of living of occupancy and numbers of bedrooms.
space and combinations of bedrooms: They make no distinction between the
• ‘cooking/eating/living space’; that is, space allowance for houses as opposed to
kitchens, dining rooms and living rooms; flats and generally ignore any provision for
• sleeping space; that is, bedrooms. external storage, although this was a Housing
Corporation requirement.
Internal storage requirements were also
defined as, unlike bathrooms, it was felt The impact of the introduction of Lifetime
that they must necessarily increase for each Homes on housing for sale and for rent
additional person. generally is complicated. Since their
introduction, the measures advocated
For guidance purposes, a percentage in Lifetime Homes have generally been
add-on was applied to the sum total of welcomed, from government downwards,
the zone areas in order to achieve a set of as expressing a thoroughly sensible social
minimum internal dwelling areas, known as objective, that of making it possible for any
IMDAs. The report makes clear that this is member of a household to continue living
to be a secondary standard and one which an independent life in their own home for as
is conditional on demonstrating that the long as possible through old age or infirmity.
minimum area had been achieved for the But moving from intent through interpretation
two main functional zones and for ‘internal to implementation is less straightforward.
storage’ for each dwelling. Although originally conceived for
 Internal space: guidance, standards
and regulation

Comparison of space standards

Dwelling type HQI 2003 EP 2007 NHF 2008 PM 1961 GLA 2006 LHDG 2010
Housing Corporation English Partnerships National Housing Parker Morris Greater London London Housing
(legacy) standard: (legacy) standard Federation: standard Authority: Design Guide:
Housing Quality indicative minimum Draft standards Interim Edition
Indicators normal dwelling area issued as guidance
range only

1B2P 1-storey 45–50 51 50 45.5 44 50

2B3P 1-storey 57–67 66 61 57.8 57 61
2B4P 1-storey 67–75 77 70 71.1 67 70
2-storey - - 82 73.8 - 83
3B5P 1-storey 75–85 93 86 80.7 81 86
2-storey 82–85 - 96 84.1 - 96
3-storey - - 102 96.1 - 102
3B6P 1-storey 85–95 - - 87.8 - 95
2-storey 95–100 - - 94.2 - -
3-storey 100–105 - - 99.8 - -
4B6P 1-storey 85–95 106 - 87.8 92 99
2-storey 95–100 - 108 94.2 - 107
3-storey 100–105 - 114 99.8 - 113
4B7P 2-storey 108–115 - 117 - 105 -
3-storey - - 123 - - -
5B7P 2-storey 108–115 - 120 - - -
3-storey - - 126 - - -

Notes
1 All figures are internal floor area in square metres.
2 HQI and PM only give areas per person; for example, a 3B6P unit has the same area range as a 4B6P unit.
3 PM and EP do not go above six people.
4 HQI areas here exclude external storage.
5 PM figures here include an allowance for internal storage; additional external storage not shown.
6 In 2006 the GLA commissioned independent research into minimum space standards. This concluded that minimum standards should be applied uniformly across
all tenures, and that in determining dwelling mix for planning purposes, flats or houses should be categorised not by the number of bedrooms but by the number of
people to be housed. This was in order to prevent, for instance , construction of large numbers of small two-bedroom flats for sale that were never intended to house
more than two people, when the planning intention was to create two-bedroom family homes for up to four people. These proposals, in spite of the very modest areas
proposed, were considered too radical to impose on all sectors of housing at the time. They were not incorporated as mandatory into the London Plan, but the report
was later attached as an advisory document only.

housing-book_5.indd 91 20/9/10 16:55:05

Internal space: guidance, standards 92_93
and regulation

incorporation into the design of two-storey, How much space do two people need to live in?
wide-frontage suburban houses, most of the This series of three unremarkable one-bed flat
requirements fit relatively easily into flats. plans show why it remains difficult to produce
But they are much more difficult to fit into a single set of space standards. Setting any
kind of standard inevitably focuses on defining
narrow-frontage, two-storey terrace houses, minima but, just as inevitably, minimum
and it can be argued that they are unsuitable standards too often become the norm.

in principle for three-storey houses, as The first plan shows a basic one-bedroom flat
domestic stairlifts are only designed to rise designed to meet Lifetime Homes standards
and the minimum requirements of the Housing
through two floors.
Quality Indicators for affordable housing.
It provides an acceptable solution and might
Lifetime Homes measures are normally well be appropriate for areas where land
values are high, density is a priority and the
accepted by housing associations for neighbourhood offers a good range of amenities.
affordable housing for rent. On the other It would work for any tenure and would be a
good low-cost starter home. But as a generic
hand, developers resist the idea in housing model for good housing, it feels inadequate.
built for sale as the provisions tend to
increase space for circulation and bathrooms The second plan provides two social spaces
as the kitchen is large enough to eat in. It
at the expense of living and sleeping areas, could, of course, be combined with the living
and they don’t want to make flats bigger room if the occupiers prefer, but the provision
of separate spaces provides more flexibility.
overall. In flats, the connection for a future
shower is also very difficult to achieve The third plan is simply a larger version of
the second though it is still not luxurious.
within the depth of the floor finish (without There is space for two chests of drawers and
encroaching on party-floor construction) two medium-sized wardrobes in the bedroom,
while prefabricated bathroom pods often do considerably more space in the living room and
modest gains elsewhere.
not achieve level access into showers.
With an overall range of 10 square metres, this
group of plans demonstrates that there isn’t a
En-suite bathrooms are often required in simple answer to the amount of space needed to
houses for sale, and this, coupled with the house two people.
upstairs family bathroom and the Lifetime
Homes downstairs WC plus future shower,
results in three bathrooms. Applying Lifetime
Homes criteria in homes for private sale
usually results in bigger houses than the
market optimum; sometimes even bigger
than their affordable equivalent. It is possible
that Lifetimes Homes will be adopted across
the board by including its provisions as part
of Building Regulations.

Summary
Whether for regulation and enforcement of
minimum dwelling sizes, or for guidance
to prevent designers having to reinvent the
wheel each time they embark on a new
project, both space standards and guidance
documents are invaluable design tools
and are a way of passing on accumulated
experience. That is not to say that rules and
standards are not made to be improved upon
or that tried and tested ideas can not be
bettered, but progressive innovations need to
be founded on a thorough knowledge of the
current benchmarks.
 Internal space: guidance, standards
and regulation
BASELINE

1B/2P flat, GLA 48.4m²,

7005mm (w) x 6900mm (d)

7005
min.
1955 100 700 100 1450 100 500 100 1400 600
255 1700 S/O 1020 400 1000
min.
min. min. C/O 867 300

possible window location possible window location

high-level units moved to adjacent wall

300 50
shower over and boiler + flue 600 high service
full-height tiling service intake 5 shelves drawer recycling wall units drop
min.

SVP bath /meters 1.3m² unit bins

700

extract above wall units

shower gulley beneath
2 slotted

300
beneath bath shelves tall storage
above 900 up to

1500

350
1.4m² 1500 1400
mirror

basin 1100x700 washing 1500 0.5m² plus

750

min. 600 activity zone machine 2 shelves hood

2800

x450 above above

KITCHEN

600
1m²
cooker

2900
BATHROOM 5.6m²
5.5m²

2150
min.700
HALL full-height
min.

coat hooks
700

increased by broom min. 1200 total possible

600
C/O 785
S/O 934

boxing in
5.1m² cupboard
0.3m²
base units dishwasher
if lose storage
1500 wheelchair
6 shelves 1400x1700
min.

600x700 turning space

500

wc storage activity zone / full-height

activity zone

600
1.8m² wheelchair turning fridge
min.
min.

300

freezer
400
100

100
knock-out panel above door
C/O 785 C/O 785 min. min.
1100 800
S/O 934 50 50 S/O 934

min.
700
r’
n.

do
7600

6900

mi

wardrobe 1500 wheelchair rri

0

o
70

turning space
‘c
1500 wheelchair

min.
turning space table

800
bedside 1210x770
table activity zone armchair
LIVING/DINING
15.2m²

900
4000

4000
BEDROOM
min. armchair coffee
12.4m² 550
chest
of
table
‘corridor’ atdrawers tv
bed foot of bed

sideboard storage
450x 2750x2200 500x
bedside
1210x770 1000 activity zone 1000
table chair table visitor’s
activity zone
chair visitor’s
chair
occasional cot

cill height max. 750 above f.f.l. cill height max. 750 above f.f.l.
level
window indicative only window/door indicative only access

3105 100 3800

7310
furniture not
specified in HQI

3m² balcony -
area and use requirements
dependent on planning authority

1:100
Internal space: guidance, standards 94_95
and regulation
GOOD PRACTICE

1B/2P flat, GLA 54.9m², 8235mm (w) x 6790mm (d)

(area excludes external store)

8235

1600 3680
min.
1850 280 S/O 1020 300 100 600
C/O 867

cill height max. 750 above f.f.l.

window indicative only

external storage
600

1.1m² boiler +flue service

pram ‘park’
service intake 600 high 450 above

coat hooks
recycling counter top drop

min.
/meters wall units

600
bins
possible
200

washing beneath
dishwasher
SVP shower over and machine
full-height tiling 400 drawer unit and
tray space

extract above wall units

bath 2480
shower gulley 5 shelves full-height
2200

beneath bath 2.2m² fridge hood

freezer
KITCHEN/DINING above
mirror

basin
min. 600 cooker
x450
1100x700
activity zone tall storage 11.5m²

3480
0.4m², 2 airing-
2930

broom
cupboard 1400x1700
600 cupboard
shelves 0.8m² activity zone /
0.4m²
wheelchair turning
BATHROOM HALL
50

min.
min.700

300
5.7m2
min.
min.

200
7.4m²
700

increased by
S/O 934
785

boxing in 800

S/O 934
C/O 785
C/O

1500 wheelchair table

1130

600x700 turning space 800x800

min.

min.
with possible
500

800
wc activity zone S/O 934 S/O 934 200
extension for
min.
min.

C/O 785 C/O 785 800x1000

300
400
7490

6790
sliding or demountable partition
100

100
knock-out panel above door min.
50
chest of

sideboard
drawers

200
450x
wardrobe

1210x770 visitor’s 1000

activity zone armchair
1500 wheelchair
turning space
bedside
n. r’
table mi ido
0
70 corr
‘
home-office space (1800)

1210x770
armchair
3210

3210
activity zone
chair

550
configuration TBC

‘corridor’ at coffee
foot of bed LIVING table
BEDROOM storage
13.7m²
bed chair 1000x500
12.4m²
armchair

tv

2750x2200
bedside activity zone
table

cill height max. 750 above f.f.l. cill height max. 750 above f.f.l.

window indicative only window indicative only

3868 100 4267

furniture not
specified in HQI
8545

3m² balcony -
area and use requirements
dependent on planning authority

1:100
Internal space: guidance, standards
and regulation
BEST PRACTICE

1B/2P flat, GLA 58.1m², 8615mm (w) x 6875mm (d)

(area excludes external store)

8615

1500 3825
min.
2290 100 700 180 S/O 1020 300 600
min.
1850 C/O 867 300

cill height max. 750 above f.f.l.

external storage, window indicative only

pram ‘park’
coat hooks
extract above wall units
585

50
1.1m² boiler + flue services in wall
600 450
service intake high recycling
/meters above

600
wall units bins
counter top
200

possible beneath 400

washing dishwasher
SVP shower over and
machine
full-height tiling drawer unit and
shower gulley 1400x1700 tray space
activity zone
beneath bath 2
5 shelves HALL 1500 wheelchair
2m² turning space
cooker
6.2m²
mirror

1115

basin
min. 600 1100x700 tall storage

3335
x 450 activity zone 0.4m²,
2 shelves
KITCHEN/DINING
2800

0.8m²
BATHROOM 12m²

min.
min.700 6.4m² full-height

300
min.
700

fridge
increased by 1500 wheelchair 1500 wheelchair freezer
boxing in turning space 800
turning space
S/O 934
C/O 785

table

S/O 934
1150

600x700 C/O 785 800x800

wc activity zone with possible broom

800
S/O 934
500

S/O 934

601
extension for cupboard
min.

C/O 785 C/O 785 800x1000

min.

0.4m2
300
400

sliding or demountable partition

100

100
7575

6875
knock-out panel above door

bedside storage
space for pc 1000x500
table
visitor’s
armchair
occasional
cot chair
n. ’
mi dor
0 ri
bed 70 r
BEDROOM c o

chair
visitor’s
chest ‘
of
13m² 1210x770
activity zone drawers 1500 wheelchair
turning space

3440
3440

600 x 600

armchair
storage

chest
of coffee
bedside drawers table
table 1210x770
activity zone
storage
chair 1000 x 500 LIVING
armchair

tv 16.3m² 2750x2200
home-office space (1800) activity zone
wardrobe wardrobe configuration TBC

cill height max. 750 above f.f.l. cill height max. 750 above f.f.l.

window indicative only window indicative only

3785 100 4730

8955

6m² balcony -
area and use requirements
furniture not dependent on planning authority
specified in HQI

1:100
6 96_97
Private open space

One of many conundrums about gardens outside in which to sit and to grow plants but This terrace of listed eighteenth-
and balconies is the contrasting preferences live in flats where neither is possible, while century houses in Bloomsbury was
converted into flats – some of
of different households when they try to other people have generous balconies that which were for families – in 1979.
assess their need for private open space. have either been barricaded off or are used As there was no possibility of
providing any private open space
Clearly many people make private open only to store unsightly objects such as cycles beyond the smallest possible
space an important factor in their choice of and defunct household objects. balconies on the rear elevation,
it was decided to create
house or flat; some want more outside space maisonettes at the top of each
and others less, while some don’t want any However, there are several relatively safe house and to disguise these highly
at all. Some have an acute need for privacy bets. One is that nearly everyone who aspires prized roof terraces between the
original central valley roofs.
while for others getting as much sunlight to live in a house also aspires to a garden
as possible is the over-riding factor. Some, of sorts, even if it is small; another is that
especially those with children between the whereas flats used to be turned out without
ages of, say, three to eleven years, enjoy any private outside space, lifestyles and
having access to a large shared garden expectations have changed and balconies
while others consider that this type of or roof terraces have become the norm
increasingly prevalent ‘semi-private’ space rather than the exception. Although it has
is no compensation for not having a proper implications for service charges, flat dwellers
outdoor space of their own. now also tend to be provided with shared or
semi-private outside space.
Designing a bespoke house gives an
architect the opportunity to establish a From the eighteenth century the average
precise relationship between outside and private house sat with its own land on all
inside, interpreting as closely as possible four sides and was linked to its grounds on
the wishes of the client. But when the at least one elevation by double doors and
architect is designing speculatively (for usually a flight of shallow steps or, in the case
persons unknown) it is only possible to of a grand house, a terrace. This implied
generalise and to make assumptions about little relationship between inside and outside
what an average resident will want, trying to except for recognition that inside was warm,
anticipate as many eventualities as possible. protected and clean. The transition between
All too often people long for somewhere inside and the landscape outside was
Private open space

simply a door or pair of doors with the steps • to design for wildly differing levels of
or terrace doing little to soften the abrupt commitment in terms of how each household
contrast between the two. wants to use their space without annoying
their neighbours. Five uses come to mind:
As the relationship between inside and small-children’s play, drying laundry, sitting
outside developed through the nineteenth out, growing things, and keeping cats, dogs
and twentieth centuries the gradation and other pets;
became more subtle, often with a • to design gardens, particularly front
conservatory acting as a buffer between gardens, and balconies so that one
house and garden. Then, as terrace occupant’s lack of interest in their space
housing became the urban norm, there was does not become a neighbour’s eyesore;
an additional problem in supplying and • to deal with the issue of ‘defensible space’;
maintaining a garden without having to use • to top up the limited amenity provided
the main reception rooms of the house as by small gardens, patios or balconies by
the service route. Except in poor-quality providing secure shared semi-private space
workers’ housing, the gardens of nineteenth- for groups of residents (see Chapter 7).
century terrace houses were often as much
as 15 or 20 metres long, large enough for Front gardens
serious gardening, and they were sometimes To describe the strip of space in front of most
designed with a shared rear alleyway for houses and flats as a garden is to employ
access. Even where this method of access to something of a euphemism. In most cases,
gardens was not provided, house frontages although not private in themselves, these
were wide enough to allow a passage as spaces between the street and the building
a direct link from the front entrance to the line provide a useful privacy buffer to the
garden, leaving the formal rather than the home itself. Much has been written about its
functional relationship between a living room role in defining ‘defensible space’ and it can
and garden, inside to outside, via a pair of be handled in a number of ways, depending
semi-glazed french doors. on tenure, neighbourhood and the approach
to maintenance.
Not until the Modern Movement arrived
in England in the 1930s (early examples Where a developer chooses not to define
include works by Connell Ward and Lucas, the separating boundaries but to leave
and Berthold Lubetkin) was there any further a continuous strip of grass or planting,
celebration of the relationship between house punctuated only by pathways – and
and garden or flat and balcony, a relationship sometimes parking spaces – leading to
cemented after World War 2 in America each front door, the capital cost is clearly
through the work of architects like Richard relatively low but the long-term service-
Neutra in California: a benign climate and charge obligation on owners and tenants
wall-to-wall glazing defied easy identification is relatively high. For this approach to be
of what was house and what was garden in successful the developer needs to be
his designs. confident that future residents and those in
the wider neighbourhood will observe all
Given the densities to which even houses the basic rules, parking only in dedicated
now need to be built and given also that spaces and not littering or destroying the soft
every square metre of space inside and out landscape. Even so, in terms of ‘defensible
is an important commodity, designers of space’ this approach is of little value in areas
gardens and balconies are faced with several of social stress: if the management structure
challenges: needed to provide day-to-day maintenance
• to design gardens and balconies as is missing, the long-term prognosis is
usable extensions of the main living space, invariably disastrous.
addressing both privacy and sunlight;
• to try to make sure that the only route to the The alternative approach by developers of
garden with a large bag of compost is not terrace housing, irrespective of tenure, is to
over the sitting-room carpet; provide a physical barrier that assigns and
Private open space 98_99

defines the area in front of each house so that 12 metres deep is unsatisfactory. The current
responsibility for maintenance clearly lies approach of police liaison officers, supported
with individual owners or tenants. Although by housing managers, usually results in
the cost of good boundary treatment is high, a veto over any idea of a rear alleyway
the landlord’s ongoing responsibility is much on security grounds. However, it seems
reduced. ludicrous to condemn future generations
of occupants to such an unsatisfactory
Front gardens clearly defined by a robust arrangement without considering how
combination of walls, railings and limited rear access via an alleyway could be made
amounts of timber have a number of other secure using locked gates protected by
advantages, affording privacy, improving fob keys.
security and disguising instances where
residents have failed to look after their patch, Balconies and roof terraces
which would otherwise become an eyesore. Flats are still being built without any sort of Old Royal Free Square, Islington.
outside space. However, pressure has been With rented housing it is hard
to predict whether a garden,
Boundary treatments also have a function in increasing, especially in affordable housing, once provided, will be valued or
incorporating stores for refuse and recycling for all of them to have some kind of private not. And if this garden is in a
conspicuous place and neglected
as well as gas and electricity meters without open space that is accessed directly from it can blight a whole street.
necessarily obstructing views out to the street the flat, space that receives sunlight for some Happily, in this instance the
from ground-floor windows. There is a fine part of the day and is large enough for all garden has clearly been a great
joy to the tenant concerned for
balance to be struck between adhering to the members of the household to sit out and take more than 12 years, both to her
principle of ‘live frontages’ by keeping views a meal together. Roughly, this means at least benefit and to the benefit of
everyone else.
out as open as possible while screening 4 square metres for a couple and an extra
untidy front gardens from the public gaze. 1 square metre for each additional person.
The so-called ‘Juliet balcony’ – full-height
Rear gardens windows with a balcony rail on the outside
As has been noted, the term ‘rear garden’ allowing them to open to the floor – does
can designate anything from a small 25- not qualify; its only possible merit is to
square-metre patio to something ten times improve the quality of light and sunlight
the size, large enough to accommodate a entering a room.
vegetable patch.
Apart from the size, orientation and
Like all small spaces that one wishes were relationship with the internal living spaces,
bigger, patios need to be designed so that the effectiveness of balconies and roof
every bit of space counts. Choices of paving terraces is affected by issues of privacy, wind
and drainage are crucial. Patios need to protection, level thresholds, safety, and also
receive direct sunlight, with adequate privacy waterproofing in the case of roof terraces
and security and a positive link to the main above other accommodation.
living space via a well-designed glazed
screen and not obstructed by doors when Terraces and projecting balconies facing
they are open. It then becomes almost an south or west with no overhead shading
extra room with all sorts of uses for adults can suffer from excessive sunlight, but the
and very small children. alternative of recessing them adds to cost,
especially in meeting thermal-performance
Servicing a patio is not as challenging as requirements.
getting a wheelbarrow into a proper garden
and access from one of the principal living Roof terraces differ from balconies in that One of the great dilemmas about
rooms is an acceptable solution, although they have living accommodation immediately providing private gardens is that
for every one resident like this
access from the kitchen with a hard, below them. Special care needs to be taken there are at least five others
washable floor is to be preferred. But the in their design to ensure that whatever who do not share his enthusiasm.
The process of allocating
combination of narrow-frontage houses, waterproofing method is chosen is totally tenancies has to share some of the
in which there is no possibility of reaching protected from the uses to which roof responsibility for this.
the garden except through the living room terraces are normally put. Historically, roof
or kitchen, with a garden that is at least terraces have been problematic because
Private open space

of water penetration through the flat-roof concern to households with small children.
membrane or round the rainwater outlet, But clumsy detailing that ends up looking and
made worse as they have to be able to feeling like a cage is to be avoided and there
bear traffic as well. Difficulties have been are subtle alternative solutions for the crucial
compounded by the tendency of designers top 150–200mm.
to conceal rainwater downpipes. The crisis
of confidence in construction methods that The insulation needed to avoid a cold
accompanied the flight from Modernism in bridge makes achieving level thresholds
the mid-1970s included an aversion to flat from balconies (a requirement of Lifetime
roofs in any form. Horror stories accumulated Homes) difficult, whether they are inset or
over the cost of tracing and remedying leaks, cantilevered.
many of them avoidable had the original
designers used more forethought. The need for privacy and wind protection
usually go together. Adjoining balconies
The history of failures of flat roofs and should always be screened from each
roof terraces from the 1960s resulted in a other where they abut and the subtle use
reaction against any type of flat roof that has of timber or perforated-metal screening to
lasted for a whole generation. In the rush part of the fronts of balconies can enhance
for growth from 2000 onwards, marked by privacy and cut down exposure to strong
increases in density and a return to building winds, especially in tall buildings, without
flats, many of the lessons of that period have reducing sunlight penetration. It also
been forgotten, although the materials now provides somewhere for the storage of
in use are far superior and the likelihood of balcony furniture. A useful variant of the inset
failure has been reduced. Development of balcony, much used in the Netherlands, is the Balconies to housing-association
flats in Bermondsey. All the flats
the ‘upside down’ method of building flat creation of a virtual sunspace by the addition in this building have generous
roofs – where the waterproof membrane of an extra line of glazing on the outside face balconies, large enough to take
is located below the wearing service and of the building so that it combines the utility meals on.

the insulation – has improved their working of a balcony in summer and an enclosed
life. The membranes themselves have sunspace in winter.
become increasingly flexible and effective,
compared with traditional asphalt, but are The era of shared laundry facilities seems to
still vulnerable around their edges and have entered the annals of welfare provision,
rainwater outlets. gone the way of communal bath houses
for the poor, except for some categories of
Most designers prefer to cantilever housing for single, mobile people for whom
balconies, stacked one above the other, and ownership of washing and drying facilities is
to avoid visible rainwater downpipes. Both unrealistic. Drying clothes is an affordability
these features, compounded by the need issue for many households in flats and,
to eliminate cold bridges, are relatively unless some provision – such as the partial
expensive as a proportion of overall timber screening of balconies – is made for
construction costs. Steel or timber decking them, breaking the rules with clandestine
without any form of piped drainage is the washing lines on balconies in full view will Balcony at the Brunswick Centre.
most economical method of construction always be infinitely preferable to watching
but means that balconies stacked one above the electricity prepayment meter rushing
the other can’t be used when it rains, and round to keep pace with a tumble dryer.
furniture has to be stored inside – a big
disadvantage. And downpipes somehow
need to be incorporated into the design
without being built into walls, as the number
of 30-year-old buildings that have had to have
them added later testifies.

The safety of balustrading is covered by

Building Regulations and is an issue of vital
Naish Court regeneration, 100_101
Islington, London N1

Naish Court, an estate of 200 flats, was each block sat like an island surrounded by Architects Levitt Bernstein Associates
built for the London Borough of Islington open areas designated for no useful purpose and Pollard Thomas Edwards
in the late-1940s. This area, between the whatsoever. Given the relatively large areas architects
Caledonian Road and the new development of unusable open space, both in the central Developer The Guinness Partnership
on the King’s Cross Railway Lands, consists courtyards and in a 5-metre-wide strip of Site 1.9 hectares
of a monolithic series of post-war council grass running round the whole perimeter of Number of dwellings 232
estates, in contrast to the area to the east of the site between the pavement and the flats Density 122 dwellings/hectare
Caledonian Road, which has some of the themselves, it was not difficult to design a Mix 55 x 1B + 100 x 2B + 54 x 3B +
best and highest-value streets and squares new development that increased the number 20 x 4B + 3 x 5B
in North London. Locating so much council of dwellings overall but also included terrace Affordable 88 per cent
housing in one place, in stark contrast to Parking spaces per dwelling 0.3
houses with private gardens for the largest
the prosperous ‘gentrified’ streets on the families and flats for smaller households in
other side of what is affectionately known to blocks of not more than 13 flats off a single
locals as ‘the Cally’ has created a pocket of core, each with its own lift. This has resulted
deprivation, with all that implies, particularly in 88 per cent of all dwellings achieving
in terms of low-grade youth crime and Lifetime Homes standards and 5 per cent
mindless vandalism. being fully adaptable for wheelchairs.

In 1999 the residents of Naish Court felt The original developers of Naish Court,
persecuted and embattled by young vandals. feeding their obsession with isolated blocks
Nothing was private except their flats once each surrounded by a cordon sanitaire of
they were safely inside them, but getting space of indeterminate use, were not alone
there meant crossing tarmac courtyards in creating a community that was completely
full of abandoned cars to reach squalid cut off from the surrounding neighbourhood
and graffitied entrance lobbies, then using of streets and squares. This reinforced the
vandalised lifts, or more often than not stigma associated with ‘public housing’. An
walking up six flights of stairs because the immediate requirement for the new plan
lifts were broken. Long dingy corridors then was to make new streets and squares that
led to front doors that looked like they had join up with those that already existed and to
been built to withstand a siege. make sure that good use was made of every
scrap of outdoor space. What is therefore not
Naish Court residents, knowing that the usable shared space has been given over to
council could not afford a radical solution private gardens: these now represent 33 per
to this impossible situation, voted for the cent of the whole site area.
estate to be transferred to a large and
well-regarded housing association. This was The original residents, many of whom were
on the understanding that the whole estate already well into middle age, insisted on the
would be knocked down and rebuilt, that need to have lifts to every flat and a private
residents would have a say in the design of balcony large enough for them to sit outside
their new homes, and that no-one would have at a table for meals in warm weather. These
to move more than once. two demands created a funding problem
that was only solved by a masterplan that
The original estate consisted entirely of flats reprovided the same number of homes on
and maisonettes roughly arranged around only 85 per cent of the site followed by the
the perimeter of a rectangular 2.2-hectare residents’ agreement to sell the southern
site, distributed in blocks varying from four portion to a developer to meet the then
to eight storeys, with the largest families insatiable demand for small private flats.
being housed in two eight-storey blocks Right Before regeneration, which
of maisonettes sitting in the middle of the involved demolishing 200 flats
development. The architects of public entirely, there was no private
open space anywhere. On the same
housing in the 1950s were obsessed with the overall footprint and at an even
notion that healthy communities should live higher density, it was possible to
provide three- and four-bedroom
in blocks of flats; however, so little thought family houses with their own rear
went into the design of the public realm that gardens.
 Naish Court regeneration, Islington, London 102_103

1:1250
Left Plan of the estate before Right Plan showing how the rebuilt
demolition. There was no estate introduces conventional roadways
private open space at all, into the scheme (pale grey), which
either at ground level or in together with 30% on street parking,
the form of balconies. Instead accounts for 14% of a total site area,
there were three areas of itself reduced by 10% (white area
communal tarmac open space in at the bottom of the plan, released
N

the centre mainly used for to a private developer) while still

parking, and an unusable strip providing the same number of units as
of communally owned grass the original. 33% of the site area is
between the back of pavement now private gardens (pale green) and a
and the blocks themselves. further 8% (dark green) as a landscaped
square and childrens’ play area.

housing-book_6.indd 102 9/10/10 08:50:25

Top left The regeneration programme
uses previously purposeless space
around the perimeter of the
site. Flats and maisonettes have
generous balconies.
Top right Conventional streets and
squares have been extended into
the new development.
Bottom right The estate as it was
before demolition. The left-hand
image shows a new terrace of
houses being built in the spaces
between the existing blocks.
This enabled the entire estate
population to move just once, in
phases, from their old flats into a
new home.
Granville New Homes, 104_105
Kilburn, London NW6

This initial phase of the rebuilding of the runs right through the design, using every Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
South Kilburn Estate is the result of a design piece of available land, including awkward Developer London Borough of Brent
competition, held in 2004, promoted by the corners. By avoiding any idea of symmetry Site 1.215 hectares
local authority and supported by residents the design fits neatly on its irregular infill site. Dwellings 130
of the estate, some of whom will be its first Density 107 dwellings/hectare
occupants. Like most schemes that win The massing changes as the buildings rise Mix 13 x 4B maisonettes + 14 x 3B
design competitions, Granville New Homes up to their highest point at seven storeys. maisonettes + 8 x 2B maisonettes
is bristling with innovations but in this case There are three separate mixed-tenure + 12 x 3B flats + 44 x 2B flats +
the innovations are sanctioned by future buildings in an L-shaped plan, which 39 x 1B flats
residents and there is every chance that incorporates a community building on Affordable 100 per cent
they are fully committed to making them Parking spaces per dwelling 0.4
the corner site, rising from five storeys at
Non-housing use children’s centre
work effectively. one end to seven storeys at the other. The
massing and roofline are complex so that,
The design deliberately avoids any version of unlike most housing rising to this height,
the vernacular; instead it seems, refreshingly, the number of storeys at the highest point is

ue
en
Av
to take its point of departure from examples relatively unobtrusive and this is helped by

e
dg
ri
in the Netherlands, Denmark or Sweden, an abrupt change of external wall treatment,

mb
Ca
which is perhaps appropriate following a from brick tiles to self-finished white cladding
residents’ visit to Rotterdam at the briefing to the two upper storeys. Ro
ad
r Road

Ca
Chicheste

Cambridge Gardens
ry

mb
bu
stage. It certainly represents a sea change in

ri
er

dg
t
an

e
C

Ga
residents’ ideas of how they see the future, Generous balconies project from the external

rd
Princess Road

en
s
compared with the lifestyle they might have skin at apparently random points and these
chosen ten years earlier. are balanced by equally generous openings
Granville Road

that seem to be punched through the external Carlto

n Vale

However, first impressions can be deceptive. skin. These allow daylight and fresh air into
The generous openings at upper levels were the common circulation at upper levels.
indeed borrowed from similar (but much
tighter) air and sunlight gaps in between Most of the ground and first floors are taken Site plan.
N

the Victorian terraces and semi-detached up with maisonettes. These have their own
houses in the area. This historic reference front doors leading directly on to the street
is translated into a modern ‘vernacular’ and and small private patios at the rear so that,
exploits the generous gaps to maximise light solely in terms of their accommodation, they
in the back gardens and reflect day- and are identical to terrace houses. Interspersed
sunlight into the living spaces facing the at intervals between the maisonettes at street
generous ‘breaks’, while simultaneously level are shared entrances leading to lifts and
breaking up street and façade repetition. stairs serving small groups of dual-aspect
upper-floor flats varying in size from one to
As the first phase of a regeneration three bedrooms. Unusually, the upper-floor
programme for the replacement of the grim landings to flats are external spaces with
adjoining South Kilburn Estate, put up in openings in the frontage to admit light and
the 1970s, the new buildings are situated on air, a device that makes the front door to each
long, narrow and rather awkwardly shaped flat feel like a true front door and not simply a
slivers of road frontage that were previously door off an internal corridor, as in a hotel.
a park, and mostly back on to the gardens of
a terrace of fine nineteenth-century semi- Every flat has its own balcony, which is large
detached villas. This is an urban-design enough to eat meals on; internal space
exercise in ‘town mending’ since the old standards are generous, with well-shaped
street pattern had been fractured by the rooms and circulation areas. Right One of the principles
building of the South Kilburn Estate, leaving enshrined in the competition-
the backs of Victorian terraces exposed to an But the innovations are not limited to winning design of this replacement
housing for the South Kilburn
untidy area of public open space – literally planning and physical form; they boldly Estate was that all upper-
‘space left over after planning’ (SLOAP). address the challenge of climate change in a floor flats should have generous
balconies and, where necessary,
Seizing the opportunity offered by an variety of ways over and above (15 per cent) projecting canopies to minimise
irregular site plan, a delightful irregularity Building Regulation requirements, achieving summer solar gain.
Granville New Homes, Kilburn, London 106_107

approximately Code for Sustainable Homes to all mechanical services, particularly

level 3, of which the principal features are: common services accessible from the shared
• a high-performance external envelope circulation, as well as accurate ‘as-built’
designed to reduce residents’ running costs information assembled on completion.
as well as the carbon footprint (SAP rating
120, U-values of external walls 0.19–0.23, Given that the performance (and complexity)
roofs 0.15, ground floor 0.25); of Granville New Homes is expected to
• central, block by block, gas-fired be far higher than that of the average new
condensing boilers, supplying affordable housing, it will be important to
low-temperature, individually metered monitor all aspects of this in order to gain
underfloor heating to all flats, a system experience for future projects. Inevitably, it
designed for conversion to CHP as the will take some time for all the new systems
primary heat source in future; to bed down and there will be much more
• solar collectors mounted on the flat need to familiarise residents with the ways
roofs able to offset 30 per cent of hot water to get the best out of the systems in their
needs and a total of 15 per cent of the new homes.
development’s estimated heating energy
needs. These solar collectors are linked both
to small individual thermal stores in each
dwelling and to large communal water-
storage tanks, which can be topped up by the
communal block boilers if necessary;
• underground rainwater collection for use in
irrigating landscape and gardens;
• mechanical heat recovery from kitchens
and bathrooms, mainly to heat dwelling
corridors;
• external lighting using energy-efficient
compact fluorescent fittings controlled by
central timers and photocells;
• building materials selected from renewable
sources and with minimum environmental
impact;
• all flat roofs planted with sedum except
those used for mounting solar collectors or
roof terraces;
• generous dedicated areas in all blocks for
waste recycling and cycle storage;
• reduced off-street parking.

Managing and servicing features that

are in any way innovative is much easier
in large commercial or private housing
installations where the budgets for day-to-
day maintenance are higher than those for
affordable-housing schemes, particularly
those that are mainly for rent. Housing
associations and local authorities have to
tread the narrow path between, on one hand,
keeping tenants’ service charges as low as
possible and, on the other, providing the
necessary levels of specialist skill required
to maintain new and unfamiliar equipment.
A high priority is the need for good access
Ground-floor layout plan. New
houses built on a narrow strip of
unused former open space leaving
an area in the centre of the
terrace as a landscaped pocket
park. 1:1250
 Granville New Homes, Kilburn, London 108_109

Left Typical plan and section A–A

of new terrace housing showing the
ground- and first-floor maisonettes
– each having a small rear patio
opening on to a shared open space.
Between these maisonettes are the
entrance cores to flats on the
upper floors.
Below Three- and four-bedroom
maisonettes.
Bottom Typical upper-floor flats
with generous private balconies.

A A

1:500 1:250
 Street elevation and details
showing the massing broken up
to provide well-lit balconies
and roof terraces to upper-floor
dwellings.

housing-book_6.indd 109 20/9/10 16:58:10

7 110_111
Shared amenities,
indoor facilities and
outdoor spaces

The shared roof terrace to the

high-density key-worker housing
at Nile Street in Hackney, by
Munkenbeck + Marshall Architects.

The need for specific amenities for residents If the pendulum swung away from large
as built-in components of successful and amounts of shared space and facilities after
sustainable housing is now as widely 1979, pendulums can swing too far: a whole
recognised as it was previously ignored. generation of schemes built in the 1980s
From the end of World War 2 onwards in and 1990s with almost no common facilities
public, that is social, housing, as part of has proved to be almost as problematic as
a drive to improve public health, large the earlier generation, when an attempt had
shared open spaces were provided on been made to provide facilities but without
housing estates, which now had much any idea of how to manage them. What is
larger numbers of families housed in flats. now emerging is a more sophisticated policy
This policy became a byword for all that under which spaces are more thoughtfully
subsequently proved to be misconceived designed and equipped, and the means of
– large areas of unused, unkempt asphalt securing them and running them properly
or grass became breeding grounds for all are also provided. This means not only
kinds of anti-social activity. To address this finding the capital to build them into the
failure the principle of ‘defensible space’, physical framework, but also the revenue
first propounded by Oscar Newman, was necessary to run them without adding an
enthusiastically embraced, not only as intolerable burden to the residents’ service
a way of creating secure environments charges. Current examples can demonstrate
but also because it conveniently reduced the value of providing areas of shared
the landlord’s obligations in terms of open space for specific uses and activities,
management and maintenance. designed with their future management
and upkeep in mind. The emphasis should
There is a difference between true public be on access and the quality of provision,
open space, to which anyone and everyone not just fulfilling notional obligations of
has access, and shared communal space ‘enough space’.
– such as a central courtyard, garden or
pocket park enclosed by terraces of houses Many local authorities have started to define
or flats – access to which is restricted to an amount of shared or private amenity
certain groups of residents. space as a planning requirement. In theory
this is a good thing but standards can be very
Shared amenities, indoor facilities
and outdoor spaces

onerous. Bigger is not necessarily better, and private garden/patio has its uses but also
this planning approach can also lead to ‘box- its obvious limitations, one of which is the
ticking’ and increasing reliance on shared impossibility of forming any kind of social
roof terraces with little evidence that they will connection, particularly for children, with
be either useful or manageable. neighbours except via the street. The
model established by Victorian developers
As schemes increase in size and reduce in the West London suburb of Maida Vale
in density the design of outside spaces was to provide each terrace house with Broadclose in Bude, Cornwall by
becomes more indeterminate; external its own garden but to link, via a gate in the Trewin Design Partnership. High-
quality shared space in a rural
spaces are looked at not so much as ‘outdoor back fence, the rear of each garden to a setting.
rooms’ but as simply the space between landscaped shared open space that was thus
buildings, landscaped with grass, trees and landlocked behind a group of houses and
the ubiquitous bushes, which tend to be inaccessible to non-residents.
planted where no better idea has occurred.
By contrast, higher-density schemes can Although the scale of this could hardly
benefit from shared external spaces that are be repeated at today’s densities, smaller
often more purposeful, more valued and versions have been tried recently in a mixed-
more secure. tenure scheme at Chapel in Southampton
and at Greenwich Millennium Village in
The idea that external areas should be laid London. There is an equivalent version for
out as communal gardens with benches and high-density flats surrounding an internal
rose beds has been around since the earliest courtyard, often raised one floor above street
days of housing on estates, whether private level to accommodate parking underneath,
or subsidised. However, they usually matured which is accessed from the common stair
into unkempt and sad places, partly because and lift cores. The second phase of Coin
there was insufficient money to look after Street on the South Bank in London and the
them properly, but also because the spaces schemes at Bermondsey and Pimlico are
themselves were not identified as belonging examples.
to any small, particular group of residents
and were thus popularly supposed to harbour All flats in blocks need some shared space
all kinds of unpleasant detritus, from dog but for a typical scheme of more than, say,
waste to used hypodermic needles. 100 new homes the shared external facilities
should include:
This naive approach, which saw soft • play areas, including space for informal
landscape simply as scaled-up private football games, for children of all ages;
gardens but with municipal-type planting, • peaceful places in which older people can
was largely discontinued from the 1960s congregate outside;
onwards without necessarily being replaced • dedicated areas for dogs.
by anything more positive. People, especially
those living in flats or with small children, Indoor facilities should include:
do appreciate having somewhere convivial •storage for bulky items, such as flat-
to meet up with neighbours, but planning dwellers’ cycles;
anything resembling a shared garden • provision for a crèche;
needs careful forethought about how it • youth clubs;
is to be maintained. Forming community • meeting rooms;
development trusts as mechanisms for • a multi-purpose hall.
tapping the voluntary efforts of residents is an
attractive idea, but hugely difficult to realise External facilities
and sustain. Family households need places for small
children to play together and, if the scheme
There are relatively few successful examples is large enough, play areas or adventure-
to use as models for this approach to playground facilities for older children as
semi-private/semi-public shared space. As well. Satisfying the needs of teenagers is
has already been shown, the small entirely the most elusive of tasks: their iconoclastic
 Shared amenities, indoor facilities and 112_113
outdoor spaces

Residents in Granville New Homes

chose to have a large shared
garden rather than long private
gardens exclusively for the lower
units. Each ground-floor unit has
its own patio with a gate giving
access to the shared space.

instincts propel them away from things life can be quite short as the children for
organised for them in favour of more whom they were designed outgrow them.
clandestine activities. Often, especially in neighbourhoods with lots
of new affordable family tenancies, there are
The needs of children and young people age bulges with many children of nursery
tend immediately to bring the interests age growing out of facilities provided for
of families into conflict with childless them at the same time. This suggests that
households, especially older residents. the design of play facilities needs to include
The concept of NIMBYism might have been some flexibility, with an eye towards adapting
invented for this situation. No-one seems spaces for different future uses as the
to want a small-children’s playground on community goes through its lifecycle.
their doorstep except during the few years
when they happen to have children of the Informal football is an even more contentious
right age, still less an enclosed ball-game activity than small-children’s playgrounds
area or adventure playground. Where but another one that won’t go away. Children
possible, consultation with residents usually like playing football in the street, close to
produces a ‘least-worst’ compromise and home and to other people. They seem to be
avoids complaints from people who feel basically gregarious and noisy when playing
that they have had a playground plonked on ball games and half the expensively laid out
their doorstep without being able to protest. ball-game courts on large estates are unused
To some extent, as children get older their once their novelty has worn off, often because
activities can (and arguably, as part of they are tucked away out of sight. So the best
growing up, should) take place further and compromise seems to be small enclosed
further from their own front doors but play courts planned into the overall layout of the
spaces still need to be safe and overlooked. neighbourhood, close to family houses and
Crossing streets is usually the first major remote from non-family flats, ideally in such
hazard, which is one reason for laying out a way that they neither completely dominate
streets as child-friendly ‘home zones’. nor are completely hidden.

Experience of providing small-children’s The design of adventure playgrounds is

play areas, even when large sums have been outside the scope of this book, but where
spent equipping them, shows that their shelf space allows their value is beyond question.

housing-book_7.indd 112 20/9/10 16:59:11

Shared amenities, indoor facilities and
outdoor spaces

They need to be large and are often unsightly. since most of the functions needed to be at
Unlike play areas for smaller children, they ground level, the result was a single-storey
are usually staffed when they are open, so it structure, unoccupied at night, prey to
is reasonable for them to be tucked away. window smashing and graffiti, and very
expensive in terms of land take. One solution
And last but not least, dogs and their is to combine the whole complex into a
owners can generate much bad feeling. building with flats above. This can deal with
The determination of some to keep dogs the vandalism problem but letting out a hall
is outweighed by a majority who are even used for social functions underneath flats can
more determined to make sure those dogs produce complications of noise nuisance that
are controlled on grassed areas, especially severely limit its use in the evenings.
where their waste is concerned. Dedicated
dog-exercise areas have been tried but they Making space available for youth activities
offer no benefit to those without dogs, so can be all-important, although what
general spaces in which owners are required constitutes the right kind of facilities in one
to pick up waste seem to offer a more instance can be completely inappropriate
pragmatic solution. in another. A brief to cover the various
alternatives is beyond the scope of this book,
Internal/indoor facilities but the provision of suitably soundproofed
As part of a general approach to making and flexible space, with generous ceiling
living in flats more attractive as well as heights, in the location least likely to annoy
encouraging cycling as opposed to driving, the neighbours is a good way to start. Adelaide Wharf: central courtyard
new efforts are being made to build stores Genuine engagement during the design equipped for play in a mixed-
tenure development. Architect
that won’t get vandalised, both for cycles stage with the young people most likely AHHM.
and for other bulky household possessions to use the facility is almost essential to its
that don’t fit easily into flats. Past attempts ultimate success.
were usually dismal failures for reasons
that invariably involved a combination of
vandalism, rough sleeping and drug taking,
unwittingly facilitated by poor management
and security. Shared stores will always be
problematic so planning individual stores
within the secure envelope of a scheme,
accessed either from within each lift and stair
core or from an external courtyard, works
best. In very large schemes where each
stair core gives access to more than 25 flats,
storage needs to be covered by CCTV as
well, ideally linked to a concierge who will
probably also be monitoring the car parking
and other common areas.

Funding from independent sources for

a crèche in schemes of several hundred
dwellings is now more frequently available.
A crèche needs self-contained ground-floor Designs from the 1950s and
space and a secure external play area, 1960s, where successful, have
all-enduring popularity, as at
probably located along with meeting rooms, Golden Lane in the City of London.
a management office and a large multi- Architect Chamberlin Powell & Bon.
purpose hall; this needs to be designed
to serve social functions as well as large
gatherings involving the whole community.
Traditionally, this complex of uses was
combined into a standalone building but,
Chapel, St Mary’s, 114_115
Southampton

St Mary’s was a challenging area in terms each courtyard to which all the surrounding Architect Chetwoods
of security and car crime, as well as houses have access through their rear. This Developers Persimmon Homes with
being in the floodplain of the River Itchen. could be a source of disputes between Swaythling Housing Association
Chetwoods’ competition-winning scheme residents over responsibility for the upkeep Site 1.694 hectares
addressed those issues and several others of shared space and the cost of doing so Dwellings 174
at the same time. when it becomes a service-charge issue. But Density 100 dwellings/hectare
when it works, the hierarchy for children’s Mix 23 x 3B + 111 x 2B + 40 x 1B
Consultation with the local community play is almost perfect. Very small children Affordable 37 per cent
has resulted in a genuinely mixed-tenure can play in their own private rear patio before Parking spaces per dwelling 1 private; 0.7
development in which all of the houses and graduating around the age of four to being affordable
flats are built to the same space standards able to play with children of the same age in
and specification: the different tenures are the shared courtyard/garden, which should Chape
l Roa
indistinguishable. The design is refreshingly still be secure from outsiders provided the d

contemporary with a genuine appeal to both right controls are in place on the gates. As

t
tree
owners and tenants. The days when tenants children grow older at Chapel there is a

on S
felt they were being stigmatised by living linear public park nearby, but beyond the

Nels
alongside modern architecture while those protected shared courtyards.

's Road
who could afford to buy chose traditional Elm Te
rrac
homes are long gone. Invariably there are teething problems with e

Anderson
any progressive idea of this kind, but the

ad N
The long thin site has been divided into long-term quality-of-life advantages must

Albert Ro
three sections by two new streets, and the outweigh any disadvantages.
three resulting blocks have been developed
around their perimeter to leave a courtyard Ch
an
tr
at the centre of each, beneath which is y
Ro
ad

semi-underground parking. This has the

benefit of raising all the housing above the Site plan.
N

flood-risk level. Ramps lead up to the fronts of

houses, which therefore enjoy the additional
advantage of having their ground floors
raised above the surrounding streets.

As the scheme is a mixture of houses and

flats, Chapel has a relatively large population
of children. All flats have balconies while
the houses have both front doors on to the
street and rear patios that include their own
individual storage sheds. But what makes the
layout exceptional from the amenity point of
view is the treatment of the rear courtyards
above the parking areas.

The gaps at the corner of each courtyard

are secured by railings and gates. These
allow householders to access the rear of their
houses and their stores without having to take
everything through the house. This has been
a cause of controversy with crime-prevention
officers since Secured by Design – the police
much prefer gardens to be placed back to The scheme was designed around
these communal courtyards:
back as this is one of the fundamental planks each is accessible only to the
of defensible-space strategy. At Chapel the residents who live surrounding
each courtyard. The ground-floor
design goes even further by providing a dwellings also have their own
shared/communal space in the centre of private patios.
Chapel, St Mary’s, Southampton 116_117

1:2500

1:1000 Top Masterplan showing the creation

of three separate courtyards
bisected by two new streets, which
use the changes in level across
the site to provide undercroft
parking down one side.
Above and left Ground-floor layout
plan and section A–A.
Right Typical plans of three-storey
three-bedroom houses and one-
bedroom flats. 1:250
External views to surrounding
streets. In each courtyard the
ground-floor units have their own
patios opening on to a shared
courtyard that is protected from
outsiders by lockable gates (as can
be seen in the top photograph).
Also visible are the two cycle
stores for each courtyard.
St James Square, 118_119
Bermondsey Spa, London
SE16

For many years the old borough of maximum of about 300 dwellings on this Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
Bermondsey, associated with London’s site had to be increased to nearly 630, plus Developer Hyde Housing Association
docks but now absorbed into the London a local supermarket and a large primary Site 0.71 hectares
Borough of Southwark, had become a quiet healthcare centre without, if possible, any Dwellings 207
sort of backwater. Given that it is only a reduction in future residents’ quality of life. Density 291 dwellings/hectare (877
10-minute walk from the now expensive HR/hectare)
residential area of Butler’s Wharf and the When seeking precedents for housing at this Mix 49 x 3B + 76 x 2B + 82 x 1B
south end of Tower Bridge, its nature was sort of density in London you don’t have to Affordable 33 per cent
Parking spaces per dwelling 0.3
bound to change, especially after it gained look very far, in fact just across the road to
a station on the Jubilee Line extension in Shad Thames, the majority of which consists
1999. Most housing in the area around of converted nineteenth-century warehouses
the church of St James, one of the famous separated by narrow cavernous streets. Rd
‘Waterloo churches’ built as a job-creation And the principle of this form of housing Abby

Fred
project for returning soldiers at the end was continued in The Circle, a scheme just

a St
Ja

Old
ma
ic
of the Napoleonic Wars, is still owned by behind Shad Thames designed by Piers a

reet
Ro

Jama
ad

Southwark Council. Mostly pre- and post-war Gough of CZWG in the 1980s. Of course the

ic

et
a Rd

re
low-rise flats, they are punctuated here and large, well-appointed private apartments

St
ne
there by 20-storey towers from the 1970s. behind these façades, many of which hardly

ri
Ma
Old Jamaica Rd
But the borough also owned land that it had ever receive direct sunlight, are occupied by Fre
acquired when in low-grade industrial use, in privileged people who can afford to spend
an

d
Str

Roa
eet

and around the railway arches of the massive their holidays and weekends elsewhere,

el
Rou
viaduct bisecting the area that carries all the and are attracted to this area because of
rail traffic for London Bridge station. its convenient location, its history and the
chic combination of uses. Nevertheless, Site plan.
N

In 2001 Southwark Council received a the atmosphere in the streets around Shad
successful tender for a large area (1.95 Thames provided the idea behind the new
hectares) of derelict industrial land to be masterplan for the Bermondsey Spa sites,
developed for a mixture of private and several of which are only 12 metres wide
affordable housing. The winning team from building face to building face.
consisted of Hyde Housing Association in
a partnership led by Kennedy Hayward, The two blocks known as St James Square
a private developer which then had to have large private balconies to provide open
withdraw. This posed a dilemma for those space. In addition each is built around a
who wished to remain involved, and central landscaped courtyard at first-floor
the borough agreed that Hyde Housing level with parking below, and these spaces
Association could take over the whole are shared by residents. The lower-floor
scheme, which now consisted of 627 family units have small private patios that
dwellings, as developer of housing for sale partly surround and overlook the courtyards,
as well as for rent. A third of all dwellings are but Hyde Housing Association is committed
affordable and the rest are to be disposed of to managing and maintaining these small but
in the private market. important shared spaces in a scheme where
the density is very high.
Southwark was one of those inner boroughs
of London that used to be subject to a
‘density ceiling’ of 150 dwellings per hectare
(500 habitable rooms per hectare). But
the introduction of government guidance
encouraging the reuse of brownfield land,
coupled with the Mayor of London’s lifting
of density ceilings after 2000, caused an Right As at Chapel in Southampton,
St James Square is based around
immediate hike in land values, so that two shared courtyards with a
developing housing even to the previous central street between them on
the axis of the church built as
maximum was no longer an option. What an employment project after the
would have previously been considered the Napoleonic Wars.
housing-book_7.indd 119 20/9/10 17:00:05
St James Square, Bermondsey Spa, London 120_121

Masterplan of new development

between Spa Road and Jamaica
Road, Bermondsey, London. The
new buildings are deliberately
set to enclose narrow streets in
the manner of the nearby historic
streets of the Shad Thames area
near Tower Bridge. All flats have
generous private balconies while
those at the lowest levels have
private patios opening on to a
shared central courtyard raised
above the parking undercroft.

1:2500
A A

1:1000

Above Layout plan and section

A–A showing the disposition of
flats and maisonettes around their
internal courtyards with St James
Church on the main axis.
Top right Typical one- and two-
bedroom flat plans.
Bottom right Plans of four-bedroom
maisonette. 1:250
St James Square, Bermondsey Spa, 122_123
London

Above View from the churchyard

of St James.
Left General massing as seen
from the top of a tower block
in Jamaica Road.
Above right The new square formed
in front of the church.
Below right View of the internal
courtyard, accessible to all
residents.
housing-book_7.indd 123 20/9/10 16:59:34
Oaklands Court, Hammersmith, 124_125
London W12

A block of 46 apartments developed by the ground-floor family maisonettes and Architect Monahan Blythen Hopkins
a housing association on a busy main road houses. Developer Catalyst Housing Group
heading west out of London might seem a Site 0.08 hectares
recipe for something quite conventional. As an example of shared amenity space the Dwellings 46
However, the design of Oaklands Court is roof garden at Oaklands Court is unusually Density 656 HR/hectare
anything but that. The end of a block formed ambitious, for this is no windy terrace Mix 7 x 3B + 39 x 1 and 2B including
between the intersection of two side roads, but a landscaped garden in every sense, four wheelchair
the site has three road frontages: the basic complete with grass, generous planting Affordable 100 per cent
configuration is a mixture of rented and and a shelter equipped with benches. It is Parking spaces per dwelling 0.25
shared-ownership houses, maisonettes clearly not intended for teenage football but
and flats developed around the three-sided as a refuge where adults and those with very
perimeter. small children can escape the impact of
the traffic-dominated street. At a time when
Enormous care has been devoted to both the housing associations as landlords are so
concept and detail design for a previously concerned to balance the need to reduce
undeveloped site that had been valued highly the service charges they have to levy on their
by the local authority for its environmental tenants against the very real need for better
contribution to an area with very little open amenities, this facility is a bold experiment.
space. Mindful of this, the design uses as
much of the site area as possible (67 per

e
Oaklands Grov

Ormiston Grov
cent) as open space. At ground level a
secure area, enclosed at the rear on three
sides by the U-shaped building, is devoted to
parking space and a playground equipped
for small children. At the very top of the
building, shared amenity space is provided
in the form of a communal roof garden
running parallel to Uxbridge Road.
Uxbridge Road
The family houses and maisonettes have
their own door access to the street, while a
single entrance on the main Uxbridge Road
serves all the shared-ownership flats. The
remaining flats for affordable rent are split
between two entrances: this reduces the
number sharing each entrance and keeps
communal circulation to a minimum. One lift
serves the general-needs accommodation
while the shared-ownership flats have been
provided with a shaft to allow the installation
of a lift if it is considered necessary in future. Top right Street-level plan. Flats
The design provides every dwelling with and family maisonettes packed
private open space, either in the form of a around three street frontages
with a small central courtyard
patio for family units or generous balconies and children’s play space. Every
for flats. centimetre of open space used to
its maximum with nothing left over
for quiet relaxation.
As described so far, the provision of Centre right Typical intermediate
floor with four stair cores and
accommodation is both generous and
short access galleries to reach
thoughtful, but what makes this high-density each flat.
urban development so particularly unusual Bottom right Top-floor plan. Two
staircases reach the roof level,
is the treatment of the main roof, which one from the general needs and the
has been laid out in the form of a large other from shared-ownership flats.
Between them is a garden complete
landscaped roof garden and is directly with mown grass, trees and a
accessible to all the dwellings except shelter. 1:1000
The roof-garden design follows the
geometry of the building itself.
8 126_127
Security without
fortification

Private houses in the prosperous

Los Angeles suburb of Eagle Rock
have no need for front boundaries
and their owners have incomes
large enough to pay for someone to
cut the grass.

This chapter deals with what has become estates themselves. This is not to say that
the biggest growth area in the syntax of UK petty crime was not exported – it was, and
housing since the late 1960s, a time when the presence of a disreputable council estate
designers still assumed that everything that in an otherwise peaceable neighbourhood
was not completely private could be shared would reduce the value of privately owned
equally by everyone else. The chaos that property to well below average market
followed, exacerbated as densities increased prices in the wider area. Conversely, after
and echoed in many post-industrial North the once infamous Holly Street Estate in
American cities, was first captured in the London Borough of Hackney had been
the public imagination early in the 1960s entirely dismantled and rebuilt in the 1990s,
by Jane Jacobs in The Death and Life of the value of surrounding property shot
Great American Cities. Not even the vast up disproportionately as car crime, street
growth in CCTV and other electronic robberies and burglary decreased.
security systems has prevented shared
facilities, from car parks to useful things To suggest that the climate of fear and
like laundries, storage and roof gardens, anti-social behaviour was caused entirely
from being comprehensively vandalised or by poor design decisions would be a huge
closed down because their security was too over-simplification. The best, and in some
expensive to manage. cases the most celebrated, designers and
their publicly funded clients in the period
Of course it was the growth of large publicly following the end of World War 2 were more
funded post-war social-housing schemes on excited by the ideals and ideas for high
both sides of the Atlantic that first brought the densities first promoted by architects like Le
phenomenal amount of anti-social behaviour Corbusier in the 1930s than by home-grown
they engendered to general attention. The planners like Barry Parker and Raymond
greatest sufferers were not the occupants of Unwin, who pioneered the ideas behind
wealthier areas surrounding these estates many of the first-generation post-war New
but the relatively poor occupants of the Towns. Bold idealism about ‘machines for
Security without fortification

living in’ was matched by assumptions about different clientele, and at worst had slavishly
the social make-up of the inhabitants of followed some outmoded planning dogma,
brand-new estates, assumptions about full and which in any case fostered crime and
employment and the conforming behaviour feelings of insecurity.
of young people, all of which proved to be
over-optimistic. At the same time, central By the time council building stopped at the
government fuelled the expansion of new end of the 1970s and before the shortage
estates with high levels of subsidy, leading to of rented housing, combined with rising
large numbers of schemes that were naive unemployment, had begun to bite, housing
in their approach to security and adopted a experts had recognised the symptoms and
second-rate style of often brutal, municipal had begun to come up with some solutions,
architecture that hastened their slide to the based on sound urban-design principles
condition of ‘sink estates’. such as:
• no more high-rise housing;
By the end of the 1970s the era of maintaining • a return to building houses rather than flats,
full employment at all costs, which had arranged with their gardens back to back,
persisted since the end of World War 2, rather than the obsession with south-facing
had come to an end. So did subsidised orientation for all dwellings that prevented a
construction of new housing by local logical return to street-based layouts;
authorities, while public ownership was • fewer flats in smaller blocks not exceeding
eroded under the government’s ‘right to buy’ 20–25 flats per core, used to articulate and
programme. And as unemployment rose enliven corners;
so did the demand for social housing. The • recreating a traditional street pattern, with
inevitable result was a concentration of the roads bounded (preferably on both sides)
poorest benefit-dependent households in the with the ‘live frontages’ of houses and flats,
remaining stock – a situation that still obtains. with eyes and ears on to the street;
While all this activity in the social sector • no more underground garages, or long
was going on, enormous post-war demand stretches of street-level undercroft parking;
meant that tenures had never been more • no larger families above the second-floor;
obviously polarised or more problematic, and • a clear delineation between the public
the private market was almost exclusively realm, shared/communal space and private
being supplied by an uninspiring expansion ‘defensible space’;
of cosy low-density suburbs in ‘safe’ • as little communal circulation as possible;
neighbourhoods. • effective door-entry/security systems to
flats;
The clearest indication of failure in housing • more intensive management;
of any tenure is that residents who are able • higher levels of investment in the public
to make the decision to sell up and move realm; safer, well-used routes, better street
away do so; if they are tenants, they do lighting, more imaginative and useful public
their utmost to be transferred elsewhere. At spaces;
the end of the 1970s and during the early • a greater attempt to consult tenants and
1980s, as now, the most common reasons for involve the wider community at the design
wanting to move were fear of physical assault stage.
or fear of burglary and damage to property.
Three factors contributed to this situation. While a very few wealthy local authorities
The first was a culture of crime fostered managed to sustain their ambitious 1960s
by a concentration of poverty, inadequate and 1970s estates through good and well-
education, unemployment and, in the case resourced management and maintenance
of young people, poor role models and – the Barbican in the City of London and
inadequate parenting. The second was a Lillington Street in Westminster are good
shortage of the revenue funding needed to examples – the new developers of affordable
provide services to deal with these issues. rented housing were housing associations.
The third was a physical environment that, In the period between 1980 and 2000
at best, had been designed for an entirely housing associations were encouraged to
Security without fortification 128_129

follow these new guidelines and to copy housing still risks the creation of social
the efforts of volume housebuilders in a ghettoes. So from around 2000 on, increasing
simplistic attempt to avoid the stigma that efforts have been made to mix tenures
had become associated with concrete and together and to make them indistinguishable
high rise, and what was popularly regarded from each other (see Chapter 11).
as ‘flat-roofed Modernist architecture’. By
reducing densities back down to an average Other chapters deal with the security of,
of around 30–50 dwellings per hectare with and shared facilities inside, blocks of flats
parking ratios approaching 1:1, most of the (Chapter 7), the hazards associated with car
measures listed above could be achieved in parking (Chapter 10), and the front curtilage
developments consisting mainly of houses of houses and ground-floor flats (Chapters
with small blocks of three-storey, non-family 3 and 6), some of which is covered in the
walk-up flats and with cars parked within police resources of Secured by Design.
sight of their owners’ homes. By adhering
to the principles of defensible private open Right at the start of any neighbourhood-
space and the approach to car parking planning process it is very important to
described in Chapter 10, as well as such assess the approach that needs to be taken
things as avoiding flank walls of houses to make it ‘safe’. In existing neighbourhoods
being exposed directly to the temptation of that have had a problematic history, or in new
potential footballers, many security issues neighbourhoods on brownfield land where
were avoided. Many formerly unmanageable location means there could be a problem,
estates have been redeveloped in this way it is essential to make a clear-cut distinction
and the principles listed above have been between the ‘public’ and the ‘private’ realms.
employed to great effect. But returning to This is usually done by inserting physical
street-based layouts of predominantly family features such as walls, fences and gates
houses limits achievable densities. along the dividing line, something it would be
almost impossible to add as an afterthought,
In order to meet the enormous demand, due to the cut off of capital funds once a
particularly in south-east England, without project has been completed and occupied.
spreading beyond the boundaries of existing
settlements, government policy has been to In making the distinction between public
concentrate new housing on brownfield land and private it is important to distinguish
wherever possible. The effect of this, and further between security on the one hand and
the consequent rise in the value of land, has privacy on the other. To preserve someone’s
been to encourage, once again, considerable privacy, simply making the boundary clear
increases in density and the abandonment with a low wall or railing is usually sufficient;
of many of the principles that had been anything more would be over-fortification. If
introduced largely to address the issue of an anti-social person is really determined to
security. With higher-density schemes once invade someone’s privacy by opening the
again firmly on the agenda, designers need front gate and walking up the path to their
to ensure that shared circulation, the external front door very little can be done to stop
environment and essential shared facilities them. On the other hand, allowing the design
never again become no-go areas like their to blur the dividing line to allow that same
predecessors, whose densities they already anti-social person easy access to the back of
exceed. Where building affordable flats in a house or flat is likely to create an untenable
taller schemes becomes unavoidable, the situation – the separation needs to be marked
number of flats sharing a core may need to by a substantial barrier, 2 metres high.
exceed 25, coupled with providing secondary
controlled entry at each landing. Having successfully corralled people into
a defined public realm, much is made of
Success also largely depends on not the self-policing effect of so-called ‘live
concentrating large numbers of affordable frontages’ where a street is faced on both
rented homes together. Keeping affordable sides by the windows and front doors of
housing distinctly separate from any private homes, in the belief that, particularly at night,
Security without fortification

this has a deterrent effect on street crime

and burglary. Compared with streets defined
only by the blank end walls of apartment
blocks, car parks or commercial buildings,
this type of ‘live frontage’ is clearly credible,
except that many examples don’t stand up to
much scrutiny. Simply positioning living-room
or kitchen windows parallel to the street
is unlikely to act as much of a deterrent to
a criminal, especially if the view up and
down the street is partially obscured by cars
parked ‘in curtilage’ or by bits of the building
such as porches projecting outwards. It
is rendered even more futile by the British
obsession with net curtains.

Taking the opportunity seriously in design

terms offers opportunities for first-floor living
rooms with bay windows as one possible
solution. Or various tenures, dwelling and
room types can be mixed along each street
frontage, coupled with different window
types, including bays, to diversify the pattern
of occupation and observation.
Holly Street, Hackney, 130_131
London E8: the early years,
phases 1–5

Nineteenth-century Ordnance Survey maps social mix, apart from a small percentage Architects Levitt Bernstein Associates
of this part of London show a dense network of shared ownership and a contractual Developers Laing Homes, London
of streets with small, closely packed, narrow- undertaking to develop 20 per cent of the Borough of Hackney + a consortium of
fronted houses. Cleared in the late 1960s, the area as an all-private enclave at the end of housing associations led by Circle
area was later redeveloped, becoming the the process, once the stigma of the old Holly 33 Housing Trust
infamous Holly Street Estate. Looking at the Street Estate had gone for good. Site 11.18 hectares
old maps, very little imagination is needed Number of dwellings 833
to see why Holly Street was targeted for The underlying principle of the masterplan Density 92 dwellings/hectare
redevelopment. Some houses were grouped was to reintroduce as much of the original Mix 27 per cent x 1B + 38 per cent x
around small backyards, one even operating street grid as possible. The goal was 2B + 23 per cent x 3B + 12 per cent
as a knacker’s yard. Others backed closely x 4B
to obliterate the notion of an ‘estate’ by
Affordable 70 per cent
on to one of the main commuter rail lines into normalising the public realm into a series of
Parking spaces per dwelling 0.5
the City of London – the smoke, grime and streets and squares linked to the surrounding
Non-housing uses sports centre +
filthy conditions are easy to imagine. streets. The residents wanted homes that
general practice + Sure Start/Early
represented as far as possible the private
Years centre
Around 1970 the London Borough of homes they would own had they been in
Hackney’s Architects’ Department, with a position to do so, and the architecture Forest Road
central-government encouragement, came is intentionally conservative. This is

Mayfield Close
up with a scheme to clear the existing understandable given residents’ hostility to

Mayfield Close

Holly Street
Forest Grove
housing and to replace it with four 22-storey the kind of Modernism represented by Holly
system-built towers and a vast five-storey Street, constructions that could hardly have
interconnected block of system-built been described as architecture at all. Richmond Roa
d

Queensbridge Road
maisonettes. At the time this would have Beehive
been hailed as progress towards a physically The main issue was personal security. Car

Buxted Road
Close

Celandine Drive
healthier community. But the damp, poverty crime and the fear of car crime had been
and squalor that existed in the 100-year-old big issues for residents, who parked their

Holly Street
terrace houses were nothing compared with vehicles whenever there was space in one Mapledene Road
Glebe Road

Freshfield Avenue

conditions in the unmanageable concrete- of the streets surrounding the estate. Even Evergreen Square

Mulberry Road
clad monsters that replaced them. After after rebuilding the same total number of Jacaranda Grove
only 25 years the Conservative government dwellings and with a ratio of one parking
of the day decided that money set aside space for every two dwellings, all parking
for improvement under an ‘Estate Action’ is now provided in the street within sight of Middleton Road

initiative would not solve the deep-seated residents’ windows. A new problem is posed
problems, which were largely determined by non-residents now choosing Holly Street Site plan.
N

by a totally flawed design. Instead, it was as a safe place to park.

decided to consult residents on the possibility
of a second, complete redevelopment. At another level the early phases of the new
Holly Street, now almost 15 years old, make
Out of a thousand flats, all but a an interesting comparison with the changes
handful belonged to Hackney Council. in policy that have become enshrined
Unemployment, crime and fear of crime in current housing-association practice.
were high on the list of deprivation suffered Admittedly the first phases were planned to
by an understandably depressed and fit into the redundant green spaces between
suspicious community. The government and around the infamous ‘snake blocks’, and
decided that redevelopment should be led this imposed its own constraints. Some of
by a private housebuilder and Laing Homes the first council tenants to move from their
was selected as the result of a competition, existing flats into new houses complained
with a brief to maintain the existing density that their kitchens were so narrow they could
and to transfer ownership of the majority of touch opposite walls at the same time. As
rented homes to housing associations. And well as adopting a modified version of the
although the government was encouraging national housebuilder’s standard house or
the idea of home ownership as an alternative flat, of brick and block construction, with
to monolithic social renting, the winning gable walls and shallow pitched roofs,
scheme offered little in the way of a genuine government policy on space standards
Learning from its grisly
predecessor, in 1991 the new
Holly Street had, above all, to
feel secure. The chosen remedy
was to discover as many of its
lost streets as possible and to
link them together. Each terrace
house had its own clearly marked
boundary fence and gate and each
flat shared its front door and
common hall with no more than
seven others, while cars had to be
parked in the street where they
could be watched over by their
owners. This photograph, taken in
2008, some 15 years after this
first phase was built, shows that
the solution chosen is working.
Holly Street, Hackney, London: 132_133
the early years, phases 1–5

was governed by the notion that whatever

was adequate for private purchasers must
be suitable for tenants as well. Of course
this ignored the fact that when owners’
houses became too small for their needs
they could swap them for something larger,
an option totally unavailable to the average
tenant. Comparison between three-bedroom
houses in phase 1 and the latest equivalent
house types in phase 6 reflects the official
recognition of the need for better space
standards for affordable housing over the
intervening 15 years.
Above Masterplan with special-need 1:2500
But the success of the new Holly Street is hosuing for the elederly shown in pale
overwhelmingly due to the design of a public blue and community buildings in dark
blue. This is the area covered by the
realm in which every open space, shared 1970s Holly Street Estate (photographs
or private, is defined and enclosed by the opposite). The new plan is based on
building frontages that surround it. The layout extending and joining up the original
surrounding street pattern as far as
is legible for visitors since every home now possible. Each phase contained a mix of
has a number in a street that is on the A–Z. terrace houses and flats with gardens
placed back to back, and with particular
By creating a distinction between the public emphasis on overlooking on street
and private realms and clearly articulating corners.
Right Phase 1 three-bedroom terrace
the ‘defensible spaces’, the streets are no houses. Simple plans very much influenced
longer the threatening places they once by the builder/developer’s experience
were, where even the police were only of value engineering simple two-storey
houses for sale. Although the overall
prepared to patrol in force and most of Holly floor areas approximate to those of Parker
Street was a blank white space on the map. Morris standards, these houses predated
Lifetime Homes. They also suffer from the
Parts of Hackney may still be threatening but lack of built-in storage space but still
Holly Street is not one of them. retain their popularity with families. 1:250
Top The central square serves both as
a children’s play space and a garden.
Enclosing it with railings makes it possible
to lock the square at night if there is
anti-social behaviour or vandalism.
Above left Street corners are dominated by
flats designed to overlook street activity.
Above right Conventional three-bedroom terrace
houses are protected by robust brick walls
and bin stores that provide a degree
of defensible space between house and
pavements.
Bottom right Unkempt and vandal-prone space,
and view from one of the four tower blocks,
three of which have been demolished, showing
the infamous ‘snake blocks’ that covered
the whole estate in one long inter-connected
access-corridor system.
Bottom left The whole street level was
dominated by parked cars and lock-up garages
– a breeding ground for crime.
Abbotts Wharf, Tower Hamlets, 134_135
London E14

Here primarily as an illustration of good The topography of the site meant that there Architect Jestico and Whiles
practice in secure parking and the security was a difference of a whole floor level Developers Telford Homes with East
of shared circulation, the development at between the access road and the canal Thames Housing Group
Abbotts Wharf – winner of a Housing Design towpath. This allowed the construction of Site 0.62 hectares
Award – was a first for many of the parties almost invisible ‘podiums’ beneath the two Number of dwellings 201
involved. A joint-venture partnering contract central eight-storey blocks to house 95 cars. Density 330 dwellings/hectare
between an experienced East London The often-prohibitive expense of creating Affordable 50 per cent
housing association and a developer/builder, a full basement has been avoided and all Mix 77 x 1B flats + 110 x 2B flats +
it was also the architect’s first commission for flat entrances can be at street level – an 8 x 3B flats + 6 x 3B maisonettes
this client. enormous advantage. It also means that Parking spaces per dwelling 0.43
all parked cars can be concealed from
Although their markets are obviously the street and that there is a single secure
different, East Thames Housing Group and entrance and exit to each block, which is Regents Canal

Telford Homes shared a vision for the site: closely monitored by a full-time concierge. Cotall Street

the resulting development consists of four Dod Street

separate buildings placed at right angles The security system built into the design
to the canal and arranged around a new from the outset is one of the most distinctive by
Ro
ad

ns
mooring basin on the Limehouse Cut as features of the scheme. Had Abbotts Wharf Sta
i

it nears its junction with the Thames. This consisted entirely of housing for private sale, Li
nd
fi

arrangement optimises east–west orientation

el
like, for example, many developments by d
St
re
et
and gives all residents views of the park on Urban Splash in Manchester and Liverpool,
the other side of the canal. it could probably have been successfully N
Site plan.
managed without 24-hour on-site security.
There is a total of 201 dwellings in a mix As a mixed-tenure development in an area
of affordable rent, shared ownership and of social deprivation, in spite of the very
private sale. Externally, in terms of design high design quality, it could have failed in
quality and materials nothing distinguishes the same way as the resounding failures of
one tenure from another, and it was the so many similarly configured social-housing
deliberate intention of both clients that all schemes of the 1960s and 1970s.
residents should benefit from a uniformly
high-standard urban development. Opinions vary about the number of homes
needed to make a 24-hour on-site concierge
The initial brief was for 140 dwellings but affordable from service-charge contributions,
it was possible to increase this by varying but the development partnership at Abbotts
the height of each of the four blocks, from Wharf built their whole brief around this
four storeys to match existing neighbours principle. The continuous technical advances
at one end, to eight storeys on either side of in effective remote door-entry systems and
the mooring basin and a 13-storey tower for CCTV coverage do make it possible, as in
private sale at the other end. this case, for a single member of a security
team on duty to monitor the comings and
All buildings are constructed with in-situ goings from more than one entrance and
concrete frames and floor slabs. External exit as well as all the shared amenity spaces.
walls comprise lightweight steel-framed and At Abbotts Wharf this presence has proved
highly insulated panels finished externally to be a sufficient deterrent to would-be
with self-coloured render. Mastclimbers were intruders bent on stealing or vandalising cars
used instead of conventional scaffolding. or illegally entering the entrance lobbies and
Bathrooms – lightweight steel-framed ‘pods’ common circulation areas in the blocks of
– were prefabricated off site. flats themselves.

Right Successful collaboration

The steel-framed balconies to each flat were between a housing association and
hoisted into position complete with their a developer/builder to meet the
frameless glass upstands and handrails. security challenges of a high-
density development of flats in
They were then bolted to prefabricated ‘jigs’ an area where crime rates have
cast integrally into the floor slabs. traditionally been high.
Abbotts Wharf, Tower Hamlets, 136_137
London

A A

1:1000
Layout plan and section A–A
showing all four blocks. The
tallest is privately owned and
the four-storey block is for
affordable rent; the two central
blocks have a mixture of shared
ownership and affordable rent.
There are two points of entry for
pedestrians and two for cars, all
four being controlled by the 24-
hour concierge system.

1:1000
Above Looking from one side of the
newly formed canal basin to the
other showing ground-floor openings
to the parking undercroft.
Top right A concierge monitors all
comings and goings on a 24-hour,
seven-days-a-week basis.
Far right Secure vehicular entrance
to podium, secure pedestrian
entrance and concierge observation
window.
9 138_139
Privacy

St James Square, Bermondsey.

Conventional ideas of visual
privacy are challenged in this new
pedestrian-only street, which can
be as little as 12 metres wide
between opposite building faces.

This chapter deals with the issues of visual human contact. The ideal therefore seems
and acoustic privacy between adjacent to be a situation in which privacy can be
dwellings. Other issues affecting privacy controlled – you can have it when you want it.
such as personal security and privacy within
the home are dealt with in Chapters 6 and 8. Visual privacy in the home
Few subjects have been treated with less
Within the home and garden, privacy is sensible attention than visual privacy. The
largely a matter of personal expectation out-dated and arcane regulations imposed
and the relationships between neighbours by many planning authorities have meant
or household members. Adherence to an that visual privacy has conventionally been
absolute condition of being unable either addressed by imposing minimum distances
to hear or to see neighbours may represent between the principal windows of dwellings,
complete perfection to one person but regardless of whether the windows are
isolation and loneliness to another. Anecdotal those of bedrooms, living rooms or kitchens.
evidence of disputes arising from noise However, other design solutions can be more
leaking through poorly insulated party effective while also making better use of
walls is matched by anecdotes from close outside space. Without this more imaginative
communities that value some connection, approach to the issue, we cannot achieve
for instance a mother’s scream alerting a higher densities or intimacy in place-making.
neighbour after she has fallen downstairs
with her new baby. At their most conventional, planning
authorities stipulate that the distance
In visual terms there is clear evidence from between principal windows should not be
dense urban areas that, while some people less than 21–22 metres, which suggests
want to prevent others looking into their streets of uniform width, and back-to-back
windows from the street or access gallery or rear gardens of around 11 metres in depth.
shared courtyard, other single flat dwellers This approach, imposing privacy by
feel less isolated if their kitchen windows regulation, entirely misses the subjective
overlook other kitchen windows where from aspects of visual privacy and has led to many
time to time there may be some kind of very dreary housing solutions.
Privacy

The subject is complicated and closely walkway is pulled away from the façade, and
related to the expectations of neighbours, thus away from any windows, by an amount
depending on whether they live in a dense sufficient to provide privacy from strangers
urban or a leafy suburban neighbourhood. or neighbours. This allows night-time
Contrary to expectations, people living ventilation without compromising security.
cheek by jowl with their neighbours seem Short bridges then connect the walkway to
less concerned about overlooking than their individual front doors.
suburban counterparts. They don’t expect
what they are doing in their kitchens, living Part of the reason that overlooking has been
rooms or bedrooms to go unnoticed by their receiving so much recent attention can be
neighbours, and if they prefer to remain understood by looking at changes to the size
private they take steps to use blinds of of windows: despite thermal regulations
various kinds to control how much they can driving window areas down, they are still
be seen from outside. much larger than they were 50 years ago.
Floor-to-ceiling windows in living rooms and
Experiments in urban housing built more bedrooms are now common and, although
than 20 years ago show that kitchen and a system of integrated venetian blinds can
even bedroom windows facing each other control both glare and privacy, many new
only 7 metres apart can function perfectly homes both for rent and sale are handed
satisfactorily, with the aid of suitably over to their first occupants without blinds
adjustable blinds. However, such an or the financial means to install them.
arrangement in a suburban context would Different kinds of blinds are now available.
be considered quite unacceptable. Privacy It is possible to control banks of louvres
must therefore be thought of as relative, not independently and roller blinds can pull up
In sought-after urban locations
absolute. One satisfactory solution when the from the bottom so occupants don’t need to ingenious solutions to issues of
overlooking distance is extremely limited is to lose all the light and view. privacy are to be found through
careful detailing. Newbury Mews,
form a projecting bay with windows on either Kentish Town, London, by Brooks
side at right angles to the outside wall and No description of methods for gaining Murray.

only clerestory windows, or none at all, on the privacy can avoid mentioning the net curtains
central section. so beloved by UK householders and to many
a cultural necessity. As well as being part
There are significant differences in the of a deeply entrenched tradition, they are
approaches to privacy taken in the UK obviously a much cheaper alternative to any
and some other European countries. For system of blinds, and much easier to install
example, in the Netherlands – which in many and maintain. From a functional point of view
other respects has design policies parallel to their use is strictly limited for although net
those of the UK, although Dutch residents are curtains stop people looking in – except at
less inherently conservative – the treatment night when they don’t work – they effectively
of privacy in balcony-access flats is more prevent anyone inside from looking out, or
imaginative. In the UK balcony access is carrying out ‘passive surveillance’ of the
associated with municipal housing and street, which is the main objective of so-
is considered a narrow and unattractive called ‘live frontages’.
method of getting from lift to front door in as
little time as possible. In the Netherlands it Visual privacy and private open space
carries no such stigma. The received view If there is a variety of approaches to the
of balcony access in the UK stipulates that question of visual privacy between one house
designs should not require the occupants or flat and another, the way to treat balconies
of one flat to have to pass a bedroom or and back gardens is equally uncertain. On
living-room window of another flat in order gardens, opinion seems equally divided
to reach their front door. In the Netherlands between those who want complete privacy
the access balcony is rightly compared to from their neighbours with 2-metre-high
a normal footpath, generously wide and walls or fences all the way round, and those
provided with planting. Where privacy for who look forward to a congenial chat with
bedroom windows is necessary the balcony neighbours ‘over the garden wall’.
Privacy 140_141

In the case of ground-floor flats or While the issue of what is acceptable is

maisonettes with several floors of flats above, highly subjective, noise nuisance is almost
the height of fences is relatively academic, as certainly the greatest cause of disputes
the whole garden or patio can be seen from between adjoining owners and between
above. But in general terms 2 metres of solid landlord and tenant. Therefore standards of
2-metre-high fencing projecting on both sides soundproofing can never be treated lightly
from the rear wall of a house or ground-floor and risks should never be taken.
flat is enough to stop next-door neighbours
having a direct view into the ground-floor rear Apart from standards dealt with under
room, or a view of any terrace immediately Building Regulations, the principal issues
outside the house. If the remaining sides are:
and the rear boundary are built up as solid • stacking and handling of plans;
fencing to 1 metre, with an additional metre • choice of structures;
of trellis above that, there is a degree of • impact sound transmission and
privacy from all but the most intrusive reverberation from common circulation;
neighbour. Trellis is either transparent • airborne sound leakage from one dwelling
enough for contact with someone next door to another;
or a good framework for climbing plants to • conflicting sound levels within dwellings.
form a completely private enclosure.
Stacking There are common-sense steps
In some situations, such as shallow sites that can be taken in terms of stacking rooms
around 20 metres deep and sandwiched of similar function in flats one above the other,
between two roughly parallel streets, it as well as handling plans so that a party or
is possible to line both streets with wide, tenancy-separating wall does not have to
double-fronted houses that are only one room come between the bedrooms of one dwelling
deep and have a ‘back to back’ distance of and the living room of another.
as little as 10 metres. The first-floor bedroom
windows would all face outwards and Structure-borne sound Acoustic separation
overlook the street, while the ground-floor is achieved by using mass to absorb sound
rooms would open out on to a 5-metre-deep or by isolation/separation. Heavyweight
patio at the back as well as the street. In construction is the most effective means,
such a situation, where privacy at the back but only if backed by sound workmanship;
of each house would only be as good as the for instance, a brick party wall built with
permanent boundary between them, a brick mortar omitted from the perpendicular joints
dividing wall is a sensible alternative to the provides a sound path through the joints.
relative impermanence of timber.
A requirement for pre-completion testing has
The issue of visual privacy in relation to been introduced into the Building Regulations
balconies is discussed in Chapter 6. to ensure that the designed performance is
achieved in practice. However, the house-
The transfer of sound building industry’s response to the burden
Recent research shows that for most people of pre-completion testing has been the
acoustic privacy is an even higher priority introduction of a scheme in which developers
than visual privacy. Protection against and manufacturers propose standard
structure-borne sound transmitted from forms of construction and pay for them to
one dwelling to another through party walls be tested, after which they are adopted as
and party floors is now largely a matter of ‘Robust Details’ and avoid the need for pre-
technical specification dealt with under completion testing. This process has enabled
Building Regulations, Part E. The 2003 developers to demonstrate innovative forms
revision of Part E changed the spectrum of of construction, such as timber-frame party
sound measurement for determining the walls that are capable of achieving the
required insulation of party walls, in order to necessary levels of acoustic performance
take account of the annoyance caused by the if built correctly. If the construction adopted
bass frequencies of loud music. fails to perform after completion the adoption
Privacy

of ‘Robust Details’ is no defence when a An obvious step to avoid in triple-function

dispute arises. cooking/dining/living rooms is the sound
from washing machines, tumble dryers and
Certain types of framed structures perform boilers that need to be located elsewhere
differently in terms of structure-borne than in the kitchen. In addition, the need
sound transmission. Overcoming sound for older children to be able to create noise
transmission through different types of frame independently of their parent(s) is now
has cost implications. partially taken care of within the Building
Regulations specification for insulation
Impact sound transmission Most noticeable in partitions and intermediate floor voids
in the evening and at night, this is usually in houses.
caused by hard-soled or high-heeled shoes
on hard external surfaces and can easily
be transmitted via the structure directly
into bedrooms on the floors below. By far
the most cost-effective remedy is to avoid
hard – concrete or ceramic-tiled – surfaces,
simply stopping creation of the noise. If hard
surfaces are unavoidable both they and the
screed to which they are fixed need to be
isolated by cushioning from the supporting
floor structure. The 2003 revision of Part E
of the Building Regulations introduced a
statutory requirement to control the level of
reverberated sound in the common parts of
residential buildings.

Airborne sound transmission As densities

are inevitably on the increase in schemes
where flats predominate, the chance of
airborne sound transmission through open
windows reaching nuisance proportions
also increases. Nuisance from airborne
sound caused by noise passing from one
dwelling to another through open windows is
a particular problem in summer. Obviously,
rooms that overheat in summer temperatures
are only rendered tolerable if it is possible
to open windows. Every possible step to
avoid overheating needs to be taken, using
external shading and passive ventilation
where practicable. Schemes built around
courtyards are particularly vulnerable to
sounds reverberating between hard reflective
surfaces via open windows. Intensive
planting, particularly of trees, and absorbent
external wall surfaces need to be integrated
into the design from the outset.

Internal sound transmission Noise

nuisance is often generated inside dwellings
themselves and passes from one room to
another. It can be particularly acute in flats
or houses with open-plan living spaces.
Old Royal Free Square, 142_143
Islington, London N1

Background + sense of place, Chapter 1

From the outset it was important to combine

the provision of family houses with a density
that was as high as possible within the still
sacrosanct density ceiling of 250 habitable
rooms per hectare for new buildings. The
cost of purchasing such a strategic site in a
high-value area needed to be spread over
as many dwellings as possible and there
was therefore pressure to increase the
numbers. This was achieved by excluding
the dwellings fitted into the retained hospital
buildings from the density calculation
because, curiously, density ceilings do not
apply to refurbished buildings, even when
they involve a change of use to housing.

Not only was this is an area of very high

property values, the brief demanded a
high proportion of family dwellings with
their own street entrances and private rear
open spaces. It was not designing out of
character with the area when, to achieve the
target density, with 70 per cent on-street car
parking, involved reducing the scale of the
spaces between buildings and adopting the
scale of buildings most commonly found in
mews housing. The result was a street with
houses on both sides just 7 metres across,
one third of the normally accepted minimum,
which requires around 21 metres between
‘principal windows facing each other’ for the
purpose of achieving an acceptable level
of privacy.

Although this street forms part of a public

pedestrian route through the development,
linking a considerable area of nineteenth-
century housing with Islington’s main
shopping street, there has been no hint
of complaint about lack of privacy. On the
contrary, since occupants of these houses
have their ground-floor kitchen windows
overlooking the street it is arguable that
the intimacy reduces the sense of isolation
1:1000
experienced by members of households who
spend much of their time alone at home. Above Ground-floor plan. The
pedestrian street, shared with Right Although the street is
service and emergency vehicles only deliberately narrow and is a
(shaded), is only 7 metres wide shared surface with no pavements,
but each terrace house has its own it has some of the qualities of a
private patio garden at its rear. mews. Regular public foot traffic
Kitchen windows at the front overlook through the site adds to the
the street so a close eye can be kept feeling of security, rather than
on activity in the street itself. reducing it.
St James Square, 144_145
Bermondsey Spa, London
SE16

Background + shared amenity space, Chapter 7 22 metres between them. Each flat has a
generous balcony and the larger family
The background to this development is dwellings on the ground and first floors
described in Chapter 7, which explains have rear patios each with direct access to a
why such a high density has resulted from shared courtyard (see page 123). Inevitably,
a competitive-tender process based on the orientation of some flats provides for
the maximum capital receipt to Southwark better access to sunlight than others but the
Council, which owned the land, combined plan arrangement of multiple cores allows all
with a density ceiling way above the previous units to have a dual aspect and this means
maximum of around 160 dwellings per that each receives sunlight for part of the day.
hectare (494 habitable rooms per hectare).
If this approach to privacy proves to be
For affordable flats the aim is to reduce the successful, and numerous examples
number of tenancies entered from a single (including Shad Thames and Old Royal Free
core to not more than 20–25. This avoids Square) suggest there is no reason why
over-dependence on electronic systems as it should not, the logical conclusion must
the only means of providing security and be that people living in high-density urban
preventing vandalism in common areas. situations do not expect to enjoy the same
Except where it is possible to avoid lift degree of visual privacy they would want
access to flats altogether, a measure now in the suburbs. At the same time, in narrow
almost impossible if designing to Lifetime streets where daylighting is an issue, the
Homes’ standards, every entrance and trend is towards larger windows combined
circulation core requires at least one lift. with various types of venetian blinds. Blinds,
A general guiding principle for manageable although beyond the means of many tenants
mixed-tenure housing, as distinct from in affordable homes, provide excellent
developments of all-private housing, privacy without cutting out too much light or
suggests that the optimum height should entirely blocking the view.
not be more than seven storeys. Above this,
access to two lifts instead of one is required,
in case of breakdown and to allow for
maintenance.

The St James Square scheme combines

these storey-height principles with a
very high density, and this inevitably puts
pressure on the width of streets and the
spaces between the buildings themselves.
A precedent for housing at this sort of height
and density was available just across the
road: most of Shad Thames consists of
converted nineteenth-century warehouses
separated by narrow, cavernous streets.
The principle was continued in the 1980s by
Piers Gough in CWGZ’s Circle scheme just
behind Shad Thames. The new masterplan
for the Bermondsey Spa sites includes
several streets that are just 12 metres wide
from building face to building face.
Right Although these balconies
The resulting scheme aims to combine a overlook each other, and it is
possible to see into adjoining
high standard of amenity for individual flats living rooms from the balcony of
with an approach to visual privacy – principal a neighbouring flat, the balconies
are clearly well-populated and
windows facing principal windows – that privacy is protected by either
challenges the normal requirement for roller or venetian blinds.
Nile Street, Hackney, 146_147
London N1

The Peabody Trust acquired the Nile Street central courtyard. This internal courtyard Architect Munkenbeck + Marshall
site at full market value from the London is not accessible to residents but is a visual Architects
Borough of Hackney in March 2003. It had amenity based on a water feature by artist Developer Peabody Trust
been the site of a car park and a derelict Antony Donaldson. All residents do, however, Site 0.4 hectares
community centre known as the Blue Hut. have private balconies and access to a Number of dwellings 174
From the outset the development was shared roof terrace. Density 438 dwellings/hectare (790HR/
conceived as a high-density mixed-use hectare)
scheme that was intended to meet the needs At this density on the fringe of the City of Affordable 11 per cent affordable rent
of both the council and community. Although London, this is sophisticated urban living + 62 per cent shared ownership and
Peabody’s offer for the land was not the with flats for owner occupation, shared keyworker
highest in value, the quality of the scheme Mix 10 x 3B + 27 x 2B + 59 x 1B +
ownership and keyworkers, predominantly
78 studios
and the high level of affordable housing small households, and larger family flats for
Parking spaces per dwelling none
proposed made it the most attractive. affordable rent by tenants of the Peabody
Non-housing uses youth club, 250
Trust. And although the shared entrance to
square metres
The council’s aim was to generate small the flats for affordable rent is in a different
flats as part of an initiative to deal with street from the entrance to the majority of the

Blet
Grove
unmet demand for affordable keyworker flats, the sheer proximity of all the households Murray

chle

d
and shared-ownership accommodation in creates an awareness of different lifestyles

y St

oa
t R
re
central areas of London. The Peabody Trust without creating the kind of flashpoint

Eas
et

Brit
undertook to develop the Nile Street site for that could so easily occur between larger

anni
a mixture of tenures – affordable for rent was households with children and those without.

Prov
a Wa

ost
lk
the smallest proportion. Grove

Stre
Murray
Apart from the density and the boldness of
Shep

et

et
et
The Blue Hut site had, for a number of the architecture, one of the most astonishing Stre

re
herd
Nile Street

St
asher
Haberd

ry
ess
years, been contentious as local residents features of this development is the calm

st
Ve

oad
Walk

were disappointed with the dilapidation and assumption about privacy, clearly endorsed

t R
Eas
eventual loss of a valuable community facility. by the Peabody Trust’s great experience. In
For more than five years a well-organised several instances the principal windows of
group of residents had been lobbying the flats face each other across the courtyard N Site plan.
council to provide the community facility with a distance of only 9.5 metres between
again, rather than simply disposing of the site them. This is urban housing at the upper end
and losing the resource for ever. The council of the density scale. Its occupants clearly
required Peabody to provide the facility as have to abide by the rules about sound
a condition of sale; the trust worked with transfer through open windows. If they are
council officers, councillors and, importantly, sensitive about being overlooked, they deal
local residents to guide its exact nature. with the problem by installing blinds.

At 790 habitable rooms and 438 dwellings

per hectare, and an average of six storeys,
the accommodation is highly concentrated.
The astonishingly high density in terms of
dwellings per hectare is a product of the
considerable number of studio flats for
keyworkers. Of the 174 dwellings, 137 are
either studios – single-room flats – or one-
Right This view from the balcony
bedroom flats. of one flat across the narrow
courtyard towards the living area
of another on the opposite side,
To the south of the site is a standalone block shows how some occupants choose to
of flats for owner occupation, half of which have blinds while others do not.
It can also be argued that single
face out, and half face in to the internal people – and this is predominantly
courtyard. The studio and shared-ownership a development for key workers,
flats occupy an L-shaped block, double many of whom are single – prefer
to be able to have some kind
banked with a central corridor, half of of visual contact with their
which again face out and half towards the neighbours.
Nile Street, Hackney, London 148_149

Provost Street

Nile Street
A A

Jasper Walk

Above and left Layout plan and

section A–A of the Peabody
Trust’s high-density scheme at
Nile Street, showing the narrow
internal courtyard. This is
inaccessible even to residents,
and is only 9.5 metres wide.
Reflecting the extremely high
density, many non-family flats
are single aspect, looking only
into the central courtyard.
Below left Plans of one-bedroom and
single-person studio flats.
Below right Plans of three-bedroom
1:1000 and two-bedroom flats.

1:250
Above External elevations.
Above right The internal courtyard.
Left Entrance to private flats.
10 150_151
Dealing with cars

Wanting to own a car/needing to own Housing Corporation’s Housing Quality

a car Indicators and the 20 criteria listed under
Car ownership and housing is a subject that Building for Life issued by CABE make
has endless ramifications: developers and a direct link between car use and access
authorities have to make judgements over the to effective public transport. The need to
difference between new residents wanting to have a car ,as well as somewhere to park
own a car and needing to own one. it, obviously reduces in proportion to the
availability of alternatives in the form of
Dealing first with the issue of those who want trains and buses. Many keyworkers work
to own cars regardless of their necessity, unsociable hours but, in any case, most
some authorities have been veering away car journeys are not just getting to and
from over-generous parking provision to the from work, and for various reasons a large
opposite extreme of car-free developments, proportion of these are still difficult to make
in an effort to discourage car ownership and using public transport. Finding secure,
therefore unnecessary car use. However, a affordable and manageable solutions
significant number of households, regardless when densities are increasing demands
of their economic circumstances, want to re-examination of all the options, especially
own a car even if they don’t want to use those that have been in operation for some
it every day. Making the right decisions time, such as car clubs, convenient bike
about parking provision therefore becomes storage, green travel plans, etc.
a critical design problem that cannot
realistically be solved by imposed planning The physical options for parking
decisions restricting parking spaces. These become more complicated as
densities increase, but they also vary
Buying a car is no longer an issue of according to the ratio of parking spaces per
Well-detailed street parking
affordability: virtually any household can dwelling that is required. Working upwards at Coin Street, Southwark,
aspire to own one, the cost of a cheap from the lowest densities these are: London. Architect Haworth
second-hand car as a proportion of Tompkins.

household income having steadily reduced The built-in or integral garage in terrace
over the past 50 years. But as average houses These are exclusively related to low-
densities increase car ownership is bound density layouts involving houses rather than
to decrease. The availability of parking and flats. Although invariably much prized by
the high cost of underground or undercroft residents, the built-in garage has generally
parking, insurance, congestion charges, been regarded as something of a scourge
metered parking and fuel make the cost of in terms of streetscape, leading to soulless
owning any car, however cheap to buy, much frontages dominated by metal ‘up-and-over’
more significant. doors and with hardly any opportunity for the
occupants of houses to monitor what is going
As average densities increase the aim on in the street. In addition, many residents
to ‘provide a space in the street where of such houses choose to use their garage
residents could park one car per dwelling for storing anything but the car while the car
within sight of their homes’ is no longer itself sits on the hardstanding in front of it, or
remotely practicable except in schemes of simply to use the hardstanding as parking for
up to 50 dwellings per hectare if 100 per cent a second vehicle.
houses, or up to 125 dwellings per hectare
if a mixture of houses and low-rise flats. And However, it may be that this well-deserved
even then that principle is complicated by prejudice against built-in garages is largely
the minority of residents who need to park a result of the invariably unattractive and
vans and business vehicles that are both ill-thought-out application of the principle
bulky and unsightly. in small, narrow-frontage houses. Suppose,
for instance, that the inclusion of a garage or
Turning to the question of the need to even an open carport on the street frontage
use a car, the guidance on sustainability resulted in houses with first-floor living rooms
incorporated into documents such as the that had large overhanging bay windows
Dealing with cars

surveying the street, and that access to the narrow that there appears to be nothing but
rear garden, refuse and other storage could a continuous concrete strip from the back of
be gained via the garage. Although this could the pavement up to the external front wall of
only be provided in houses with frontages in the terrace, with endless crossovers to the
excess of 6 metres, it would remove unsightly footway. In this situation the front curtilage
cars from the street and provide real quality- is neither part of the public realm nor the
of-life benefits for residents. occupant’s own private realm, and often
becomes a dumping ground.
Parking within the curtilage of terrace
houses The provision of parking ‘on street’ Street parking The alternative to parking off
or ‘off street’ is seldom a design decision for street and in curtilage is to provide planned
the reasons explained below. parking on street as part of an access-road
layout. From the narrow point of view that
It is a common and popular practice, almost values having ‘your own car parked on
worldwide, to provide individual parking your own plot’ this is obviously a much
spaces ‘off street’ in front of each house, less popular option with most residents,
occupying what would otherwise have been but in terms of urban-design quality it
part of the front garden. Estate layouts of has overwhelming advantages. The other
small houses combining homes for sale significant advantage is flexibility. It allows
and for affordable rent with in-curtilage for some households to park two or three
parking in preference to street parking have cars and others to park none. However, street
been approved in great numbers simply parking can also be a reason for the local
as a means of reducing management costs authority to refuse adoption on the basis that
– and satisfying consumer demand for a they are prepared to adopt the road and the
guaranteed space close to home. Many local pavement but not the bit in between.
authorities will not adopt (that is, assume
responsibility for) estate roads that contain By laying out parking bays at right angles
parking bays. Responsibility for roadway to the street as well as allowing space for
maintenance, long and short term, then falls street trees it is still possible to achieve
on the owners of properties. space for nearly twice as many cars as can
be achieved with the in-curtilage alternative.
Once a decision has been made to choose It also allows for properly laid out defensible
in-curtilage parking, the results can vary space at the front of houses, marked out with
between two extremes depending on the low brick walls, combined with railings and a
frontage and depth of the plot, as well as gate leading directly on to a footpath. Layouts
other issues to do with defensible space, at densities below 50 (or 75) dwellings per
tenure and the upkeep of gardens. The hectare and with a required parking ratio
first solution is a satisfactory, if suburban, of 1:1 can normally achieve the number of
American-style layout in which a generous parking spaces required ‘on street’.
and continuous strip of carefully mown
grass with no boundary fences separating And there is an added community-safety
one house from another is punctuated by argument to apply in favour of this alternative.
concrete hardstandings for each house. The If a car is normally parked in front of a house
result is only successful where the collective its absence is more noticeable, suggesting
service charge is sufficient to pay for effective that its owners are away; cars parked in
day-to-day maintenance and where the unmarked bays in the street are nothing like
proportion of soft landscape is much greater so noticeable.
than the concrete hardstandings. In most
cases this means that the average terrace- Parking courts, invariably at the rear of
house frontage would be quite sufficient to dwellings, can be a successful way of
include a built-in garage as well. dealing with a parking problem by hiding
cars and allowing streets to be more
The second and much less satisfactory intimate, or they can be disastrous. The
application is where house frontages are so normal arrangement is to provide a gap in a
Dealing with cars 152_153

terrace between two houses or an archway or raised podiums, but fundamentally

leading to a rear ‘courtyard’, which is entirely above ground. The obvious advantages
surrounded by the rear gardens of the are that the parking area is naturally lit and
houses it serves. ventilated and relatively easy to access; it
is therefore cheaper to construct and less
Whether this arrangement succeeds or liable to be affected by crime or anti-social
not largely depends on the quality of the behaviour than full basement parking. The
immediate neighbourhood and the tenure main disadvantage is that because the
of the housing it serves. In principle, rear parking area is visible and therefore more
parking courts provide beneficial access to secure from the street outside this can have
back gardens, preferable to having to carry a severely deadening effect on life at street
everything horticultural through the living level. The only way to provide any ground-
room or kitchen. However, there may be floor residential space with direct, level
serious obstacles in obtaining Secured by access from the street is with outward-facing,
Design certification due to the vulnerability single-aspect accommodation with the
of houses that have become accessible from undercroft sandwiched behind it.
the rear.
Parking undercrofts under residential
There are some sure-fire rules to apply to structures with load-bearing cross walls
design and layout when planning a parking determine the centres of those cross walls,
court appears to be the only solution which may not be economic without some
available: form of concrete-framed transfer structure.
• security is made worse if there is more
than one way in and out. A single entrance Certain sites are better suited to undercroft
with a gate installed as part of the design parking by taking advantage of natural
can be controlled by an electronic fob key slopes, so the undercroft might be at ground
if necessary. It is often difficult to tell what level on the access side but at basement
degree of security is going to be needed in level – and therefore mostly disguised – on
a given situation: it is better to be safe than the street frontage. This suggests the kind of
sorry as the funds needed to install a security ‘cut-and-fill’ cross section used by Victorian
gate are never available if they have not been housebuilders with the street raised a half
included in the main package of works; level above mean ground level and access to
• cheap and insubstantial fencing degrades the undercroft half a level below.
after only a few years and then becomes
unsightly; Underground parking The combination of
• opaque boundaries leave anyone on their underground car parks and housing, mostly
own at night very vulnerable to crime. Better associated with local-authority developments
to have robust walls up to, say, 1200mm from the 1960s and 1970s, has acquired a
with transparent fencing or trellising above thoroughly deserved reputation for problems
that. These boundaries need to allow with security and crime. The mere mention
householders the ability to see into the court of underground parking is normally sufficient
while providing sufficient isolation for their to produce an adverse reaction in the minds
own private open space; of both developers/housing associations
• rear entrances to gardens should only be and residents, with instant visions of
provided if gates are as robust as the rest of malfunctioning security, muggings and
the boundary treatments; vandalism.
• good lighting is essential;
• parking courts need constant maintenance. So why are underground car parks making
Detritus of any kind breeds more detritus a comeback? The principal reason is a
and anything left broken, such as fencing, product of the densities at which many large
planting or lighting, encourages vandalism. new mixed-tenure schemes now have to be
developed, reflecting both housing demand
Undercroft parking So called because these and soaring land values. Mixed-tenure
are parking areas beneath flats, courtyards housing at densities of around 50 dwellings
Dealing with cars

per hectare can usually accommodate high-density housing schemes on the

sufficient surface parking to meet planning Continent, but the capital costs and the
requirements while the developers of many implications for service charges are likely
higher-density schemes are encouraged to to preclude their use in the UK except for
make little or no provision for parking. Where high-value private housing in inner cities.
there is a requirement for parking associated
with new housing at high densities, due Central multi-storey car parks, a feature
either to low PTAL ratings or simply incoming of many post-war local-authority estates,
consumer demand, going underground is the mostly long since abandoned or demolished,
only option. have staged a comeback on the Continent
where car-free streets allow residents to
There are then several crucial issues that drive up to their entrance doors in order to
may mean the difference between success deposit shopping, children or the elderly on
or failure: condition that their cars are then stored in a
• security systems need to be able to prevent multi-storey car park close to the distributor
unauthorised access by pedestrians as well street. But this, of course, only works where
as vehicles; the community is sufficiently mature and
• without taking security systems, both residents feel confident about their own
physical and electronic, to ridiculous and their vehicle’s safety (see Chapter 17,
extremes, for instance by adopting the Solarsiedlung, Freiburg).
methods employed by the Home Office
in secure establishments, the viability of Security systems for parking courts,
underground car parks is extremely area undercrofts or underground car parks
sensitive. As the character of an area Electronic security systems can sometimes
changes, particularly in terms of local be essential but they are never foolproof and
teenage culture and drug use, the chances require enormous amounts of maintenance
of success can also change. One large to remain effective. Systems such as barriers
local-authority-owned car park in central simply to control the movement of cars are
London, beneath an extensive tenanted prone to wanton damage and there are
estate built in the early 1970s, used to be other more effective ways, such as clamping
a byword for misuse of almost every kind services, that achieve the same objective.
imaginable – drug use, rough sleeping and
vandalism – but has been re-established as a Electronic gates or shutters that control the
workable facility protected solely by fob- movement of cars and pedestrians can be
key-operated doors and roller shutters. Any effective and even essential in high-risk
determined miscreant could, however, easily areas. The key to success with any type of
obtain access for whatever purpose and the electronic system is whether or not it is linked
only possible explanation must be that ‘low to a ‘manned’ concierge system.
life’ in the surrounding streets is not as low as
it used to be;
• security systems that are overseen
by CCTV linked to 24-hour concierge
monitoring are far more effective than those
that are not;
• 24-hour concierge services have a major
impact on service-charge levels and
affordability. To make them economic for
tenants paying affordable rents, at least 200
dwellings need to be served by a single
concierge system.

Car-stacking systems and central multi-

storey parking Mechanical car stacking
systems are mainly used in exceptionally
Abbotts Wharf, Tower 154_155
Hamlets, London E14

Background + security, Chapter 8

The system developed for car parking is

entirely bound up with the general approach
to security. The topography of the site meant
that there was a difference of a whole floor
level between the access road and the canal
towpath. This allowed the construction
of almost invisible ‘podiums’ beneath the
two central eight-storey blocks to house
95 cars. The often prohibitive expense of
creating a full basement was avoided and
all flat entrances could be at street level – an
enormous advantage. It also means that all
parked cars can be concealed from the street
and that there is a single secure entrance and
exit to each block, which is closely monitored
by a full-time concierge.

The main pedestrian and vehicular entrances

are both from the same street. Cars descend
a central ramp and enter the two car parks
via controlled gates under the two eight-
storey blocks. Lifts in those blocks connect
directly with the parking level.

Regents Canal
Cotall Street

Dod Street

ad
Ro
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ns
ai
St
Site location plan. Parking
undercrofts extend beneath the Li
podium deck. These undercrofts are nd
fi
protected by the 24-hour-concierge el
d
system previously described (pages St
re
134, 137) and do not impinge on et
the quality of the open spaces.

N
Above Ramped entrance to parking
undercroft.
Right Fob-key security gate
monitored by concierge.
The Bolonachi Building, 156_157
Site D, Bermondsey,
London SE1

Background + layout, Chapter 4

At these densities, ‘off-street’ car parking is

difficult to achieve affordably even if, as in
this case, the planning brief only required a
ratio of 0.4 cars per dwelling. Underground
car parks are notoriously as expensive to
run as they are to build, so in a scheme with
nearly 50 per cent of either shared ownership
or affordable rent this was not an option.
Excavation of basements would have been
additionally complicated due to the high
water table in this area of former Thames
marshland. As a very rough average, an
underground parking space in a basement
garage adds approximately 30 per cent to the
cost of building a 70-square-metre flat. If the
parking space is provided in an undercroft
beneath the building, but not underground,
the additional cost is about half that much.

Instead, the design incorporates a car park

at street level beneath the main amenity
space, in the form of a raised courtyard
enclosed by housing on all four sides. To
disguise the car park from the street and
to preserve the all-important ‘live frontage’
on to the surrounding streets, the design
adopts a family maisonette type that has a
single-aspect ground floor with its front door
opening directly on to the street. This floor
is backed against the car park but has a dual- First-floor layout plan. 1:1000
aspect first floor with a rear patio at the same
level as the main first-floor courtyard.

The courtyard is perforated with openings

that have three functions: to provide natural
light and ventilation; to make the parking
level safer as it can be viewed from above;
and to provide large species trees that are
rooted at ground level, reaching up through
the openings into the courtyard above;
something that can only be achieved if
planted at ground level due to their weight.
Above Cut-away perspective showing
another variant on the parking
undercroft whereby the car park
is completely disguised from
the street by the lower single-
aspect storey of outward-facing
maisonettes. The car park is
ventilated naturally through large
openings in the podium above,
through which trees – planted in
the ground – grow.
Right Aerial view of completed
development from the north-west.
Page Road, Bedfont, 158_159
Hounslow

In 2000 the London Borough of Hounslow After the housebuilder withdrew from the Architects Pollard Thomas Edwards
was faced with massive repair and scheme, Catalyst decided to assume the role Architects
improvement costs on its estate at Page of developer and to work within its highly Developer Catalyst Housing Group
Road. Unable to fund them, it decided to successful partnering framework with the Site 3.672 hectares
consult residents over the possible transfer of contractor Inspace and Pollard Thomas Number of dwellings 320
ownership to a housing association. Edwards. Density 87 dwellings/hectare (276 Hr/
hectare)
After a competitive selection process, The brief required a 1:1 parking ratio overall: Mix 99 x 1B + 153 x 2B + 58 x 3B +
Catalyst Housing Group and a national at 87 dwellings per hectare this is not easy to 10 x 4B
housebuilder were selected by residents to achieve with all surface parking. However, Affordable 70 per cent rental and
redevelop the whole estate in stages, based although the new Page Road development shared ownership
Parking spaces per dwelling 1
on a design by Pollard Thomas Edwards. contains a large number of single-family
This increased the overall number of terrace houses, the architects resisted

ad
dwellings by 167, from 153 to 320, in a mixed demands for in-curtilage parking, and

Ro
No

on
New rt
tenure development of which 30 per cent is managed to achieve the parking requirement

tt
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for outright sale. A large proportion of the in on-street bays at right angles to the nd

North Road
Cr
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new dwellings are terrace houses. adopted streets, interspersed with generous nt

PageRoad
amounts of tree planting. ri ve
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Site plan.
N

Masterplan. This is an example of

a well-ordered surface parking
arrangement with cars parked at
right angles to the roadway,
interspersed with trees and shrub
planting between the roadway
and the pavement. This is much
preferable to the alternative
of in-curtilage parking, being
tidier, clearly defining the
public/private realms, and also
1:1000 accommodating more cars.
Three different arrangements
for car parking and planting.
Part 2_Social issues_In liberal
social terms the most successful
streets are those you can walk
down without knowing or caring
about the social background or
financial circumstances of the
people who live there. The fact
that such streets exist at all,
and they are mostly restricted
to eighteenth- and nineteenth-
century inner-city locations,
is largely due to the process
of gentrification that has been
taking place in these areas since
the 1960s.
11 162_163
Mixing tenures and
flexible tenures

Mixed tenure been a preoccupation for social-housing

In a liberal society the most successful providers for more than a decade. Making
streets are those you can walk down all the different tenures look the same is an
without knowing or caring about the social accepted principle, but quite how far to take
background or financial circumstances the physical integration of households from
of the people who live there. The fact that different social and financial backgrounds
such streets exist at all, and they are mostly is still a subject for constant speculation, no
restricted to eighteenth- and nineteenth- single solution seeming entirely satisfactory.
century inner-city locations, is largely due to As the proportion of affordable homes in
the process of gentrification that has been every scheme increases, due in part to
taking place in these areas since the 1960s. UDP-enforced Section 106 agreements, and
the funding of affordable rented housing is
Until then, most inner-city houses were more and more dependent on cross-subsidy
owned by private landlords who had been from the sale of private homes, the degree
mismanaging their property portfolios for of integration, mixed streets, mixed blocks,
decades. Eventually the buildings had mixed cores and/or mixed amenity space is
become so undercapitalised that any surplus under constant review.
from rental incomes barely scratched the
surface of what was needed to put them back Flexible tenure
into decent repair. Over the succeeding 20 The stock of traditional terrace houses
years or so many of these properties were has proved remarkably adaptable, being
bought and refurbished by young pioneering transformed at various stages from large
middle-class families, by local authorities or single-family homes into several small flats
by grant-aided housing associations. This and maisonettes, and now sometimes back
soon led to a massive increase in the value into single-family homes. Although garden
of this kind of property when the better-off access for upper-floor flats has been difficult
decided it was now safe to buy into areas to resolve satisfactorily and the existing
that had previously been dismissed as structures have not lent themselves to
slums. Large terrace houses with gardens providing good standards of sound or fire
within easy reach of work in the city centres insulation between tenancies, flats in street
could now be regarded confidently as good properties are still the housing of choice for
family homes and highly mortgageable most tenants and most owner-occupiers.
investments, and the gentrification process
spiralled. In relation to new housing, the question
often arises, why make a distinction between
Well before the end of the last century houses or flats built for affordable rent and
these same local authorities and housing those built for sale? If flats and two-to-three-
associations had become victims of their own bedroom houses for affordable rent have
success. It was no longer financially feasible generally been built to more generous
for them to buy more properties in the areas (Parker Morris) space standards than those
they had earlier helped to gentrify and that for sale, why not build one size to fit all?
were now changing hands at prices nearly a
hundred times greater than they had paid for The answer turns out to have very little to Street and rear views of City
Wharf, Islington, London, by
them 40 years earlier. do with the actual space but much more Pollard Thomas Edwards, a
to do with occupancy, layout and facilities. development of mixed-tenure flats.
Although mixed-tenure streets had only been The question of merging minimum space Each tenure has its own lift and
stair core, but the external
made possible by gentrification, their value standards across the board is addressed appearance is indistinguishable.
in social terms has been widely recognised. in Chapter 5. But apart from the actual
The challenge has now become that of space requirements across the tenure
creating the condition of integrated and spectrum there can be considerable
flexible tenure in entirely new developments. differences in lifestyle.

Mixing homes of different tenures in new In general terms, owner-occupiers:

developments of all kinds and densities has • under-occupy the space they buy and tend
Mixing tenures and flexible tenures

to move house when they need more space; especially around the front curtilage of
• tend to enjoy higher levels of employment houses and flats.
and therefore spend less time at home;
• keep bedrooms spare for visitors or to use Some of the elements in these lists have
as workrooms; design implications. The challenge for
• can afford luxuries such as en-suite designers and developers is to build
bathrooms; new housing that is, as far as possible,
• prefer open-plan living as their lifestyles flexible enough to satisfy the lifestyle
involve more entertaining and fewer differences indicated by these contrasting
competing noises and activities than those lists of aspirations, and to find common
of less well-off families with several teenage denominators that will fit both owners and
children; tenants without causing service charges to
• can afford to spend more on planting and be unaffordable for the less well-off.
maintaining their gardens and on tidy storage
arrangements for bulky items;
• can afford a higher level of caretaking and
day-to-day expenditure on the maintenance
of common circulation and shared areas of
planting and grass, especially around the
front curtilage of houses or flats;
• can afford to spend more time away in
the sunshine elsewhere, if their homes
and/or gardens turn out to be sunless or
overshadowed;
• have a vested (financial) interest in buying
the biggest house they can afford in the
almost certain knowledge that in the long
term its value will increase, especially if it is
well-maintained.

By contrast, tenants in affordable housing:

• are allocated homes that meet their precise
needs at that point; moving to somewhere
larger is usually difficult except in cases of
chronic overcrowding;
• need bedrooms that are large enough,
properly lit and ventilated to meet the
requirements of teenagers who spend a lot of
time there and should not have to share with
siblings;
• need enough living spaces for different
members of the household to pursue different
activities at the same time;
• need a private open space, a balcony in
the case of a flat or a garden in the case of a
house, that is large enough for all the family
to use at once, that gets sunlight at some time
of the day and where they can dry washing
without becoming conspicuous;
• need as few shared facilities as possible
in order to reduce service charges to a
minimum. These include common circulation
and shared areas of planting and grass,
Mixing tenures and flexible tenures 164_165

Alternative plans for same-size two-bedroom flats in different

tenures

These layouts are based on a typical 70-square-

metre shell, 7.1 x 9.85 metres. They illustrate
the probable difference in living patterns additional space needed
between a household paying an affordable rent to achieve preferred
and a household in owner-occupation of the features shown dotted
same size flat. They also show the potential
for altering the internal layout during the
lifecycle of the whole structure.

The layouts are based on assumptions about the space for PC in living
principal living pattern differences between twin room above room (HQI additional
the two types of household: minimum needed feature)
• occupancy of the affordable flat is likely
to be one or two adults plus at least one
but possibly two children. Space and the
possibility of ‘separateness’ between
generations is therefore at a premium;
• occupancy of the owner-occupied flat is
likely to be one or two adults sharing but not
cohabiting – or one or two adults cohabiting
with at least one working from home – or one
or two adults cohabiting and able to afford a
spare guest bedroom;
• the affordable flat has a kitchen/dining area
that is separate from the living room. The
washing machine is in the kitchen;
7100mm

• the affordable flat has a larger second

bedroom to take twin beds;
• the owner-occupied flat has a second en-suite
bathroom;
• the owner-occupied flat has open-plan living/
dining/cooking space with the added possibility
of uniting the second bedroom with the living
space; the washing machine is in a separate
cupboard;
• the owner-occupied flat has built-in wardrobes
to both bedrooms;
• both flats have one bathroom to Lifetime Homes
standards;
• both flats have balconies of the same size,
large enough to use to eat meals outside in
summer. Lifetime Homes bathroom separate kitchen/diner
combined with laundry
space
9850mm 11,200mm

‘wet and dirty’ storage

requirement met outside
of the dwelling
Two-bed, four-person affordable layout at
70 square metres to Lifetime Homes
standard.
Mixing tenures and flexible tenures

second bedroom connects

with living space – can
be used for dining

built-in wardrobes

window
desirable but
not essential
with this
layout

washing machine
in utility
cupboard
en-suite to master open-plan living/
bedroom and cooking/eating
fully accessible enough storage space to
bathroom to LTH include ‘wet and dirty’
standard

Two-bed, four-person private flat at

70 square metres to Lifetime Homes
standard.
Adastral, Barnet, 166_167
London NW9

Adastral may well prove to have been at width and size, with the rented version being Architect Pollard Thomas Edwards
the start of a seismic shift away from the the larger. This difference reflects the fact Architects
perceived position that having affordable that, given the same number of bedrooms, Developer Notting Hill Housing Group
tenants as your next-door neighbours must houses for affordable rent need to be larger with Bellway Homes (North London)
inevitably devalue your property. than houses for sale on the basis that tenants, Limited
once housed, are less able to move if they Site 4.6 hectares
The site, one of several that together made need more space and occupy their homes to Number of dwellings 320
up the old Hendon RAF base, forms part of the fullest extent – that is they are allocated Density 70 dwellings/hectare
what is one of the largest regeneration areas their home on the basis of need, which Mix 2 x 5B + 7 x 4B + 72 x 3B +
in London. The base closed down after inevitably means full occupancy of both 169 x 2B + 70 x 1B
World War 2 and the site had already been Affordable 46 per cent
bedrooms – while developers are unwilling
Parking spaces per dwelling 1
redeveloped for housing during the 1960s. Its to build larger houses for sale than those
Non-housing uses community centre
grim low-rise, all affordable rented flats had of their competitors, because they claim
developed terminal social problems largely they are unable to recover the extra cost of
derived from the poor, impermeable layout construction through the sale price.

nue
Ga
La ydo

Ave
that cut off any idea of integration with the ne n

d
Heywoo
wider neighbourhood. That argument certainly prevailed in 1999.
Ten years later there are signs that, given all Lanacre Avenue

s
en
rd
Conceived in 1999, Adastral South is the the different kinds of tenancy now available

Ga
r
ma
first site to be redeveloped and is intended – from affordable rent to intermediate rent,

ae
Br
to provide a model for wider regeneration. moving into shared ownership and finally to

Tangmere Way
It aims to dissolve estate boundaries and full ownership – more flexibility is needed. Kenley Avenue

reconnect the area to the rest of Barnet while A house built to be occupied under an Bo
ot
h

tripling the number of dwellings on the site. affordable tenancy may well become owner-
Ro
ad

An illegible maze of walkways, cul-de-sacs occupied, or vice versa.

and subways has been demolished to make Site plan.
way for a thoroughly permeable layout Notting Hill Housing took the innovative
connected to the surrounding suburbs step of setting up a resident management
with a comprehensive network of ‘streets’, company covering all three tenures at
pedestrian routes and existing greenways. Adastral – affordable rent, shared ownership
and outright ownership. Its ultimate objective
Considering the very large proportion of is that the resident management company
terrace houses integrated with small and will evolve to take full control of all the
domestic-scale blocks of three- and four- housing, its landscape and facilities. Each
storey flats, the layout is able to provide a household has one share in the company
significant central open space; this also and the right to vote. Directors are appointed
contains the existing mature trees and the from among the resident community and
community centre. The flats are either at the contractors are appointed by the company,
corners and ends of terraces or lining the with powers to hire and fire. The company
principal pedestrian routes and the main also has some control over the service-
distributor road to the north of the site. charge budget. Early signs are that both this
structure and the nursery provision in the
Apart from creating a new neighbourhood community centre are important catalysts in
of crescent-shaped streets, a circus and breaking down barriers between residents
three short ‘mews’, the two developers, led who are owners, shared owners and tenants.
by Notting Hill Housing, have pioneered
the integration of different tenures. As an
example, the three ‘mews’ are lined with
two-storey houses on both sides with a
vehicle entrance at one end and a footpath at
the other. Alternate houses are either for rent
or for sale and it takes a keen eye to detect
any difference between the two. In fact, as
the plans show, the two house types vary in
Mews houses in terraces where
rented and shared-ownership houses
alternate with one another. The
rented houses are larger than
those for shared ownership but
otherwise they look identical. A
rare example of genuine ‘pepper
potting’ mixed tenures.
Adastral, Barnet, 168_169
London

1:1000

Typical plan of mews development

in which alternate houses are of
a different tenure with a larger
rented house at the end of each
terrace.

Two-bedroom house types for

different tenures; the different
floor areas are a reflection of
construction costs and therefore
the sale price of the shared-
ownership houses. The larger
rented houses have more storage
space, while neither now has
enough space for separate
recycling bins. 1:250
Top The mews are in effect short
cul-de-sacs but with a pedestrian
passageway at the far end leading
out to the main road and to the park
on the other side of the road.
Above and right This is deliberate
mixing of tenures. The layout has
been designed so that owners and
tenants live next door to each
other; each mews house – externally
identical – differs in size and
tenure from its neighbour.
Aylesbury Estate 170_171
regeneration, Southwark,
London SE1

Background + layout, Chapter 4 without balconies, because the tendency of

some tenants to use them to store anything
From the earliest days of consultation with from cycles to unwanted furniture would
the Aylesbury Estate in the 1990s it was affect sales of private flats!
evident that the tenants believed Southwark
Council’s unwritten agenda was to reduce As can be seen in examples of developments
the number of council homes and sell off involving houses rather than flats, there
the best bits to the private sector. That the is less likelihood of tensions developing
council’s aim for the regeneration of the area between neighbours from different social
was to create a mixed-tenure environment backgrounds if the only shared space is
is undeniable. Whatever the political the street, rather than a common hallway,
complexion of the council has happened lift or staircase. Social anonymity becomes
to be – and this is likely to change several easier as densities increase and the most
times over the lifespan of such an enormous acceptable compromise as far as flats are
project – the only question was how to concerned, adopted for the early phases of
achieve a social mix without significantly the Aylesbury regeneration, is to separate
reducing the number of council tenancies the extreme opposite ends of the social
and allowing private developers to insist on spectrum so they do not share entrances, lifts
developing the areas with the highest land and staircases but to place blocks of different
values. This meant that the existing density tenures next to each other, more or less at
had to be increased overall without resorting random, in the same street.
to building high.
The diagrams show the disposition of
The initial phase for redevelopment therefore tenures within each street and each block.
had to be a demonstration of good intentions The three different forms of tenure – outright
and the fulfilling of promises. And it shows sale, shared ownership and affordable rent
how far private-sector developers – in this – are indistinguishable from one another in
case London & Quadrant Housing Trust external appearance.
acting as its own developer for sale as well
as rent – have moved towards establishing
mixed-tenure communities over a 20-year
period. The question still is, how far can UK
society go towards the kind of integration
through which households of completely
different social backgrounds and income
levels can choose to live, literally, next door to
each other?

Choice is a major factor. Housing developers

are not going to take reckless investment
decisions over mixing tenures if these
are likely to threaten sales. The ten years
between 1998 and 2008 were a period
of unmet demand in the private sector.
It was this shortage of housing for sale,
particularly of flats in urban areas, that Above and right Diagrams showing
allowed developers, encouraged by the tenure breakdown. The central
core serving the largest number
policies of social integration adopted by of units is for both private and
most local authorities, to assume the burden shared ownership while the cores
of risk and successfully to integrate private serving the smallest number of
units is for affordable rent.
sale with affordable housing on a scale Ground- and first-floor maisonettes
never previously envisaged. Even so, there are for affordable rent and have
their own street-door entrances.
were still examples of major housebuilders Top right CGI perspective of
insisting that affordable flats should be built completed scheme.
Affordable

Private

Shared ownership

Wheelchair unit

Wheelchair-accessible unit

Retail

Day centre
Kenworthy Road, Hackney, 172_173
London E9

The 14–16 Kenworthy Road scheme involves coloured panels and timber screens. A large Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
redevelopment of a site currently housing corner opening and more generous street Developer Network Housing Group
redundant bedsit accommodation and a frontage give the new building a special civic Site 0.64 hectares
nursery. The scheme will rehouse the nursery presence. Number of dwellings 123
and provide 119 new mixed-tenure family Density 186 dwellings/hectare
and one- and two-bed homes. Integrated All flats are designed to Lifetime Homes Mix 2 x 5B + 8 x 4B + 25 x 3B +
with the scale of the surrounding buildings, standards with 10 per cent wheelchair- 58 x 2B + 30 x 1B
the massing of the scheme responds to the adaptable units. Large areas of south-facing Affordable 50 per cent affordable and
scale of Homerton Hospital to the north and glazing are incorporated to exploit the intermediate rent
to the five-storey Cardinal Pole RC School to benefits of passive solar energy. A green Parking spaces per dwelling 0.27
the east. Non-housing uses nursery
roof to the lower-rise section of Block C aids
water attenuation and provides a habitat
This is a sensitive location, adjacent to for urban wildlife while PV solar panels will
a mental-health unit. The new scheme ensure that 10 per cent of the scheme’s eet
tr
h S
addresses overlooking issues of the existing energy demands are met with power to n H
ig
Homer
residential accommodation along the west generated from renewable sources.

Cro
boundary where openings are kept to a

Ken
zie
e

wor
rac
minimum. The opportunity to reinvigorate With the accommodation neatly split at r T
er

r T
zie

thy
Cro
the western edge of Kenworthy Road has planning stage – 50 per cent private sale, 25

er
rac

Roa
been exploited with an active street frontage per cent intermediate rent/shared ownership

d
through the introduction of family maisonettes and 25 per cent affordable rent – the
at ground level with own-door access from developer, itself a not-for-profit housing
the street and defensible garden spaces association group in an uncertain market,
defined by low walls and railings. needs flexibility in making its marketing
decisions. Its decision, therefore, to adopt
The public outdoor space is organised in a single range of space standards for one-,
two interlinked courtyards as raised home- two- and three-bedroom flats has been Site plan.
zone areas to calm traffic. The southern shown to be particularly adroit as decisions
courtyard is mews-like, with planting over which tenure to adopt can be made at
defining the primary route through the site. the point of disposal according to demand.
In the north courtyard, private gardens are
arranged around the perimeter for the family In a location like Hackney the income and
maisonettes while the heart of the courtyard social differentials between potential outright
mixes planted areas, a children’s playground purchasers, shared owners and intermediate
and further car parking. All apartments have rent tenants are much smaller than they
generous balconies. The urban landscape would be in higher-value parts of London.
is softened by hedging and ornamental Kenworthy Road may therefore prove to be
planting, together with street and feature an interesting trail-blazer for flexible tenure
trees throughout the scheme. with important implications for service
charges and management methods – and for
Residential accommodation is spread across the design of communal areas.
three blocks grouped around two linked
courtyards. The rear block is lower rise and
contains primarily single-aspect units to
maintain privacy for the mental-health unit
beyond. The nursery is located in one corner
of the scheme, enlivening the junction of the
access road for the mental-health unit and
Kenworthy Road. It is smaller in scale, both to
respect the existence of the rights of light of
the terrace opposite but also to reinvigorate
a previously neglected corner of the site.
The more domestic quality of the nursery
architecture is enlivened with brightly
Another mixed-tenure scheme of
flats and maisonettes but in this
case the developer has chosen to
unify space standards between the
different tenures with the aim
of making decisions over whether
to rent or sell at the time of
completion.
Kenworthy Road, Hackney, London 174_175

A A

1:1000

Above left Layout plan and section

A–A of a dense central courtyard
development in which all types
of tenure are sharing the same
external spaces. Six cores of
lifts and stairs serve the upper-
floor flats in order to reduce the
length of access galleries, while
all the flats adjacent to the
boundary with the mental-health
unit have a single aspect facing
into the courtyard.
Bottom left Typical dual-aspect two-
bedroom flat.
Bottom right Dual-aspect four-bedroom
1:250 maisonette.
 w
w

w w
w
w w
w
w
w
w
w

Ground floor First floor Second floor

Above CGI perspective of completed

scheme.
Right Tenure distribution diagrams: ord
with affordable rented shown in
Interm
purple, intermediate housing in
pale blue, and shared ownership in Shared
green. Fourth floor Fourth floor Fifth floor
Kenworthy Road Entran
Core A
w Wheelc
12 176_177
Tenure and style

Donnybrook, East London, by

Peter Barber Architects for
Circle Anglia Housing Group.
This was a competition-winning
scheme in which the architect
aimed to recapture the spirit
of traditional life in the East
End of London, where neighbours
interacted because of the intimacy
and small scale of the spaces
between buildings.

Architects incline towards the view that the individuality because consistency and
ideal client is one who produces a flexible homogeneity are actually quite helpful when
brief and who encourages and funds their allocating and maintaining rented homes.
particular brand of innovation. This chapter In contrast, superficial differences seem
is about patronage; how and when good to help sell houses on the open market. In
patronage produces good housing. either case, bespoke design of individual
homes is inappropriate and the process is
Of all the choices we make in our lives, depersonalised. With all types of tenure there
those about where and how we live are is an understandable but usually regrettable
among the most important and, for those who desire on the part of the third-party client to
have options, certainly the most personal. use standard house and flat plans, as long
The degree of choice that individuals can as the overall design and layout make the
exercise obviously depends on their means. most of the site; this is the very opposite to
At one end of the scale, tenants paying an the priorities for a commissioned house.
affordable rent have very little choice. Is this Housing developers, whether in the social or
perhaps why so many tenants of affordable private sectors, are virtually ‘proxy’ clients.
housing from the 1960s through to the end The battleground between architects and the
of the 1980s reacted negatively to what they developers usually revolves around which
were given by social landlords and architects of them has the best understanding of what
who ‘knew what was good for them’? choices the eventual occupant would make,
if only that occupant was there to exercise
Architects and corporate-housing clients choice at the design stage.
often have an uneasy relationship. The
former complain of their clients’ apparent The seeds of unease go back at least a
unconcern about architectural quality, century when the large-scale proxy client
and the latter bemoan architects’ lack of first began to emerge. Before that, the ability
understanding about what clients perceive to choose where and how one was to live
as real issues. Social housing is geared ranged from those with sufficient wealth to
towards achieving uniformity rather than commission their own purpose-built houses
Tenure and style

to those without any means at all who were scope for innovation, looser briefing and
expected to accept gratefully whatever they available funding – altogether a softer target.
were given. In Britain from the seventeenth While the developer of private homes was
century onwards this system simultaneously largely avoided on the basis of being too
produced fine terraces and squares of conservative, his public-sector equivalent
enduring quality, and the most squalid was seen as more open to radical ideas.
slums. By the end of World War 1 in 1918
public conscience dictated that the worst Disregarding the many examples of poorly
slum dwellings should be replaced, and this designed high-density estates that still
programme accelerated after World War 2. litter UK cities, it is worth looking at what
happened when all the most talented
The patrons of these programmes were designers of a generation were let loose on
either local authorities building estates of commissions for social housing, with clients Housing at Runcorn New Town
by James Stirling, 1967, now
houses and flats for rent on the sites of the who were not themselves likely ever to live in demolished.
worst slums, or speculative builders who, any of the homes produced.
in the main, built semi-detached houses for
sale in ribbon developments. Tenures were From the 1950s to the 1970s many celebrated
then less polarised in terms of internal space architects, including Denys Lasdun, James
and amenity but, arguably, differentiated Stirling, Alison and Peter Smithson, Erno
more by typology and style. Architects were Goldfinger, Neave Brown, Benson & Forsyth,
instinctively drawn towards involvement in Darbourne & Darke, Chamberlin Powell &
the design of social housing simply because Bon, Ivor Smith, and Patrick Hodgkinson,
they felt they had a freer hand with ‘clients’ completed major publicly funded housing
who did not really have a say, and the schemes that were more architecturally
opportunities for dramatic and imaginative ambitious than anything produced in the
architecture were much greater. private sector in the same period. Only some
of these have survived, and those that have
With inherent imagination and encouraged owe their survival more to location than to an
by training, architects possess the ability ability to please successive generations of
and aptitude regularly to analyse and tenants. Lasdun’s ‘cluster block’ in London’s
reconfigure conventional approaches Bethnal Green, based on cutting-edge
to housing design and to make radical sociological theories developed in the 1950s,
proposals. But these proposals can only only survived after the client group for whom
be properly tested through genuine client it was designed moved out en masse and
choice. Choice over what kind of ‘home’ the building was successfully refurbished for
people want can of course be expressed white-collar middle-class owner-occupiers
in several ways, the single bespoke house working in the City of London. James
being the most straightforward – a direct Stirling’s dramatic neo-Corbusian scheme at
collaboration in which the client initially Southgate in Runcorn, near Liverpool, was
selects an architect and then exercises summarily demolished in the architect’s own
choice over the design as it develops. lifetime. The same fate may yet overtake the
Where a third party, a developer, is involved Smithsons’ Robin Hood Gardens on the edge
in commissioning designs for homes for of London’s Docklands.
which choice is ultimately to be exercised
by either purchaser or tenant, there is ample If further proof of the unsuitability of over-
room for disagreement, architects invariably sophisticated design for social housing is
believing that the client is preventing them needed, Darbourne & Darke had two major
from best satisfying the needs of the eventual public-housing schemes in London, one in
occupant. For almost a century some of the an up-market part of the City of Westminster
most ambitious and gifted architects, faced and another on the borders of Islington
with the choice of focusing their efforts on and Hackney. The former is now a Grade
either the developers of private housing or 2 listed historic building, very sought after
on public social housing, have concentrated for owner-occupation, while its Islington
on the latter as it has been seen to offer more counterpart has been partially demolished
Tenure and style 178_179

and the remainder fundamentally altered in homes at suburban densities. However, like
order to cure chronic security problems and an echo of the infamous demise of the British
anti-social behaviour. motorcycle industry in the face of Japanese
competition, the philosopher Alain de Botton
A lesson to be drawn from these examples showed contemporary Dutch examples to
must be that the brightest architectural brains prospective volume purchasers and asked
of a generation trained their sights on an whether they would like to swap. Almost all
apparently unrepresented and inaccessible replied that if a better design option were
client group whose real aspirations were available they would take it.
either ignored or never understood by the
local-authority ‘developers’ who were building And there are successful built examples
in their name. Fortunately, one unintended that contradict the dominant view of the
consequence of the ‘right to buy’ introduced average UK purchaser of new houses as
by the Thatcher government in the 1980s someone with a clear preference for the
has been an infiltration of leaseholders who tried and tested – in terms of planning,
greatly appreciate the inherent qualities layout and design. These exceptions seem
of many of these estates. This evident to occur in areas where developers have
appreciation has proved to be a turning point set out to create an entirely new market,
in their popularity. such as at Newhall in Harlow, Essex, or
Accordia in Cambridge, both by the same
Perhaps because some of the early Modernist developer. Appealing to an admittedly more
urban architecture had achieved an iconic sophisticated purchaser, these schemes
place in city dwellers’ affections, or perhaps break the traditional mould by a combination
because even the general public had grown of skilful marketing and exceptional design.
tired of the sterile Postmodernism of the 1980s The lesson for architects who seriously want
and 1990s, the last decade has seen a rapid to engage in this process of mould-breaking
transformation of the urban-housing scene: is to search out and to collaborate much
for the first time, architects have found perfect more closely with prospective housebuilders/
outlets for their imagination in all the big UK developers in selling ideas for an entirely
cities as well as some of the smaller ones. different way of living, including the added
Research by the larger firms of surveyors value of addressing climate change.
identified a market of youngish, reasonably
affluent, competitive, much less conservative The move towards more mixed and
and much more style-conscious purchasers, better-integrated tenures, unthinkable to
particularly in big cities such as London housebuilders only a very few years ago,
and Manchester. means that one option – that of carrying
out any more bold experiments in solely
If there is a now a general assumption publicly funded housing – is now virtually
that the Postmodern or contextual design closed. Although there are, and will continue
solutions to building flats in inner-city to be subtle differences between homes for
locations, much favoured until the end of affordable rent and private sale, it almost
the 1990s, have successfully been replaced goes without saying that if the idea of mixing
by a radical Modernist approach across all households from different income groups
tenures, no such assumption can be said in the same street is to succeed, these
to cover the efforts of the house-building differences should not be recognisable
industry in the design of house types for low- from the outside. By and large the style
density (50 dwellings per hectare) suburban preferences of tenants, particularly those
locations. who depend on subsidy of one kind or
another, are based on the kind of house
In responding to popular demand, and in they would buy if they were in a position
most locations, developers still claim to – and to do so; it is therefore the style of the
undoubtedly do – encounter much more private-sale component of any new housing
conservative purchasers, especially from the that determines the design of the whole.
buying public, when providing new family People are travelling more and getting used
Tenure and style

to seeing other types of housing on TV,

in magazines and from retailers like Ikea
and Habitat who promote fresh styles at
affordable prices.

So the architect, even the architect of social/

affordable housing, can now address the
customer more directly. Customer focus
is the name of the game and architects
should no longer have to rely solely on the
architectural press and the approval of their
peers for endorsement of a much more
radical approach to the design of twenty-first-
century housing.
Old Royal Free Square, 180_181
Islington N1

Background + sense of place, Chapter 1; privacy, is because, following the Modernist stamp
Chapter 9 imposed on most social housing from 1949 to
1979, combined with the fact that ‘gentrified’
Although the Royal Free won several major Georgian or Victorian terrace houses had
awards – including Civic Trust and Europa become the home of choice for many urban
Nostra awards – when it was completed, middle-class families, a style of architecture
it has never been described as ‘architects’ belonging to an earlier era does not
architecture’. Were it to be designed now the stigmatise or pigeonhole the inhabitants as
approach to architectural style, even by the belonging to any particular class or income
same design team, would be very different, bracket. By adopting a style similar to the
and it is important to determine why this existing Victorian hospital buildings, the new
should be. housing in Old Royal Free Square freed the
residents from social categorisation.
The 1980s were years of retrenchment in
housing design after a backlash to the
uncompromising Modernism of the 1970s.
Many non-architects, led trenchantly by the
then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher and
enthusiastically supported by the Prince of
Wales, complained that a whole generation of
council tenants had been experimented
upon, without being given an opportunity to
decide what kind of housing they would live
in if they were allowed to choose for
themselves. Several major schemes by
distinguished and very creative architects
had become difficult to manage and
unpopular with tenants by the early 1980s
and were in the process of demolition after
less than 15 years of life. Meanwhile, much of
the architectural profession had taken refuge
from the storm by switching into
Postmodernism. This was the period of
Prince Charles’s infamous ‘monstrous
carbuncle’ speech, damning Ahrends Burton
Koralek’s competition-winning Modernist
design for the National Gallery extension.

Like so many of the well-known post-war

estates, the Royal Free Square development
is 100 per cent social housing with no
prospect of any resident being able to Right Entrance door to a three-
exercise the ‘right to buy’. The challenge was bedroom terrace house for
affordable rent in Old Royal Free
therefore to design the new social housing in Square. Some features of the
a high-value location that would not acquire a design closely follow the details
of the existing nineteenth-century
‘social housing’ stigma. hospital buildings to which they
are attached. Conceived in the
middle of the 1980s, during a
Whoever writes the definitive history of decade in which public opinion
social housing in the latter part of the strongly associated Modernism in
twentieth century will point out that some housing design with ‘council’
estates and social deprivation,
of the most successful examples are to be the aim was to build ‘classless’
found in buildings converted from another housing and prevent any social
stigma being attached to residents
use – sometimes a different form of housing on account of the design of their
but sometimes not housing at all. And this homes.
Cremer Street, Hackney, 182_183
London E2

This development by the Peabody Trust has another uncompromisingly modern building Architects Levitt Bernstein Associates
its origins in the same early 1990s’ initiative there is ample reassurance in the form of Developer Peabody Trust
by the London Borough of Hackney as 27 flats, identical in appearance, at one end Site 0.4 hectares
Nile Street (see Chapter 9). The aim was of the terrace; these sold outright to private Number of dwellings 69
to use the borough’s various landholdings purchasers, each of whom presumably had Density 173 dwellings/hectare
to generate shared-ownership flats for exercised choice over the home they were Mix 2 x 3B + 57 x 2B + 10 x 1B
keyworkers. The scheme was developed looking for and what it looked like. Affordable 61 per cent
without public subsidy. Parking spaces per dwelling 0.73
In London and other UK cities the private
When it became apparent that land at below market has led the design revolution
full market value would not be sufficient away from the stultifying efforts of the
Kingslan
d Road
Nazr
subsidy on its own, the Peabody Trust Postmodernism of the 1980s or the neo- ul S
tre et

designated 27 of the 69 flats for outright sale. vernacular, towards an environment for an
Geffrye Street

reet
These are in a seven-storey block nearest to altogether more stimulating lifestyle. This is

Cremer St
the street. This block includes a lift, whereas encouraging residents in affordable housing Ormsby Street

the other, four-storey, blocks have five to follow suit.

Pearson Street
separate cores with staircase access only.

Ha
ck
The trust retains a 25 per cent stake in each

ne
y
Ro
Appleby Street
of the flats for shared equity, so purchasers et

ad
re

Dunloe Street
St
ss
Di
only have to raise mortgages for 75 per cent
of the cost.
Site plan.
Car parking in an overlooked rear courtyard
is shared by both tenures and is protected by
a fob-key-controlled steel gate. All the flats
have balconies.

This area of London contains a very large

percentage of local-authority-owned social
housing, much of it in post-war four-storey
blocks of ‘walk-up’ flats that are now mostly
in poor condition. In searching for an
economical building form for the affordable
flats at Cremer Street, the Peabody Trust
chose a simple layout principle that is not
dissimilar from much of the surrounding
council housing. This is based on a terrace
with five separate stair cores, each of which
has only two flats per floor, making eight flats
in all for each core. There are no lifts serving
the affordable shared-ownership flats, since
a lift serving only eight flats is basically
uneconomic and linking stair cores together
would have meant either internal corridors or
external access galleries, both of which can
create security problems. Right By contrast with the previous
example, these flats at Cremer
Street in Hackney represent a
While the configuration of the flats has a response to a new wave of young
strong resemblance to much of the municipal urban would-be purchasers in the
housing in the area, the architecture is quite early 1990s who were open to a
fresh new style of architecture
different, and is especially distinct from any that was neither brutal nor
of the surrounding municipal housing of the finished in fairfaced concrete.
Half the flats at Cremer Street
1960s and 1970s. For any potential shared are for affordable rent while the
owner nervous at the prospect of living in other half are privately owned.
 Proposed Hoxton Underground S t a t i o n
St r ee t
Cremer

Access Road to Fellow Court Estate

1:500
Layout p l a n . The flats f o r p r i v a t e
s a l e (dark grey) are in one group
at the south end of the s i t e on
six f l o o r s w i t h a l i f t . Those f o r
shared ownership ( p a l e grey) have
no l i f t and are on f o u r s t o r e y s ,
with two flats per floor. There
is a s i n g l e r e a r parking c o u r t ,
protected by a f o b - k e y - c o n t r o l l e d
s e c u r i t y gate and h a l f the parked
cars are in an u n d e r c r o f t beneath
the lowest floor of flats.
Above and below The external walls are
finished with STO render, which is
protected from the effects of weather by
the broad overhang to the roofs.
Below right Entrances to flats and stair
cores are protected by mechanical door-
entry systems but the risk of anti-social
activities taking place is much reduced
with only eight flats per entrance.
Tabard Square, Southwark, 186_187
London SE1

Apart from price and the quality of the place the presence of viable commercial uses, Architect Rolfe Judd
itself, most people thinking about buying including a small supermarket and a crèche Developer Berkeley Homes (North East
a new house or flat – and this doesn’t just in the square, contribute greatly to the sense London) Limited
apply in city or town centres – look at three of place and a feeling of being ‘somewhere’, Site 2.77 hectares
over-riding factors. These are: what is the as opposed to being ‘anywhere’. Number of dwellings 572
neighbourhood like; what are the neighbours Density 206 dwellings/hectare
like; and will the investment go up in value But important as these considerations are, Mix 45 x studio + 321 x 1B +
over time? the developer’s decision to treat all the 178 x 2B + 28 x 3B
different tenures in one bold unified style Affordable 37 per cent
Most purchasers want to be surrounded has made it difficult to distinguish one from Parking spaces per dwelling 0.42
by other people like themselves, neither Non-housing uses supermarket, 1550
another. Unlike some examples from the
square metres + other retail, 2441
substantially richer nor substantially poorer. 1960s, where social housing for families
square metres
A perception that poorer neighbours was squeezed into crude towers while the
will ultimately affect investment value, owner-occupier families spread themselves

et
re
and therefore the decision to purchase, in town houses around their base, at Tabard

St
has haunted developers for decades. It Square the tower is designed as small flats

gh

Kipling Street
Hi
was pressure to provide more affordable for sale with the social housing much closer Porlock Street

h
ug
ro
housing, spread evenly throughout each to the ground.

Bo
neighbourhood in London and the south of Lo
ng
t
England, that began to force developers Security at Tabard Square is well covered.

Tab
ee La
r ne
St

ard

et
seriously to consider how they were going There is a 24-hour concierge who controls r

re
te
es

St
Str
lv
to meet the conditions imposed on them by access to all flats and the underground

Gr
e
Si mag

eet
gri

ea
Pil

t
planning authorities. Eventually, schemes parking by means of CCTV; gates to the

et
Do

re
ve

St
Ma
began to emerge which showed that what square are closed between midnight and 6

nc
r

le
ip
St

ap
had been considered impossible was not in the morning, and each lift and stair core to

le
re

St
St
et

re
impossible after all. Although the sudden the affordable flats block serves a maximum

et
shortage of houses or flats for sale may have of 14 flats. Site plan.
N

influenced purchasers to consider having

tenants in social housing as near neighbours, The residential tower in the north-west corner
the taboo has now been broken with the of the square provides a landmark for the
help of good design: the concept of socially development and a beacon for regeneration
integrated and interdependent communities in the Borough area. The concept for the
has become a reality. tower was based on creating a base unit
on plan, which is then rotated through 90
The design of Tabard Square is an degrees, providing north-, east-, south- and
excellent illustration of the way private west-facing orientations. The public areas
sale and affordable rented housing can be of the apartments maximise views over the
successfully combined in a dense urban City with full-height glazing, while the private
setting. The scheme originated in 2001 with zones are expressed as solid components.
developer Berkeley Homes commissioning As the tower climbs, an elegant spiralling
a very high-density mixed-tenure scheme profile is formed as the building terminates
on brownfield land that responded to the against the skyline. At the very top is a light
demand for affordable homes as well as beacon, linked to a barometer that changes
homes for sale close to Borough High Street colour with fluctuations in atmospheric
on the southern fringes of the City of London. pressure.
Right Tabard Square on Borough
As a scheme of more than 150 dwellings Road, just south of London Bridge,
is an area of increasingly high
per hectare, Tabard Square falls within value sought after by City
the definition of ‘superdensity’. Over and workers. This is reflected in the
above the density of 206 dwellings per ambitious design and layout with
a tower for private-sale flats.
hectare there is a considerable amount The open space has a nursery and
of retail and community space at street community facilities in the centre
and the whole complex – including
level. Undoubtedly its central location, the underground car park – is
the availability of public transport and monitored by a 24-hour concierge.
Tabard Square, Southwark, 188_189
London SE1

Second-floor layout plan. 1:1000

Access to the central ground-
floor space is controlled at three
separate points but the majority
of space at this level is devoted
to retail and business use. This
necessarily restricts the number
of lift and stair cores to the
flats above. Identifying the 37 per
cent affordable housing from the
outside is difficult.
13 190_191
Designing in flexibility

Like ‘sustainability’, ‘flexibility’ is one of of 1666. Although timber was the material
those words we use very lightly but usually of choice, regulations introduced as far
manage to avoid building into our designs back as the seventeenth century required
on the grounds that it costs too much, is houses to be separated from each other
too long term and doesn’t sell as an idea. with solid brick walls. The result was a
Past attempts to incorporate flexibility into hybrid construction that had timber internal
the planning of new homes have almost partitions and floors supported by brick walls
always resulted in uneconomical solutions. around the outside to prevent the spread of
In the early 1970s at least one scheme of fire. As far as flexibility is concerned, the key
experimental flexible housing was built has proved to be the use of lime mortar as
in London using a system developed by the chief ingredient for brickwork, rather than
the Danish architect N. John Habraken: Portland cement, which has been used in
this permitted dwellings to be subdivided, the construction of all housing since around
adjoining dwellings to be combined, 1918. This has meant that the original brick
enlarged or reduced, or subdivisions within structures can be altered or have openings
dwellings to be altered. The fact that this was cut into them at will, as can the simple timber
an experiment that has not been repeated load-bearing internal structures.
speaks for itself although, as a social-housing
scheme built by the soon to be defunct GLC, One disadvantage of assuming that these
there was unlikely to be much demand for simple structures are capable of a more
the type of change that the system allowed. or less infinite number of variations in
their lifetimes is that they sometimes get
By contrast, the traditional English terrace crudely hacked about before the evidence
house, which was never intended to be is concealed under finishes. This is
at all flexible, has proved capable of the particularly true in relation to the installation
most astonishing transformations in spite of mechanical services. Ultimately, structural
of inherent problems with poorly designed integrity is affected and just occasionally the
foundations, the practice of building most spectacular collapse occurs.
structural timbers into brick external walls so
they rot and cause instability, and the lack of Various lessons can be learned from all
an effective method to prevent rising damp. this experience and applied to a future that
Houses built before 1918 have provided, and does not involve using current, and by now
continue to provide, flexible solutions to the almost traditional, methods of brick and
needs of different household sizes. block construction. Brick and block external
walls with timber intermediate floors and
Two overwhelming qualities account for trussed rafter roofs are already unsustainable
the terrace house’s continued life, even for a whole variety of reasons: being too
after two hundred years. The first of these labour intensive and slow; involving too
qualities lies in the economy of street layout. much wastage of material on site; containing
Most eighteenth- and nineteenth-century too much embodied energy, and not easily
urban houses were built in terrace form for achieving the requisite energy performance.
reasons of economy both in land use and Roof spaces constructed with lightweight
cost of construction. Most were also planned timber trussed rafters can not be converted
either with short gardens or with no garden into attic rooms.
at all between the house and the street.
This creates good streets with a secure It is too early to forecast which of the
feeling of enclosure. At the same time, bewildering array of construction methods
except in the infamous northern back-to-back now being tried out will emerge as worth
layouts, they were usually provided with replicating on a large scale, but certain
generous gardens at the rear. general principles should apply to them all,
of which the following are important:
The second quality was accidental and
derives from the type of construction used in Clear spans between party walls In the
Britain ever since the Great Fire of London face of the inevitable pressure to reduce
Designing in flexibility

frontages of both houses and flats, in order to the services installations or future access
optimise densities and thus reduce costs per to them. Designers are too often denied
dwelling, there is little doubt that the flexibility responsibility for working out service routes.
in the use of space within a dwelling also This often results in unsightly boxing-in,
reduces. Circulation routes begin to impinge which can compromise furniture layouts
on the functional space within rooms and or wheelchair turning circles, or unsightly
the proportion of space given over to external terminals and intakes on otherwise
circulation also often increases as dwelling well-considered elevations.
plans become narrower and deeper. In
houses with timber intermediate floors the With the increasing complexity of mechanical
current economic maximum internal span services, due partly to the introduction of
is 5.4 metres (for complete flexibility in the the Code for Sustainable Homes, specialist
positioning of partitions and assuming these engineering consultancy should relieve the
are also of lightweight construction, the architect of the burden of finding accessible
spans would have to be reduced by 10 per routes for heating, drainage and ventilation
cent). In flats with hollow-core concrete slabs services. In practice very little technical
– the most common form of concrete floor advice is available at the design stage as the
construction in housing – spans of up to 15 mechanical and electrical design is made
metres can be achieved, but with an overall the responsibility of subcontractors who are
structural depth excluding screed of 400mm. only appointed much later, and also partly
Solid pre-stressed plank floors can span up because qualified assessors are required
to 7 metres with a thickness of only 100mm under the Code for Sustainable Homes.
excluding screed. The Code deals extensively with saving
water and energy and has added to the
Even when it is impossible to achieve the list of specialist consultancy services now
economic maximum, bedroom frontages in required for the design of housing, but the
family homes should not be narrower than appointment of assessors tends to blur areas
5 metres, which is the minimum for a double of responsibility.
bedroom to be converted into two single
bedrooms side by side. The same goes for electrical services, which
must be renewed from time to time in the
In houses with gardens that are larger than lifecycle of the average residential building.
a basic patio (with depth that is no greater New housing should allow for the addition of
than the frontage) access to the garden that renewables as the eventual goal of ‘carbon
doesn’t go through a living room or kitchen neutral’ homes becomes a reality.
is highly desirable. In family homes with
gardens (as opposed to patios) a through hall Renewing external weathering surfaces
giving access is highly desirable. External wall surfaces can be divided into
two types: those that may improve with time
Replaceable services Too little effort is and weathering and those that do not. By
expended at the design stage in planning and large the appearance of most external
sensible routes for internal services, and brickwork improves as it weathers and so it
how they can eventually be renewed without is important that its lifespan is not affected
rehousing residents while the work is done. by lack of frost resistance, by pattern
staining, or by having built-in components,
Regulations controlling the layout of such as artificial stone, that are less
internal waste and soil pipes have become permanent than the brick itself. Structural
increasingly less onerous, especially the external brickwork is now a rare commodity.
regulations covering the venting of small- This was not always so and certain brick
diameter waste pipes from baths, sinks structures, especially those in soft red brick
and washing machines, with the result that built around the end of the nineteenth century
assumptions are now made about positioning and now listed, must one day become a huge
these fittings almost anywhere to suit the conservation issue.
internal plan without having any regard for
Designing in flexibility 192_193

Apart from brick, few external surfaces, such promoted as Meeting Part M and Designing
as render, tiling, timber and all other forms Lifetime Homes by the Joseph Rowntree
of cladding, can not eventually be replaced. Foundation. The research was originally
But many of these suffer the disadvantage based largely on the idea of providing
that they appear at their best only when new flexibility for household members who
and deteriorate slowly thereafter, until they might suffer from temporary disablement,
eventually need to be replaced altogether. or age-related inability to move around a
Render and timber can be successfully two-storey house. The idea caught on and,
painted or treated periodically but most other since the launch of the London Plan, it is
forms of synthetic-resin-based or coated- now a requirement for new housing of all
metal surfaces can only be restored by tenures within the GLA. The government
periodic washing, provided their joints and is also promoting the concept in relation to
fastenings don’t deteriorate faster than the its strategy for dealing with Britain’s ageing
surface itself. society, and Lifetime Homes will become
mandatory for housing receiving public
Roofs need to be treated in the same way. subsidy by 2011, with a target to extend to all
Those with steep pitches and that are new housing by 2013.
therefore highly visible are usually clad in
traditional materials such as slate and tile but, Many of the issues raised in Lifetime Homes
whereas slate generally retains its original are about flexibility. It offers guidance on a
surface, tiles either weather well or, like whole variety of issues that can be roughly
almost all concrete tiles, their appearance divided between those affecting the design
suffers increasingly with age. and layout and those that are a matter of
additional specification. They range from
Flat roofs using new and better materials access to homes, including the approach
and details are making a comeback after the from designated car-parking areas, to
disastrous and well-documented material circulation areas both within common
failures of the1960s and 1970s. Increasing parts and inside individual dwellings and
numbers of non-trafficable flat roofs are being manoeuvring space in rooms themselves.
designed as green roofs but, whether this is Many of these imply some additional floor
the case or not, designers should remember space over the basic minimum, but the
that after the first few years non-trafficable flat important principle is to make appropriate
roofs present a very gloomy prospect to the provision for future adaptation from the
flats looking down on them1. outset, as complete retrofitting can be
difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Care
Adaptable structures Given the bewildering also needs to be taken to ensure that there
targets for the numbers of new homes is enough space for ramps to accommodate
needed, and the drive towards leaner, changes in level, as well as provision in the
quicker methods of construction, it is most plan of each house or maisonette to fit a
unlikely that structures will ever again have stairlift and a ‘through the floor’ lift should
anything like the built-in spare capacity of either become necessary.
their Victorian and Edwardian predecessors,
which allowed holes to be punched through All of this is detailed in DD 266:2007, a
walls or ceilings in a variety of different draft code of practice, which is considering
situations. A highly engineered lightweight Lifetime Homes as a key component of a
steel frame based on structural steel sections new generation of more accessible housing.
no more than a millimetre thick, or any kind DD 266:2007 also covers the specification
of stressed-skin construction, is unlikely to of items such as the provision for additional
score highly by comparison with structural electrics, things that are relatively cheap
timber stud-frame construction. at construction stage but infinitely more
complicated to have installed at a later date.
Lifetime Homes The original concept
of Lifetime Homes came from a piece of Consultation is currently taking place
research commissioned, published and on the extended proposals contained in
Designing in flexibility

DD 266:2007. The introduction outlines the

need for greater flexibility: ‘The Draft for
Development explains how, by following the
principles of inclusive design, general needs
housing can be made sufficiently flexible and
convenient to meet the existing and changing
needs of most households, and so give
disabled and older people more choice over
where they live.’

Part of an initiative led by the DCLG, it

includes a long overdue widening of the
scope of Lifetime Homes to reflect the
much broader range of dwelling types
currently being built and those likely to
be constructed in the future. It also takes
account of contemporary solutions to
everyday practicalities by considering issues
like underground parking, access to shared
amenity space and current construction
techniques.

Flexible plans at the Barbican

in the City of London. These
photographs and plans show that
in the 1960s Chamberlin Powell &
Bon designed some flexibility into
the flat plans, creating a study/
guest-bedroom space off the living
room of a one-bedroom flat. The
photographs show this device still
very much in use today.
Designing in flexibility 194_195

flexible sleeping/study/
twin room reduced to normal bathing spaces
size wuth separate home-
study space which meets the
twin room requirements of the Code
subdivided into for Sustainable Homes
two singles internal partitions removed
or to create open-plan living/
eating/cooking/study space,
extra-large twin with plenty
32.5m2 total
of play space

double room
works equally
well as twin

4500mm

large hall with

space for buggy
or wheelchair
and turning
circle

different storage areas

including 1m2 ‘wet and dirty’
LTH bathroom – to new flexible living/
separate kitchen/dining room
Habinteg requirements flexible eating/cooking/study
connected to living room
storage/ spaces
cupboard incorporated into utility spaces
bathroom for washing machine internal storage and ‘wet
and airing – bathroom/laundry and dirty’ storage combined
into utility room with space
for washing machine, drier,
recycling

Alternative internal arrangements to Lifetime Homes divided either into two single bedrooms or a
standards for a two-bedroom, four-person flat over different smaller shared bedroom plus a separate study/
stages of its lifecycle workroom or play space;
• living space that can be opened up to include
This layout is based on a typical rectangular the kitchen/dining room and, potentially, the
plan shell of just under 80 square metres. study too;
It illustrates some of the possible plan • different options for storage/utility space
variations that offer choice at the design – either two internal stores with separate
stage or that can be carried out over the external provision for ‘wet and dirty’ storage,
life of the building provided there are no or a single, large utility area;
structural walls within the plan itself. In • an accessible bathroom that can also function
all cases the changes can be made without as laundry room by incorporating the airing
reducing occupancy. cupboard and washing machine, or accommodate a
walk-in shower in the same space;
Particular features of the plan include: • a double bedroom that can be furnished as a
• a large twin bedroom capable of being twin and can connect directly with the bathroom
to provide an en-suite option.
Designing in flexibility

The main features of Lifetime Homes as applied to a typical

two-bedroom, two-storey house

1 Parking space capable of being widened to

3300mm.
2.Distance between house entrance and car 12
parking kept to a minimum.
3 Level or gently sloping approach to the 11
9
house.
4 Accessible threshold covered and lit.
5 Living or family room at the entrance
level. 10
6 Space identified for temporary entrance-
level bed.
7 Walls able to take adaptations.
8 Low window sills.
9 Space identified for future platform lift to
bedroom.
10 Provision for future stair lift.
11 Bathroom planned to allow side access to
WC and bath. 13
12 Easy route for a hoist from bedroom to
bathroom.
8 7
13 Sockets, controls, etc., at convenient 14
heights. 5
16 9
14 Accessible entrance-level WC (opportunity
for shower to be fitted later in three-bed or
6 15
larger homes). 16
15 Width of doors and hall allow wheelchair
5
access.
16 Turning circles for a wheelchair in
ground-floor living rooms. 4

For a full list of criteria, see www.

lifetimehome.org.uk. 2

3
The CASPAR initiative, 196_197
Leeds

In 1997 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation roof. Each flat had a balcony suspended Architects Levitt Bernstein Associates
began an initiative examining ways of funding from small-diameter steel rods from the Developer Joseph Rowntree Housing
affordable housing for single people without supporting steel frame of this roof at the Trust
recourse to public subsidy. CASPAR, as it lower end of the slope while the whole Number of dwellings 45
became known – Citycentre Apartments access balcony system was supported in the Mix 45 x 1/2B flats
for Single People at Affordable Rents – was same way at the rear. Affordable 100 per cent
a demonstration project to persuade City Parking spaces per dwelling 1
investors that a revived private rented sector Conforming to the spirit of Lifetime Homes,

ad
Ro
building high-quality, properly organised there were three lift and stair cores so all

rk
homes could produce a return equal to apartments were fully accessible. Internal

Pa
ll
the types of investment usually chosen by layouts were to Lifetime Homes standards.

ve
Lo
pension funds or their equivalents. The Each had two principal rooms with the
foundation developed a financial model, addition of a third room, designed to perform
working back from the outturn rents it wished three possible functions – extra bedroom,

Inn
to charge to arrive at an ‘all-in’ combined dining space or study – according to the

er
Rin
construction and land cost. It then promoted needs of particular households. The overall

g R
two competitive demonstration projects, one area of each flat was only 51 square metres,

et
oa

re
in Birmingham and one in Leeds. which provided a considerable degree of

St
d
internal flexibility with a minimum of space

h
rt
No
Both competitions were designed to devoted solely to circulation.
eliminate the trap confronting promoters of
New
many architectural competitions in which The form of timber-frame construction Yor
k R
the estimated cost of the winning schemes employed allowed walls to be economically oa d
proves over-optimistic, and the end result superinsulated and all windows were triple Site plan.
achieves the design objectives but at an glazed. The energy and noise-control
unaffordable price. In both cases competitors strategy was devised by Max Fordham and
were asked to set up design and construction Partners. The external fabric adopted had
teams in order to submit contractor-led, fully U-values of: walls 0.24 W/m2K; door 0.50 W/
costed schemes and to implement them. m2K; roof 0.20 W/m2K; ground floor 0.20 W/
m2K; and windows 1.40 W/m2K.
The Leeds project as submitted was
ambitious, seeking to ‘tick a number of The fabric heat loss for a typical flat is
boxes’ in addition to those the original 485W (based on 20˚C inside and –1˚C
competition brief included. As well as outside). Warming from solar gain, lighting,
aiming to develop well-designed small appliances, cooking and occupants amounts
and affordable apartments, it sought to to around 450W. The high levels of thermal
demonstrate the advantages of off-site insulation meant that the fabric heat losses
manufacture, low maintenance, ultra-efficient were substantially offset by internal heat
energy performance and flexible internal gains. If the flats were naturally ventilated by
planning to Lifetime Homes standards, all trickle vents this would result in a total flat
within a very tight timescale. heat loss of 1145W. Allowing for the heat gain
this represents a heat demand of 695W.
The location was a sloping site formed
by the curve of a slip road to an urban In order to overcome the problem of noise
motorway. The construction method chosen intrusion into the flats, mechanical ventilation
was timber frame with the kitchen, entrance was adopted. This played a key role in the
hall and bathroom made in a factory in choice of heating system. The fresh-air Right Exterior showing the red-
stained external screen/cladding
Cambridgeshire as a single ‘volumetric’ unit. supply was heated to offset heat losses from to the short access galleries
The rest of each apartment was assembled flats. By running the fresh and exhaust air off each lift and stair core.
on-site using prefabricated ‘flat-pack’ floor past each other in a sealed heat exchanger, The cladding to the volumetric
units themselves was grey-stained
and wall panels. Rising from three storeys half the outgoing heat could be reclaimed feather-edged boarding while the
at the upper to five at the lower end of the and this gave a total heating demand for a flat access galleries were designed to
be suspended from the cantilevered
site, the timber structure was capped by a of 542W. This is 22 per cent less than if the ends of the transverse steel roof
projecting steel-framed, stainless-steel sheet flats were naturally ventilated. beams.
The CASPAR initiative, Leeds 198_199

The combination boiler provided hot water

and heat to a water-to-air heat exchanger
within the heat-reclaim unit. A room
thermostat in the living room started the
boiler when there was a demand for heat.

The design rate of one-half an air change

per hour was achieved by cycling the fans
at normal speed: half an hour on, then half
an hour off. When heat was needed the
fans ran continuously at normal speed.
When cooking or running a bath, a manual
boost switch ran the fans at twice normal
speed, automatically reverting after
2 hours.

Traditional warm-air heating systems have

a reputation for problems of low humidity
resulting from the fact that the airflow
rate is based on the heating requirement
rather than ventilation. In the case of a
1:1000
leaky building, with high-infiltration heat
loss, the introduction of large volumes of
dry external air reduces the humidity in
the space. In the CASPAR II system the
low heat losses and airtight construction
minimised the airflow rate so the humidity
within the flat was no worse than that of a Above Layout plan. A single controlled
naturally ventilated dwelling with radiators. entrance leads into a central courtyard
with parking for 45 cars – an excessive
parking requirement imposed by Leeds
Fundamental to the heat-reclamation City Planning Department. Due to the
considerable slope across the site the
system and acoustic performance is landscape was stepped in triangular
the need to minimise infiltration through terraces of mown grass. At the upper
end of the site there are only three
gaps in the construction. The heating storeys, which increase to five storeys
system was designed on the basis of an at the lower end. The three lift and
airtightness of 2ac/h and the flats were stair cores serve short access galleries
1:250 at the rear, which only have to bypass
tested to ensure that this was achieved. one flat to reach the front door of the
Specifying a maximum air-change rate furthest flat at the end of each access
gallery.
has little effect unless all potential air- Left Section shows the modular volumetric
leakage paths are identified and overcome pods at the rear of each flat (shown in
transit on the opposite page) and the
through careful detailing. The pod units transverse steel roof beams, from both
were wrapped in a waterproof membrane ends of which are suspended private
at the factory. Windows were detailed balconies on the inside and access
galleries on the outside.
to minimise infiltration and letter-boxes Bottom left Flat plan. The modular
were located at ground level to avoid volumetric units include the
(wheelchair-accessible) bathroom,
penetrating the front door. hallway, kitchen and flexible study/
second bedroom. The living room and main
bedroom are constructed from ‘flat-pack’
prefabricated timber wall and floor
panels.
Above right External view at night.
Coloured lighting around the blind
arcading beneath the roof was the
product of an arts project – the colour
changed every 4 minutes.
Right Internal view of the courtyard.
1:250 Far right Construction sequence.
Profiled metal roof
Bathroom/hall and
kitchen volumetric units
carried into place

Steel roof beams Access balconies

cantilevered each suspended from roof
end to support
balconies Volumetric units
arrive on site as
Private balconies normal-width load
suspended from roof
structure

Prefabricated
timber floors and
walls of main rooms
erected separately
Modular houses at South 200_201
Chase, Newhall, Harlow,
Essex

Background + layout, Chapter 3

The principles behind the modular terrace

housing at Newhall have already been
described. As applied in terrace form, the
simplest of these houses is a two-storey, two-
bedroom house of 78 square metres, which
fits into a plot with a frontage of 4.45 metres.

Where achieving a high suburban density

is not the priority that it was at Newhall, and
plot widths can be wider, there are several
options for extending the two-bedroom house
as the demand for extra space increases
over the lifecycle of a family. To an initial
development of two-bedroom houses in
pairs on plots with frontages that are wide
enough, several options for side extensions
can be added. The first of these is a two-
storey side extension containing additional
living space with a third bedroom above. A
fourth bedroom can also be added to this,
with either a carport or a workspace on the A B
ground floor. Finally, as the diagram shows,
the space between these two extensions can
be roofed over to provide additional double-
height living space. 00 430
0
445 119 445
0 0 0
310 760
0

Arguments over the importance of flexibility

in the design of both houses and flats have
rumbled on for years. Many people have C D
no objection to moving home, downsizing
or upsizing as their needs change. Others,
having become emotionally attached to
their homes and neighbourhoods, rue the 260
0 430
0
430
0
0
380
day they chose to live in a house that was 755
0 760
0 755
0 380
0

incapable of accommodating even a loft

extension. Given these two positions, there
is clearly no such thing as one correct
E F
answer: officialdom encourages those
underoccupying their homes to move to
somewhere smaller, while the principle
behind Lifetime Homes is to make it easier
00
for people to stay put in later life. 755
0
119
840
0
430
0
0
760

Top The covered courtyard.

For those who wish to put down roots for their Above and left Diagrams showing:
adult life in one place, the idea behind these A basic two-bedroom house module; B
two-bedroom house extended to three-
modular houses by Proctor and Matthews bedroom house; C three-bedroom house
provides a practical and attractive solution. extended to four-bedroom house; D
four-bedroom house with car port
filled in to provide an office space;
E four-bedroom house with covered
internal courtyard; F pair of semi-
detached three-bedroom houses.
Right Internal view of corridor and
staircase.
Part 3_Technical issues_The
decade after World War 2
produced opportunities for a
generation of radical architects,
fired by the ideals inherent
in rebuilding a better Europe.
Taking ideas that had originated
in prewar Germany, Scandinavia
and the Netherlands and
influenced by Le Corbusier’s
published work, designers were
basing the form of their housing
designs on functional issues.
14 204_205
Environmentally
sustainable planning
and built form

The decade after World War 2 produced reductions in the availability of water and the
opportunities for a generation of radical eventual need to recycle almost everything
architects, fired by the ideals inherent in will eventually change all that, and new
rebuilding a better Europe. Taking ideas housing needs to be capable of responding
that had originated in prewar Germany, to innovations as they become imperative or
Scandinavia and the Netherlands and economically viable.
influenced by Le Corbusier’s published
work, designers were basing the form of their Leaving aside wider issues to do with
housing designs on functional issues such as neighbourhood and facilities such as public
separating cars from pedestrians, increasing transport, employment, schools, childcare,
densities, building flats and maisonettes healthcare, shopping and leisure, built
instead of houses, including large areas of form and urban design must respond to
shared open space, and providing access the increasing demands brought about by
to sunlight for all dwellings, district heating, climate change. Some of these measures are
etc. All these ideas constituted fertile ground simply a matter of laying on the appropriate
for radical design solutions and in this heady infrastructure while others can have a
situation the conventional approach to urban fundamental effect on the built form.
design and street-based layouts, which were
felt to have either been based on irrelevant Maximising passive solar gain through
suburban densities or the nineteenth-century building orientation Architects and
street, were brushed aside. urban designers have in the past used
the orientation of new housing as a major
For younger architects involved in housing, determinant in its layout, often with the
1968 was some kind of turning point, as it disastrous results that only come about when
was in many other fields. Radical architecture uncompromising emphasis is loaded on one
began to give way to social concerns, so particular feature. Organising plans so that
that around 1973, the year of the first oil every flat or house receives direct sunlight
crisis and when difficulties facing some of into one of its principal living spaces at some
the new generation of public-sector housing time of the day is always possible, except in
estates were becoming evident, there was north-facing single-aspect dwellings, which
a 180-degree turn in thinking. Designers should be avoided in any case. But that is
acquired a whole new set of concerns about different from planning all dwellings with
defensible space and privacy, conventional their principal living space facing due south
street frontages, a return to the ‘vernacular’ to take advantage of passive solar heating, as
and, above all, the question of security. this means effectively that conventional street
layouts, lined on both sides with houses, are
While there is now no question of impossible to achieve.
abandoning the hard-won lessons about
layouts based on the principal of the street It may therefore be worth concluding that
and the paramount need for security, if orientating houses and flats specifically to
targets for carbon-neutral housing are to take maximum advantage of passive solar
be met by 2015 new design solutions for gain is less important than other factors in
internal planning and site layouts have to be street layout.
found that combine all the best features of
apparently contradictory approaches. Solar collectors and photovoltaics Solar
collectors for domestic hot water are now
Attempts to ‘sell’ renewable forms of regularly installed in new housing, providing
energy as being in the interest of long-term a third of hot water needs. Some solar
domestic economy, rather than simply collectors can be installed on flat roofs, but
appealing to householders to reduce their for maximum effect on pitched roofs both
carbon footprint, are in their infancy and solar collectors and photovoltaic arrays
sustainability in all its forms is a hard thing need to be orientated to within 90 degrees
to promote on ethical grounds alone. But of due south – though efficency obviously
remorseless rises in the cost of fossil fuels, reduces considerably towards the extremes.
Environmentally sustainable planning
and built form

As the goal of achieving zero energy by

2016 approaches it is important to future-
proof all new housing by ensuring that both
options can be retrofitted without altering
roof structures. This provides interesting
opportunities for designers in terms of the
profile of roof slopes, which need to vary
according to whether streets are running
north–south or east–west.

Heat recovery and whole-house ventilation

As architects mourn the passing of the
traditional chimney as an important design
element and component in roofscapes,
the ‘chimney’ in revised form is making a
comeback. Next to thermal insulation and
airtightness, whole-house ventilation with
heat recovery is becoming an essential
component in reducing the energy required
for space heating and to provide the
necessary minimum number of air changes.
The twenty-first-century chimney is most
unlikely to be constructed of brick or any
other form of masonry, and its function is
akin to a modern ship’s funnel in providing a
casing to house all the ventilation needs of a
single house or block of flats.

Storage for twenty-first-century

lifestyles Being able to store conveniently
all the kinds of possessions that we acquire
at various stages in our lives, from cycles to
buggies, let alone all the different items for
recycling, becomes more challenging as
densities increase, and a shed in the rear
garden without direct access to the street
is no solution. In this respect the design of
urban housing has progressed very little from
the Victorian and Edwardian model in spite
of a recognition that we all own much, much
more and that it can’t be stored just inside the
front door or, worse still, in the front garden.

It is noticeable that people living in sought-

after locations are prepared to put up with
the lack of storage in their highly prized flats
or houses, and use all manner of ingenious
means to compensate. But as densities
inevitably increase in locations that are not all
that sought-after, a terrace house or flat must
incorporate convenient storage into the basic
design if it is to be sustainable in the long
term. (Some of these issues have been dealt
with in Chapters 5 and 6.)
Granville New Homes, 206_207
Kilburn, London NW6

Background + private open space, Chapter 6 create a hierarchy of open spaces at different
scales and levels in the new buildings, from
This is replacement housing for part of the window boxes on balconies and roof terraces
unloved 1970s’ South Kilburn Estate. To make to extensive green roofs. There are also front
it possible for residents to move once from and back gardens to family units as well as
their existing homes straight into their new shared gardens and a ‘pocket park’. Roofs
homes, avoiding an interim move away from take on a particularly important role for both
the neighbourhood, the new scheme had to residents and wildlife, and they provide
fit on a tight and irregularly shaped piece of positive overlooking to both the street and the
‘leftover land’. It also involved negotiating communal gardens.
the challenges of fitting in liveable dwellings
at high density while minimising impact on Repetition is further avoided by the External view showing community
facility built into the street
neighbours and the environment. positioning of generous cantilevered corner.
balconies that also provide shading to
The scheme does this by innovatively prevent excessive solar gain. Additional
adapting the historic precedent of the narrow shading to large windows without balconies
gaps often found between Victorian terraces above them is provided by projecting
– characteristically seen in the adjoining canopies designed in a similar language to
conservation area as well as many others the balconies.
around the city – into more generous ‘urban
breaks’. This simple re-establishment of the Sedum roofs play a significant role in water
traditional street pattern, a contemporary retention by delaying run-off and reducing
reinterpretation of a typical Georgian or localised flash floods. Rainwater is collected
Victorian terrace, not only breaks the rhythm and stored underground with a pumped
of the roofline and the façades, but most system for irrigation. At higher levels, the
importantly allows the sun to penetrate into roofs have solar evacuated tubes mounted
the (communal) gardens behind. It also horizontally, designed to provide a total of
allows each dwelling to enjoy high levels of 30 per cent of the estimated heat energy
daylight, reflected sunlight and good natural needs (water and space) and around 15 per
ventilation. cent of all energy demand.

Sunlight and daylight are both reflected by Although the architects moved the building
having the flank walls and recesses of the line back to accommodate mature trees
building breaks finished in rendered white along Granville Road, during site clearance
panels. A similar strategy has been used for it became obvious that several trees could
the rear façades in order to reflect daylight not be retained during construction, and they
into the open spaces but also to minimise any were replaced with similar mature species.
visual impact or loss of light to the existing
dwellings surrounding the development. Granville New Homes was built as a result
The pattern of the random brick slips to of a limited architectural competition. This
the front façades has been taken from the winning entry proposed many innovations (as
mottled effect of buildings originally built the diagram opposite shows), not all of which
using London stock bricks that have now have been included in the built scheme.
weathered unevenly. After much consultation with residents, ideas
such as the inclusion of allotments in the
The second environmentally sustainable communal gardens were not thought to be
urban-design principle was to turn the practicable by the residents’ steering group
potential negative loss of shared open space and were omitted from the later proposals.
into a positive gain. A substantial portion of
Granville New Homes is built on a patch of
land that was low-quality and unused, but
open space nonetheless, the loss of which
is always a potentially sensitive issue. The
intention behind the layout and massing is to
 Above Rear shared garden.
Below left Evacuated-tube solar
panels.
Below Original diagram from the
competition entry showing the
environmental principles built
into the design in a form that
could be easily explained to
residents.

housing-book_14.indd 207 20/9/10 17:00:43

Midsummer Cottages, 208_209
Milton Keynes

In 1994 the new city of Milton Keynes, the energy-efficency measures originally Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
unarguably the most successful of the UK’s installed. All occupants are shared owners Developer Midsummer Housing
postwar new towns, promoted and made and neither of the interviewees had been in Association with URBED + Joseph
land available for an international exhibition, their houses for more than five or six years. Rowntree Foundation
‘Futureworld’. The aim was to demonstrate It was clear that the houses are popular Site not applicable
‘the latest in house designs, building and considered to be well planned and Number of dwellings 5
techniques and materials, energy efficency comfortable. Both households, particularly Density not applicable
and environmental control’. In addition to the houseowner with small children who Mix 1 x 2B + 2 x 3B + 2 x 4B
the various housebuilding companies that had only turned on her central heating once Affordable 100 per cent shared
participated, a local housing association (in 2009) in the six years since she moved ownership
secured a site to construct five houses with in, expressed strong satisfaction with the Parking spaces per dwelling 1
the aim of fulfilling all of those objectives. thermal performance of their homes.

In detail, the solution offered included: If the above-average thermal performance

energy efficency can be attributed to the first four passive
1 highly insulated external envelope measures built into the houses – 1–4 in the
(U-values: walls 0.2, roofs 0.15, floors 0.25); list – virtually nothing can be attributed to the
2 triple-glazed windows; active measures – 6, 7 and 8. The low-energy
3 low external air leakage (<3ac/h at 50 Pa); lighting did not survive the original sales
4 high thermal mass to store solar energy team in 1994 who thought the houses would
and other heat surpluses; sell better without it! Some progress has
5 gas-fired condensing combination boilers; indeed been made since then.
6 mechanical ventilation and heat recovery
(1ac/h) controlled by humidity sensors; Neither interviewee was aware of the central
7 summer cooling/winter warming of ventilation and heat-recovery system, nor the
incoming air using ‘earth tubes’; summer cooling/winter warming effect of the
8 low-energy compact fluorescent lighting; earth tubes, as the humidity-based control
9 water economy using rainwater butts. sensors had long since been removed. Both
owners recalled seeing these sensors when
elimination of hazardous materials they moved in but, in the absence of any
10 low embodied energy of materials and briefing from their housing association, they
components; either removed the sensors themselves or
11sustainably sourced materials; had them removed by local tradesmen, who
12 four-compartment refuse and recycling did not know what they were either!
store;
13 no CFCs or HCFCs in materials and If there is a lesson to learn from Midsummer
finishes. Cottages it is that the inclusion of any
equipment to generate renewable energy in
low skill content in construction individual dwellings – photovoltaics, solar
14 solid masonry external-wall construction panels, heat-recovery systems, heat pumps,
to encourage low-skill labour training; biomass boilers, domestic CHP, etc. – is
15 construction to exploit simple on-site only viable where occupants are committed
technology. to their upkeep and to seeing a financial
return on the additional capital expended
anticipation of lifestyle changes on their installation. This probably rules out
16 no load-bearing internal walls; virtually all affordable housing. However, the
17 ‘knock-out’ floor panel for future additional passive measures, such as higher
wheelchair lift. standards of insulation, thermally super-
efficient glazing and airtightness, are the only
In January 2009, 15 years after the houses cost-effective ways to ‘future-proof’ all new
were first occupied, two of the five current homes for rent and shared ownership unless Right The front elevation in 2009.
owners were interviewed with the aim of responsible landlords can afford to provide By contrast with the photograph
on page 210, this shows overgrown
trying to find out how the houses were constant training and monitoring. front ‘gardens’ and poor attention
performing, particularly in respect of to the timber cladding.
Midsummer Cottages, Milton Keynes 210_211

Right The front elevation

on completion in 1994. The
houses, set well back from the
road with parking spaces in
curtilage, would always have
needed constant care, as would
the timber cladding.
Below Plans of all five houses.

1:250
Above The group of five
houses as first completed,
designed to operate with
a whole-house ventilation
system.
Below House fronts
in 2009, no longer
distinguishable as a
single composition due
partly to the differing
approaches to gardening.
RuralZED™ 212_213

RuralZED is the brainchild of architect Bill the second an energy mortgage, the monthly
Dunster and his ZEDfactory. It is intended as payments of which would be balanced by
a practical demonstration of the application savings on utility bills.
of the principles of building truly sustainable
housing in a rural context, suitable for the In explaining their proposals, ZEDfactory
70 per cent of the UK that is built or planned writes: ‘The ruralZED system is
at densities up to and including 55 homes constructed from a relatively small number
per hectare. RuralZED is a town-building of prefabricated components that are
product and programme that uses the initial delivered to a construction site in flat-pack
community construction process to create form, numbered and packed in the correct
the infrastructure and skills to generate a sequence to facilitate fast erection on site,
permanent legacy of income-generating with maximum weather protection and
local business – effectively future-proofed by security. This strategy saves transporting
delivering the highest standards of the Code the large volumes of air usually associated
for Sustainable Homes rather than importing with prefinished prefabricated pod and room
bulky and expensive components. systems.

The plan – designed around the central ‘For larger schemes requiring a minimum
idea of a community of people committed to of 250 units per year with a wide variety of
combating climate change – has more than home types and sizes, it would be possible
a touch of idealism about it. In a tough area to set up an on-site computer-controlled
with the usual problems brought about by laminated-timber machining plant – locating
social and economic deprivation, the local a permanent industry within the community
crime-prevention officer would have much that might go on to export home kits to other
to say about some of the security aspects of smaller sites after the original construction
things such as houses that can be accessed programme has been built.
from both front and back. And there would
need to be serious commitment from all ‘It should take about a day to drive a cluster
residents to maintain the ‘public realm’, of short-bore prefabricated GGBS concrete
especially the ‘pocket parks’, the green- mini-pile foundations – creating no drilling
finger allotments, etc. spoil, and potentially saving 80 per cent of the
embodied CO2 compared to a conventional
As with so many measures designed to mass concrete strip foundation with concrete
address and ameliorate the effects of climate block and beam ground-floor slab. The
change, this is a plan that might need to be piles have simply adjusted stainless caps
administered through a very local collective that allow accurate direct connection to the
management structure in which all members ruralZED laminated-timber frame absorbing
of the community would have a financial tolerance in both plan position and height.
stake regardless of their tenure. Prefabricated incoming services sleeves and
access chambers can then be laid in place
There is much more to the idea of ruralZED in precision-dug trenches – allowing future
than the physical fabric of the housing connection to centralised site-wide services.
itself. In very general terms ZEDfactory
aims to solve the funding gap cited by ‘A simple demountable rainproofed shelter
UK housebuilders as the reason they are housing an electrically powered overhead
unable to market the idea of zero-carbon crane rail allows premachined laminated
housing in this sector of the market. The timber columns and beams to be bolted
ruralZED house could be initially built and together in self-aligning jigs in dry working
marketed as a Code level 4 home but with conditions – with an all-terrain forklift
a Code level 6 building fabric (HLP 0.8W/ delivering the assembled portals to each
m2/K). The purchaser would then retrofit the plot and hoisting them into position. This
renewables using two sources of funding, strategy of predrilling and prefabricating
the first of which would be the stamp duty all connections enables a typical two-storey
relief attracted by a Code level 6 house and three-bedroom structure – including
 Pocket park

High density

Pocket park

Pocket park

Village
Pocket park green
Community
hall & barrow
market

Landark
community
Pocket park

Pocket park

Low density

Layout plan for a rural

settlement suitable for an eco-
town. Note the allotments in
prominent locations at the rear
of houses and on footpath routes.
Although the density varies from
one end of the site to the other,
the number of shared spaces,
long front gardens and footpaths
suggest a community that would
need to work together in order
to minimise service charges and
to ensure that the public realm
does not become unkempt.
ruralZED™ 214_215

dovetailed floor joists and cladding rails – renewable electric package is included in
to be erected in one day by the fitting team. the ruralZED kit of parts, using special bulk-
purchased fit-and-forget mono-crystalline
‘A weatherproof breathable membrane PV panels, which clip on to the south-facing
mechanically fixed to the walls, floor and roof slopes of the pitched roof-surfaces. It is
with clamping batons protects the frame from critical that the masterplan is designed
wind and rain, and a simple airtightness test to optimise the output of solar-electricity
is undertaken before adding any external generation, with careful attention to
cladding or internal finishes. This greatly overshading and sunlight rights to individual
facilitates any remedial work, needed to households.
demonstrate compliance with the onerous
airtightness standards required by the new ‘A low-embodied-CO2 kitchen option made
Code for Sustainable Homes. This test is from remanufactured salvaged kitchens is
repeated after the prefabricated, prepainted offered. However, most customers wish to
and preglazed timber windows, doors and choose their own components.
rooflights have been installed – making it
easier to identify any air leakages that may ‘A ruralZED garden kit has also been
occur under pressure and ensuring the developed with Garden Organic at Ryton
thermal efficiency of the completed near-zero (part of the Henry Doubleday Research
heating specification home. Internal walls Association) to maximise the biodiversity of
and ceilings are then lined with thermally the new home, garden and roof surfaces,
massive prefabricated polished eco-concrete paying particular attention to maximising the
wall and floor slabs, or vaulted extruded useful horticultural productivity of the double-
terracotta ceiling bricks designed to fit glazed sunspace (where seedlings, herbs
between exposed timber joists. and citrus fruit can be grown out of season)
and vegetable production within raised
‘A range of external wall-cladding options – beds integrated within the plot boundary
from durable thermally treated timber to lime fences. A communal herb-garden design and
render and locally sourced weatherboarding communal fruit-orchard layout are available
or extruded terracotta mathematical tiles for larger projects, completing the edible
– allows the finishes to vary to suit local public landscape concept. Local garden
preference. Roofs can be sedum or zinc centres will be able to supply the planting
or aluminium standing seam or clay tile, list from stock, and only common indigenous
depending on pitch and planning constraints. species have been specified. Front and rear elevations of a
prototype three-bedroom house.

‘A ZEDfabric zero-carbon thermal ‘A detailed illustrated manual describing

services kit – comprising a windcowl with each component, calling off the fixings and
passive heat recovery and ductwork kit, relevant tools, demystifies the ruralZED
prefabricated external woodpellet boiler assembly process to enable almost any
and pellet store with DIY-ESCO community motivated and competent individual
software, heat-metering hot-water cylinder or self-builder to become expert after
controls and pump set, and solar thermal witnessing and participating in a couple
collectors with roof-mounting kit – is included of builds. The ruralZED team provides an
as the base specification in every ruralZED experienced project manager who assists
build, and can be easily adopted by most with technical queries, and inspects build
local plumbers without requiring specialist quality – certifying the quality of completed
training in renewable-energy components constructions and providing the builder with
or design. By integrating all electrical and a photographic snagging survey to enable
control elements within the intelligent hot- the completed construction to meet ruralZED
water cylinder, it is as easy to install as any standards of durability and environmental
other basic tank, with complex solar-specific performance. This simple process potentially
elements already within the component. enables local erection jobs to be created
from a relatively unskilled but motivated
‘If Code level 6 is required, a simple labour pool at any site larger than 24 units.’
Above Perspective views of a
ruralZED eco-settlement.
Right Floor plans of a typical
three-bedroom house showing framed
construction and two-storey
sunspace.
15 216_217
Sustainable structures

Chapter 13 covered aspects of the rates of UK homes suggests a need for an

extraordinary legacy of the Victorian and almost infinite life for any new home and
Edwardian housebuilders, which has allowed makes it worth analysing the non-traditional
their terrace housing and purpose-built construction methods now being advocated.
flats to be so successfully adapted and
converted for present-day lifestyles. But this Building on the principle that all successful
legacy was very much an accident. The housing goes through subtle changes of use
emphasis here is on current different forms during its lifecycle, this section examines the
of construction, some of which promise to various types of construction employed, both
be just as adaptable, and more scientifically now and over the past 40 years, to see what
engineered than their historic predecessors. can be regarded as permanent (layout and
infrastructure, foundations, superstructure,
Most of the homes built before 1914 and etc.) and what can be regarded as adaptable
still standing today were houses, some (external skin, mechanical services, internal
extremely large and subsequently converted space planning, etc.). The objective is to
into flats, but the majority were terrace provide ways of going forward that will avoid
houses of no more than four storeys. Now, the enormous waste involved in grinding up
as UK densities steadily increase, engineers whole buildings into pieces the size of golf
are involved in the design of housing balls every couple of generations.
structures in two distinct ways: the first – for
volume housebuilders – involves rolling Layout and infrastructure
out economical structures for two- and Since the wholesale spread of individual
three-storey low-density houses and flats; freeholds for newly built housing in the
in contrast, the second involves designing 1930s, usually on low-density suburban
largely bespoke structures for high-density estates or, until 1939, lining all the main roads
multi-storey flats and maisonettes. In the in and out of town, land assembly for the
former the emphasis is on lean engineering redevelopment of even poor and run-down
to provide the most economical structural houses has proved extremely difficult. It is
solutions with increasing amounts of off-site hard to imagine decisions being taken to
fabrication – a consequence of which is tear up established suburban roads with
limited scope for subsequent adaptability. all the attendant problems of underground
The latter relies on mainstream framed services and road closures now or at any
construction, which does provide greater time in the future. Such wasteful planning
scope for alteration in the future. of semi-detached houses, or more recently
detached houses only a couple of metres
Leaving aside a low-risk approach to apart, lining roads to nowhere, needs to be
sustainability based on traditional forms replaced by layouts that provide the same
and materials, commercial pressures advantages of lower densities – larger
and the lack of interest displayed by the gardens in particular – without such
buying public make it understandable that profligate waste of space.
few volume housebuilders show much
concern for the ultimate longevity of the Foundations
homes they produce. On the other hand If the Victorians handed us down a useful
bespoke structures give their designers, legacy of flexible structures it was not
and the teams of which they form part, more often built on firm foundations. The use of
opportunity to consider a whole range of Portland cement instead of lime mortar was
sustainability issues – from climate change not widespread until after 1918. Until then
to the future adaptability of homes based on foundations for houses were always too
demographic and lifestyle changes. shallow and consisted of a few courses of
spread brick footings that were incapable
Given the urgent need for building new of resisting ground movement. Strictly
homes, the current emphasis has to be on speaking, no foundations are capable of
speed and economy of construction. But a resisting ground movement, which will occur
glance at the miniscule annual replacement under all foundations. However, the shallower
Sustainable structures

the foundations the more susceptible steel or concrete, which are uneconomical
they are to significant movements. Major for buildings of less than five storeys, are
changes occurred in foundation depths inherently adaptable.
after the hot summer of 1976 and there
has been a very significant improvement in Concrete-panel structures, or in-situ
the performance of foundations built after ‘tunnel form’ concrete structures (which
that time. have high embodied energy anyway),
don’t take kindly to having holes punched
Foundation methods in use now, covered by in them. They score highly for their
much more stringent Building Regulations, thermal-storage properties and work
often involve concrete piling with ground well in combination with houses or flats
beams on brownfield sites and deep strip designed to make use of passive solar
concrete footings for buildings of not more energy. Arguments abound on both sides
than three storeys where ground conditions as to whether ‘heavy’ structures cope
permit. Given that modern methods of better than ‘light’ structures in terms of
construction are tending to produce lighter general comfort in hot weather but there
superstructures, it is possible to imagine is plenty of evidence to suggest that solid
the reuse of these later, better-engineered masonry constructions do not heat up as
foundation systems – provided, of course, quickly as lightweight structures in summer
that the records of how they were built temperatures.
also survive.
Some concrete systems endeavour to
Superstructures hide electrical services in conduit within
Conventional load-bearing ‘brick and walls and horizontal slabs. With the benefit
block’ construction is likely to continue of experience, this is surely a profound
its decline in the scramble for leaner, mistake: there are already too many
quicker systems with increasing amounts examples of 40-year-old structures in need
of off-site fabrication. Systems to consider of new or upgraded electrics where the
include those involving conventional steel original conduit has proved impossible to
frame, concrete frame, and various types rewire. A much better solution – and this
of steel, timber or precast concrete-panel will be a constant refrain – is a loose-fit
construction. design for the electrics and other services
as a completely renewable package that
The last inevitably brings to mind the does not affect the structure when it needs
experiments in concrete construction of the to be replaced.
1960s and 1970s. But where these failed it
was largely because of poor construction In-situ concrete frames in combination
quality, inadequate seals, and short-life with concrete floors are widely used for
cladding materials that were combined multi-storey flats at heights beyond the
with insufficient attention to issues of economic use of lightweight steel or timber
condensation, cold bridging, thermal frames. They are slower to erect than
insulation and ventilation – all factors that steel frames but perform well in terms of
are now much better understood. fire protection and the transfer of sound.
The subsequent attachment of structures
As superstructures become ever more such as cantilevered balconies is a more
specialised and highly engineered, the complex operation than simply bolting on
potential for adapting or reusing them to a steel frame, but in every other respect
depends largely on whether they are based they are equally adaptable.
on frames or load-bearing panels. Post-
forming large openings in load-bearing Cold-rolled lightweight steel-framed wall
wall panels, mostly used in the construction panel or steel volumetric construction
of two- and three-storey houses and flats, is now widely used for houses or flats,
can be difficult to achieve. On the other reaching heights up to eight storeys, which
hand, framed structures, either of hot-rolled were unimaginable only a very few years
Sustainable structures 218_219

ago. These are highly engineered structures from moisture ingress or from condensation,
mostly fabricated from thin-guage cold-rolled which is avoided by installing a breather
steel sections formed into framed load- membrane between the frame itself and
bearing panels, usually with welded joints. whatever external skin is applied. These
There is therefore very little margin for error membranes are fragile and the greatest risk
in terms of steel corrosion and it is imperative is from careless workmanship rather than
that these structural members are completely faulty specification.
protected from exposure to external
weathering and interstitial condensation for But structural, load-bearing timber frame is
the whole course of their lives. a highly engineered product normally based
on storey-height vertical studs with similar
They are not structures designed to have section head and sole plates. It acquires
much spare load-bearing capacity and rigidity by providing a plywood or OSB
although it would, in theory, no doubt be (oriented strand board) membrane on the
possible to make additional openings in external face. This effectively turns each
floor or wall panels in 30 years’ time, this frame into a rigid diaphragm that can only be
would involve a thorough understanding of altered or have openings made in it after a
the structure, for which the original drawings thorough engineering analysis.
and calculations are highly likely to have
disappeared. Timber-frame structures are more tolerant
of alterations to small-scale mechanical
Due to their low thermal mass, these services such as domestic rewiring or local
structures only work well in combating pipe runs than either concrete or lightweight
excessive passive solar gain if all other steel-framed structures, but their inherent
aspects are considered, including through combustibility requires the structure itself to
ventilation to take advantage of night cooling. be protected to a half hour standard of fire
resistance if less than 5 metres high and one
Hot-rolled structural steel frames are also hour if more than 5 metres.
widely used in multi-storey flat construction
at heights above the normal maximum for The external skin
either lightweight steel or timber frame, Provided no attempt is made to disguise
or where larger internal spaces or more the underlying construction by making
flexibility of layout are required. Compared the external skin appear to be structural
to in-situ concrete frames, they are quick to through the use of what seems to be load-
construct and recyclable, but require careful bearing brick, a huge range of materials are
measures to provide adequate fire protection available. As with many other differences
and to prevent the transfer of sound via the between ‘urban’ and ‘suburban’ or rural
frame itself. In most other respects they housing, there is still a public perception that
are eminently flexible but, having a lower equates the first with the use of contemporary
thermal mass than concrete, suffer the mechanical surfaces that are not designed
same disadvantages as lightweight steel to weather, and suburban or rural with
in dealing with overheating from passive traditional materials that are designed
solar gain. precisely to become textured with age.
Discounting natural stone as being beyond
Structural timber frame, by far the the means of most housing designers and
most common of all the non-traditional their clients, two materials, brick and timber
construction methods, is back in general used as cladding or rainscreen, bridge that
use after being brought to an abrupt halt divide between urban and the suburban and
after the exposure of sloppy workmanship rural. And both are capable, when carefully
on national TV in the 1980s. This is a quality- detailed, of weathering satisfactorily.
control issue but, constructed correctly, there
is no reason why a structural timber frame At some stage during the lifecycle of
should not have an indefinite life. As with ‘sustainable’ housing structures, their
lightweight steel frames, the greatest risk is external surfaces, if they aren’t brick or
Sustainable structures

possibly timber, may need to be replaced.

Apart from surfaces applied wet, such as
render, the range of materials developed for
urban housing typologies – metals, coated
aluminium, glass, ceramics or composite
resin impregnated panels – are all intended
to remain pristine.

Generally the surfaces themselves have good

weathering characteristics but after, say, 30
years the joints and fastenings look tired and
pattern stained. Only timber and brick used
as cladding acquire the weathered patina
that can confer a feeling of permanence in an
otherwise constantly changing urban scene.

Whereas cladding to upper floors has to

provide little more than the properties of
a rainscreen and can therefore be chosen
from the range of lightweight materials, the
lowest floor needs to cope with surface wear,
splashing and even impact. The structure at
that level therefore needs protection using
heavier, more resistant materials such as
non-structural brick, concrete or tile. The
extra weight can be supported directly
from foundation level, while the lightweight
rainscreen above can be hung off the
structure at each floor level.

Another measure of ‘sustainability’ applies to

housing outside urban contexts. Residential
buildings in suburban or rural settings
need to form part of the unchanging natural
landscape, neighbourhood or street scene.
Surface texture therefore becomes much
more important, especially where the
external surface meets the ground and
provides support and a natural background
for planting.
Park Hill, Sheffield 220_221

Much has been written about this huge for affordable rent, stripping the original Architects Hawkins\Brown and Studio
concrete-framed Modernist scheme in the flats and maisonettes back to the concrete Egret West
decades since its completion in 1961 and crosswall structure and replacing each Developers Urban Splash Limited with
much has happened to alter the national cluster of four flats (consisting of a one-bed, Sheffield City Council
scene in terms of social housing. When Park two two-beds and a three-bed maisonette) Site 13.29 hectares
Hill was conceived by Ivor Smith and Jack with an ingenious five-flat cluster containing Number of dwellings 985 (originally)
Lynn, entirely as social housing for rent, more small units. However, the recession of Density 69 dwellings/hectare
Sheffield was near to having full employment 2008–9 caused the developer to reconsider Mix not finalised
Parking spaces per dwelling 0.72
and architects were coming up with its original choice of apartment size, reverting
(originally 0.2)
ambitious ways of satisfying the unmet need to a mix more closely resembling the original
Non-housing uses 6000 square metres
for affordable, that is social, housing. but retaining the same division of tenures.
of retail, community and medical
facilities
The facts about Park Hill – now the largest Another of the most contentious issues, that
listed structure in Britain – are astonishing: of managing mixed-tenure housing, is likely
985 flats in a single deck-access complex, to be successfully overcome at Park Hill due
re
ua
Sq
rk
Pa

owing much to the then pervasive influence to the incorporation of a 24-hour concierge.
of the ideas of Le Corbusier, whose Unité In the first phase there will be approximately
d’habitation in Marseille had been completed 85 flats served off each of three cores and
only ten years earlier. The architects’ vision approximately this ratio will be maintained
was to create ‘streets in the sky’, 3.5 metres across later phases. Each core will have a

Du

Bernard Street
ke
wide, every third floor. Because of the secured lobby at ground level and a main

St
re
et
topography of Sheffield these 2 miles (more 24-hour concierge will operate from the new

et
re
St
than 3km) of ‘streets’ connect with existing stair and lift core adjacent to the four-storey

f
ea
Sh
streets at their southern end. And Park Hill ‘cut’ in the middle of the north block, which
was not only equipped with district heating is likely to remain the principle concierge
but it also boasted the Garchey system of point for all of the phases. The concierge

South Street
centralised refuse disposal. will monitor comings and goings from all
cores and will also collect parcels and large re
et

Park
St
ot
lb
Held in popular and critical esteem for 20 deliveries adjacent to the main lobby. Letter Ta

years, the prejudice against large scale, post will be delivered to each front door,
Modernist, concrete-faced, mono-tenure distributed traditionally along each street by
estates eventually caught up even with this the Post Office.
ad
Ro

internationally celebrated building. But while

ry
bu
ws

its popularity waned it was listed Grade 2* in

re

The proposals for Park Hill include the

Sh

1998 and in 2004 a competition was held to construction of a new multi-storey car park to Site plan.
N

determine its future. This was won by Urban increase the provision from 20 to 72 per cent
Splash, which had established itself as a and this will also be placed under the control
highly successful and innovative developer, of the concierge.
with Hawkins\Brown and Studio Egret West
as architects. Apart from the concrete superstructure, what
is being reused? It is intended to employ
Since 1990 the policy for the southern half of as much of the existing infrastructure as
England had been to persuade developers possible. The Sheffield District Heating
and their customers to accept the principle System will continue to provide hot water to
of mixing tenures as indistinguishably as the whole of Park Hill and the existing service
possible. However, Urban Splash had built trench and risers will also be reused – the
their reputation on developments containing original planning of the building allows
very little affordable accommodation in the for efficient and fairly flexible reuse. New
city centres of Manchester and Liverpool, incoming and outgoing pipework will be
where it was considered that there was needed, but the distribution will be the same.
already an imbalance in favour of affordable
rented homes. At Park Hill, Urban Splash’s Obviously this is a costly refurbishment given
proposals involved ‘pepperpotting’ a third the requirements for the concrete frame to
of the new accommodation with homes be repaired (in line with English Heritage’s
Above Photograph taken after
the original external skin and
non-structural partitions had
been stripped out in 2007–8, in
preparation for the entirely new
configuration of flats and insulated
outer skin to be fitted.
Below Aerial view taken in 1962.
Note the steep changes in level
that enabled the ‘streets’ at
every third floor level to connect
with the ground at some point.
Park Hill, Sheffield 222_223

requirements for a Grade 2* listed

building) and the costs of protecting the
frame during a complex partial demolition
of the existing façade and its replacement
by a thermally efficient external skin. It
should, however, represent a triumphant
saving in terms of embodied energy and
continue Park Hill’s established reputation
as one of the principal landmarks of central
Sheffield for many generations to come.

1:1000

Top layout plan

Above Typical upper-floor configuration
including new flat layouts. 1:250
Examples of new flat layouts fitted
into the existing structural cross
walls.
Greengate House, Plaistow, 224_225
London E13

Greengate House is a locally listed building underground car park, a benefit that would Architect Levitt Bernstein Associates
in Plaistow, south of Stratford in East London. have been impossible had the basement not Developer Tower Homes, part of London
It dates from 1919, belonged to the local existed already. & Quadrant Group
authority and was originally designed as a Site 0.373 hectares
charitable hostel, even boasting a swimming The rear of the site, the former tennis court Number of dwellings 64
pool. At the back, an outdoor recreation turned car park, supports two low-rise Density 171 dwellings/hectare
space with a tennis court and bowling buildings, mews-like in scale, with a more Mix 29 x 2B + 35 x 1B
green had degenerated into a car park. The suburban street frontage to the south. The Affordable 40 per cent shared
ownership, 60 per cent market rent
building was subsequently adapted as a new buildings on the north, east and west
Parking spaces per dwelling 0.5
local-authority arts facility and then became boundaries are grouped around a central
completely disused. landscaped courtyard to which all residents
will have access. Gabion baskets filled
Tower Homes, a specialist arm of the with demolition rubble form the remaining Cav

d
e R

d
Roa
oa
London & Quadrant Group, was searching boundaries. Green-roof and green-wall

Roa
d

th

ir
for opportunities to provide flats for local technology soften the new forms where

Per

Cla

reet
keyworkers, following an initiative pioneered they abut the adjoining gardens of two-

St

ad
St Quintin Road

ush St
d
by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in their storey houses, and are a key part of the

ng Ro
Roa
CASPAR schemes in Leeds and Birmingham sustainability agenda of the project.

th

Hollyb

Barki
Per
(see Chapter 13). The CASPAR principle
was to build high-quality accommodation for The retained façade to Greengate Street Greengate Street

key workers, without public subsidy and at has a number of discreet interventions to

lose
affordable rents. Absence of subsidy when render it reusable and to signify the change

Gad C

doa
combined with the need for low rents always of use. It also sets tall storey heights that

a R
gol
poses a challenge to developer and architect are observed throughout the new structure

Don
alike, and partly accounts in this case for the behind it, allowing the deep plans to have
very high density in a largely suburban area. better daylighting. Site plan.
N

The scheme has passed through two

competition stages followed by a number
of design stages. Several of these involved
clearing the site altogether, as the existing
building is of little intrinsic merit, apart from
its sheer volume. However, partial retention
of the existing concrete-framed structure
and its façade has clearly helped to achieve
a higher density than would otherwise have
been possible. The design finally chosen
is therefore a compromise that satisfies
local concerns about removing a landmark,
however incongruous.

The redeveloped site provides 64 units of

affordable housing for key-worker groups.
The retention and conversion of the front
6 metres of Greengate House enables the
building’s public presence to be maintained
as a locally admired asset while the rest of
the building is demolished to make way for
a new wing of accommodation within the
original footprint.

Beneath the original building was a full

basement containing a swimming pool,
and this space is now being reused as an
 Top South facing elevation to the
new internal courtyard
Below The existing listed street
frontage determines the new higher
density overall building envelope
in an otherwise suburban setting

housing-book_15.indd 225 20/9/10 17:01:16

Greengate House, Plaistow, London 226_227
E13

B
A A

1:1000

Top Layout plan showing new

interlocking courtyards with a
mixture of flats and maisonettes for
various key worker groups.
Left Section A–A showing the reuse
of the basement for car parking
and the access gallery behind the
‘green wall’; and section B–B
through the three-storey rear
block with cutaway roof to avoid
overshadowing.
Bottom, left to right One-bedroom flat
behind listed elevation to street;
ground-floor flat to rear three-
storey block; typical one-bedroom
flat in the main block; first- and
second-floor maisonettes in rear
1:1000 three-storey block.

1:250
 Top Shared rear courtyard
Below ‘Green wall’ on the north
side of access galleries to avoid
overlooking adjoining properties.

housing-book_15.indd 227 20/9/10 17:01:35

16 228_229
Considering ‘cost in use’
at the design stage

Left and right Weekend family house,

Wiltshire, completed in 1964. The
brief for this small house on a
steeply sloping rural site was
that it should be maintenance-
free. The design was based on a
single roof plane parallel to
the slope of the land, with deep
overhangs all the way round so
that all rainwater was thrown
clear of the external walls. The
timber roof fascia is clad in
zinc with an Eternit slate roof
through which nothing projects.
The external surfaces are either
hard burnt brick, glass or
unpainted Douglas fir. To date none
of these surfaces has needed any
maintenance, a record that can be
attributed to the roof details and
especially the overhangs on all
four sides.

Architects are inventive people. When the interior in every detail mirrors the
they embark on a new project they feel architecture of the whole building. Examples
they have not given their best unless they of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses
can work a degree of originality into the can be found in which the principal rooms
design, believing that they will principally with their plasterwork, joinery and fire
be judged on their ability to innovate. And surrounds are as timeless as the exteriors.
the innovations can be about big things Of course there are well-designed housing
like planning, or small things like the developments that continue to function
materials used, or the way the parts of the satisfactorily after 60 or more years, even
building fit together. if they now need to be adapted to meet
the impact of climate change or changes
Repeating what has been done before in household demography. But only
seldom wins awards. However, repetition of exceptionally is internal design integrated
what has been done before, over and over with the overall architecture in the same way.
again, is all around us, and much of it is
based on tired and unimaginative thinking These examples of housing, especially flats
that does not meet the challenges of today, and particularly the differences between
let alone the future. Small wonder that one tenure and another, are worth studying
imaginative designers feel a strong impulse as they contain lessons for architects,
to strike out in new directions. showing that good design is about applying
good design judgement, understanding the
Housing can fail in a number of different building process and not making unrealistic
ways. At its extremes it fails either because assumptions about the end-user.
it was misconceived in the first place or
because it was built in a way that made it Fundamentally, buildings which in other
unsustainable in the long term. respects fulfil their function satisfactorily
This chapter is not about individually can still ultimately fail in one or all of
commissioned, privately owned bespoke three ways: impractical detailing leading
houses, many of which have lasted hundreds to water or damp penetration; poorly
of years already and look set to last hundreds planned mechanical services; and failure to
more. In the best of these the design of understand the expectations of the end-user.
Considering ‘cost in use’ at the design
stage

At this point many architects engaged in which the architect would produce typical
the conceptual stages of housing design details and the builder would then draw
will protest that ultimate responsibility for and apply them to every condition. Then,
keeping the rain out or making sure the in the early days of the Modern Movement,
pipes and wires can be maintained easily is experimentation in the use of new materials
often beyond their control; by the time that was led by the architect, with the contractor
stage of design work is reached they have largely abdicating responsibility. If, for
been replaced by another design team, often instance, the architect and the engineer
appointed by the contractor, which does not between them specified a 150-mm solid
have the long-term interests of the building fairfaced, painted reinforced-concrete
as its principal objective. external wall, all the contractor had to do
was to make sure it was built as drawn,
The three causes of failure regardless of any problems that might
Detailing Architects regard innovative develop later.
detailing, the choice of materials and the
ways they are used as important parts of their Over time this division has become more
role as designers, but always and inevitably pronounced. Left on their own, builder/
with an emphasis on their visual impact. In a developers always repeat what has been
conventional full-service contract the builder built before. The details they employ are safe,
usually defers to the architect and, in doing conventional, usually bland and rely heavily
so, ensures that he is responsible only for the on manufacturers’ proprietary solutions.
quality of workmanship, not for the details Failures are rare, but when they do occur
themselves. Under a design/build method they usually result from the selection of
of procurement, it is the contractor who will cheap materials. By contrast, architects of
make the ultimate decision over important bespoke designs almost of necessity take
details; the emphasis is more likely to be on an unconventional approach to external
economy and much less on visual impact. detailing, rather than tried and tested
alternatives. Naturally, the plaudits, when
This tension has roots going back at least they come, are earned for the immediate
into the nineteenth century, perhaps to the response they receive from their peers, the
end of the Arts and Crafts movement, before technical press and their clients, often in that
Considering ‘cost in use’ at the design 230_231
stage

Weekend family house, Wiltshire,

axonometric.

order of significance. Few architects base stage is not encouraging, often a result of the
their reputations on the staying power of client’s desire to get design services cheaply
schemes they designed five, ten, or twenty by not employing an independent consultant
years earlier, and they are encouraged by engineer. Instead, the client relies on a ‘free’
the attitude of many of their patrons, whose service from a sub-contractor, usually only
concerns for cost in use are strangely appointed when the building design has
unscientific. reached a relatively advanced stage.

The mechanical services dilemma Apart In some building types – retail and offices
from the interest generated by the impact of come to mind – the routing of services and
climate change on the field of mechanical their replacement when they reach the end
engineering, the whole approach to its of their life can take place as part of each
design in housing is curiously old-fashioned, periodical refit, but in housing this is just
given its over-riding importance to the not a practical option. Dismantling a large
function of ‘home’ in the twenty-first century. proportion of the interior of flats and houses
The way advice is obtained at the design in order to reach and replace the services
Considering ‘cost in use’ at the design
stage

can only be achieved by persuading the of one tenure compared with another, but
occupants to live somewhere else for maybe a robustness factor ought to be in
the duration of the work, not a very likely there as well. Car-hire companies rent out the
scenario for those in social housing. At an same kind of cars as those sold for personal
early stage designers need advice on the use: do rented cars have a much shorter life
optimum vertical and horizontal routes, on average?
combined with a strategy for replacing them
– planned obsolescence – as they reach the Questions about the operation of heating and
end of their lives. ventilation equipment and the use of housing
designed with features to take advantage of
Understanding the expectations and passive heat and ventilation are covered in
habits of the consumer On the whole we Chapter 17.
(the collective we, not just architects) don’t
pay enough attention to the lifestyles of the
people we design for, making some things
over-robust and others not robust enough,
hardly ever being encouraged to revisit
the homes we design after 15 years of
occupation to see whether the assumptions
that were made in terms of design priorities
were justified.

A perennial problem for ‘developers’ of

housing designed for rent is that they don’t
know how the homes they produce are going
to be treated by successive generations of
tenants. Experience shows that if the design
and fit-out is tough and basic there will be a
reaction from tenants expecting something
more sensitive – but these examples are
likely to be far outnumbered by social
landlords who have had to pick up the bill
for flats and houses that have been used
very harshly. In order to design responsibly
it is important to know, for instance, whether
bathrooms, showers and kitchens that sit
on timber floors and are surrounded by
lightweight partitioning can withstand the
ill effects of careless use. These can be so
fundamental that they cannot be remedied
simply by the cyclical replacement of fittings.

Certain patterns have emerged from

studying records of maintenance and
replacement. The average lives of a kitchen,
a bathroom and a central-heating system in
rented housing have been recorded for years,
although it would be interesting to know
how the figures for rented housing might
compare with owner-occupation or shared
ownership of exactly the same standard of
accommodation. The current discussion
on producing ‘tenure-neutral housing’ tends
to focus around the space requirements
Bradwell Common 2, Milton 232_233
Keynes

In 1983 Milton Keynes Development private landlords. The result is a public Architect Edward Cullinan Architects
Corporation completed three schemes that realm that is poorly maintained but just about Developer Milton Keynes Development
were similar in size, density and brief by survives. There are no boarded-up empty Corporation
well-known and highly respected architects: houses, no burnt-out or abandoned cars, and Site 3.41 hectares
at Oldbrook by Colquhoun and Miller, at people do move to the Bradwell Common Number of dwellings 158
Bradwell Common by Edward Cullinan estate out of choice. Density 46.3 dwellings/hectare
Architects and at Heelands by MacCormac, Mix 16 x 1B + 24 x 2B + 110 x 3B +
8 x 4B
Jamieson and Prichard. If challenged about why more effort and
Affordable initially 100 per cent
resources are not put into the maintenance
Parking spaces per dwelling 2
Although all were built without public of the public realm, and particularly the
consultation or participation they reflect four potentially beautiful shared greens, the
the change then coming over the design of local authority would no doubt plead poverty
publicly funded housing, in strong contrast resulting from the need to keep tenants’
to the preceding 25 years of unrelenting service charges affordable. But this would
Modernism. Choosing Bradwell 2 to be an excuse rather than an attempt to find a
illustrate the thought processes involved solution, and it is not the purpose of this short
in designing with cost in use in mind does critique to explore the future management of
not imply that Oldbrook or Heelands were social housing.
designed without taking this factor into
account. Indeed, it is quite possible that the What does stand out is the survival of the
good sense employed by the designers at design, the architecture of the housing itself
Bradwell was simply the result of working and the ideas behind the layout.
with an intuitive architectural language of
frequently used details, which they employed Basically, the whole scheme consists of
to great effect in the massing and assembly simple timber-framed forms with shallow,
of forms. In his critique of the three schemes front to back, concrete-tiled and pitched
(The Architects’ Journal, 9 February 1983) roofs with deep overhung eaves, elegantly
Roger Stonehouse commented that ‘there is rationalised rainwater downpipes, and
no attempt to apply an arbitrary measure of timber-clad upper floors above a facing-brick
complexity or ambiguity to make the forms lowest storey. The houses, mostly two-storey,
artificially interesting, as is the present face a simple grid of streets so that their
architectural trend in housing’. private rear gardens open on to one of the
four landscaped greens. The design is
How well has it survived? To answer robust enough to withstand the inevitable
this question you need to separate the replacement by the local authority of every
design and what it has achieved from the window and doorframe using uPVC, and
management regime and what that is, in even the impact of tacky uPVC screens
broad terms, not achieving. erected to enclose some of the original
recessed front porches is reduced by the
Although Bradwell Common is still sheer variety of simple massing alternatives
owned by the local authority, the Thatcher offered by the many single-storey lean-to
government’s ‘right to buy’ legislation has roofs that project from almost every house,
ameliorated what would otherwise, by now, front and back.
be homogenous 100 per cent occupancy by
tenants on very low incomes. In most cases The original choice of external materials
it is possible to pick out the houses that are – brick and timber – obviously had a lot
owned rather than being rented, but the to do with cost, but the brickwork to the
distinction is less marked than one might houses as well as the robust perimeter
expect – many owners struggle to fund their brick walls defining the front curtilage of
mortgages, let alone pay for new fences at houses are surviving well. Even the timber
the back of their gardens. And of course it cladding shows little sign of disintegration
is highly likely that some houses are owned after 25 years, although what the current
by private individuals who choose to live management regime may eventually replace
elsewhere, preferring to be irresponsible it with induces a shudder.
Rear view of houses around one
of the four communal greens.
Simple roof plans and details
have allowed these timber-framed
and timber-clad houses to weather
well in spite of insensitive uPVC
window replacements.
Bradwell Common 2, Milton Keynes 234_235

However, the lack of investment is most

evident in things like the wooden fencing
to the gardens leading out on to the green
spaces, by now broken down. A collective
effort of will is needed to renew it all in a
uniform way.

Designing shared spaces at the rear of

private gardens went out of fashion on
security grounds in the 1980s, and the
combination of lush vegetation and alleyways
could almost have been designed as
escape routes for burglars. But at Bradwell
Common the overwhelming argument for
creating such spaces can be seen. It’s
a green and peaceful environment and,
properly managed, a good and safe place
for children to grow up in. The simple forms,
architectural vocabulary, and practical
detailing of all the housing is an object lesson
in designing with ‘cost-in-use’ in mind.

1:2500
Above Layout plan. A simple grid
of streets lined with two- and
three-storey terraces along the
street frontages. Rather than lay
the houses out with their gardens
back to back they enclose four
greens to which the houses have
access via gates at the ends of
their gardens. At the southern
end a bund has been formed with
intensive planting to eliminate
noise from a main distributor
road. Inevitably there are
problems, not only with the upkeep
of these spaces and the mature
planting in them, but also the
generosity of provision is fertile
territory for some anti-social
behaviour.
Right However, as the photographs
show, the houses themselves,
including a small number of flats,
are standing up well.
17 236_237
Design for sustainability

Santa Monica, Los Angeles,

California. An apartment block
incorporating PV panels as
external cladding on the south-
facing elevation as part of the
architecture.

Designing with zero energy in mind kind. At this point the heat produced from
All new housing must be ‘carbon neutral’ by domestic appliances, lighting, computers,
2016 but so far developers and the buying plasma TVs, etc., makes a significant
public have shown little enthusiasm for contribution to meeting demand.
paying the extra costs involved or accepting
a different approach to design. Although the By combining these three factors the actual
target of achieving carbon neutrality is clear space-heating requirement is reduced to a
and unequivocal, the means of achieving it minimum (and is delivered most efficiently
are constantly changing, as measures that by underfloor heating). However, achieving it
were thought to be impossibly uneconomic has a considerable impact on the thickness
only a very few years ago suddenly become of external walls and roofs and the amount of
necessities. The problem for designers is to glazing, as the table opposite shows.
produce design solutions for homes that have
to be adaptable enough – future proofed – to Comparing PassivHaus standards with The
accommodate the changes that are bound to Code for Sustainable Homes’ level 5 using
occur between now and 2016, and beyond. the Energy Savings Trust’s recommended
This is not made any easier by the technical U-values (walls an roofs 0.15; roofs 0.13;
experts and manufacturers, among whom windows 1.3), Code level 5 standard is
there is only a certain measure of agreement still not as high as the German PassivHaus
on the best ways forward. standard, which requires 0.1 or better for all
elements apart from windows (U-value of 1).
Reducing the demand for heat Fortunately, The same goes for airtightness (UK Energy
there are several absolute priorities on Savings Trust recommend 3:1 or better
which practically everyone agrees – all compared with PassivHaus 0.5:1). Effectively,
new homes must be superinsulated to this means that in the UK we aspire to
PassivHaus standards or the point at which, achieve the PassivHaus standard, when in
in combination with airtightness and whole- effect even the highest Code level would not
house ventilation with heat recovery, there perform as well as its German equivalent.
is virtually no need for space heating of any Apart from some small differences in climate
Design for sustainability

U-values and wall thicknesses

Building Code level 3 Code level 4 Code level 5/6

Regulations
U-values Maximum U-values Maximum U-values1 Maximum U-values1 Maximum U-values
walls 0.35 walls 0.25 walls 0.20 walls 0.15
exposed floors 0.25 exposed floors 0.20 exposed floors 0.20 exposed floors 0.15
roofs 0.25 roofs 0.13 roofs 0.13 roofs 0.13
windows 2.2 windows 1.5 + windows 1.4 + windows 1.3 +
BFRC C rating BFRC B rating BFRC A rating
external doors 2.2 external doors 1.5 external doors 1.5 external doors 1.5
(glazed); 1(solid) (glazed); 1(solid) (glazed); 1(solid)
External wall
thickness
brick/140mm min. 335mm min. 375mm min. 405mm min. 465mm
concrete blockwork (min. 80mm EPS) (min. 120mm EPS) (min. 150mm EPS) (min. 210mm EPS)
+ EPS insulation –
k-value 0.035
External wall
thickness
100mm metal stud min. 215mm min. 255mm min. 295mm min. 345mm
+ cladding or (min. 90mm EPS) (min. 130mm EPS) (min. 170mm EPS) (min. 220mm EPS)
render + EPS
insulation –
k-value 0.035) 1
EST recommended

between the two countries, it is unclear why and biomass can provide the remainder
this should be and why the Code currently – if the source of biomass is genuinely
allows UK developers to meet level 5 or sustainable. While it would be possible
even level 6, supposedly ‘zero carbon’, to increase the capacity of solar panels to
when effectively the heat demand could be satisfy 100 per cent of the winter demand
reduced still further. for hot water and space heating, this would
require a giant array on the outside of the
Energy from sustainable sources As the building, with significant cost implications,
superinsulation standard increases, the and would also mean excessive provision
demand for electrical energy to assist in in summer temperatures. Most solar
the provision of renewable heat becomes collectors are sized to provide 60–70 per
secondary to the demand for power to drive cent of hot water demand with nothing left
domestic electrical equipment. Nevertheless, over for space heating. The water comes
with solutions for sources of renewable heat out of these arrays at >90 degrees C in the
rapidly evolving, virtually all – including heat summer and at around 40 degrees C in the
pumps and solar panels – need electrical winter. In winter, water heated to 40 degrees
input of some kind. Only solar space heating C needs to be heated to 60 degrees C on
through a conservatory or sunspace or heat a fairly regular basis to stop the Legionella
supplied from burning biomass in either an bacterium building up.
individual or a central boiler are truly carbon
neutral. In any case, solar space heating is Any solar thermal system must have a heat
less useful as the thermal performance of store and a capacity of 250 litres works well
a dwelling increases. The body heat of one for dwellings. For a thermal store to be of
person working from home is greater than sufficient capacity all the year round it would
the solar gain of a 2-square-metre window have to be very large and therefore not
facing south throughout the year. cost-effective.

For water heating, solar panels can provide Part of the issue is balancing the optimum
about 50 per cent of the average requirement angle at which panels are mounted for
Design for sustainability 238_239

summer, spring and autumn with the steeper Off-site manufacture and achieving zero
angles needed to get any kind of benefit in energy
winter, which is why installers tend to use For ten years designers and the construction
optimum angles for autumn and spring. In industry have been experimenting with
a combined underfloor and space-heating ways of reducing site time, overcoming
system, the underfloor component would labour shortages, improving supply-chain
probably only be augmented during management, eliminating waste, improving
spring and autumn, leaving most winter the quality of finishes and tackling
requirements to be met from elsewhere. airtightness, through ‘off-site’ manufacture.
No single technique has emerged that
In energy terms the next step towards satisfies every situation but this section
achieving zero-carbon homes therefore revisits several of them to see how they are Houses at Freiburg, Germany. The
entire roof surface is made up
involves electricity, and here the situation standing up to wear. of PV panels; these produce a
is shifting rapidly. On the assumption that considerable surplus of electrical
power and have a capital payback
most sites are unsuitable for small-scale Over the previous 60 years architects had period of only six years.
wind turbines able to meet total domestic been fascinated by the prospect of rolling
demand, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) out homes from a factory. The perennial
fuelled from a sustainable source, such as problems have always been those of
biomass, together with photovoltaic cells, is design standardisation and repetition and
the most obvious solution. From large central the need to guarantee sufficient quantities
systems serving whole neighbourhoods of the same product to get the cost down
down to individual domestic installations, the to affordable levels. Efforts to produce a
scale and practicality of CHP is changing range of standard house and flat types,
too frequently to be prescriptive here, as applicable to many different locations in
is the availability of biomass as a source of order to guarantee continuity of production,
energy, but it seems unlikely that 100 per have not to date been successful. In contrast,
cent of electrical need will be supplied from there have been more successful hotel- and
photovoltaics for some time. As densities student-accommodation programmes
increase there is simply not enough roof area or breakthroughs in the manufacture of
on blocks of flats to support an effective PV completely fitted-out bathroom ‘pods’. If
array. There are already examples of flats off-site manufacture were to succeed, the
where the external, south-facing cladding is volume housebuilders’ ranges of loose-fit,
composed of PV panels. However, installing low-density house types would surely be
PVs vertically and facing south reduces their involved in the breakthrough.
efficiency by 30 per cent compared to a
south-facing pitched PV roof. Although an element of prefabrication is
potentially a real answer in low-energy
Grid electricity is more then twice as energy design, there is a limit to how far it can be
intensive (0.43 kg CO2/kWh) as gas from taken. Taking as an example a development
the grid (0.19 kg CO2/kWh). This means, for of houses on a tight urban site, the
example, that heat from electrical radiators, prefabrication of whole houses might actually
when the power is supplied from the grid, result in lower environmental standards,
is more than twice as polluting as standard simply because over-standardisation loses
radiators supplied by gas from the grid. the opportunities offered by working within a
particular site context and these are essential
As long as the source of electrical power to low-energy design. For example, a living
is free from CO2 emissions – which, apart room should have different window openings
from nuclear energy, means supply from and proportions depending on which
renewable sources – other options for direction it faces or where other buildings
generating low-temperature heat such as obstruct access to sunlight on particular
heat recovery, air-to-air or ground-sourced parts of a site.
heat pumps, both significant consumers of Prefabrication by volume builders has not yet
electricity, become environmentally viable happened on any scale. Nevertheless, slowly,
and preferred over gas sources. almost imperceptibly, the manufacture of
Design for sustainability

larger and more complex components off site contains a significant amount of embodied
is becoming commercially viable through the energy due to the manufacturing process for
manufacture of bathroom ‘pods’, complete Portland cement. Recent research has shown
external wall panels and sometimes kitchens. that concrete foundations are the biggest
By imposing few limitations on overall design embodied-energy element of any new house;
flexibility, it is beginning to make commercial the more ecologically built the house, the
sense to prefabricate these labour-intensive higher is the embodied-energy proportion of
components under factory conditions. the concrete foundations.

Ignoring for a moment the different materials But concrete does have one distinct
used, off-site prefabrication falls into two advantage over other off-site methods in
categories: ‘volumetric’ and ‘flat-pack’ environmental terms. Provided the concrete
construction. is kept on the inside of the external wall
system, with the insulation and whatever
Volumetric manufacture exists in several is the preferred cladding on the outside,
different forms, employing either steel or it acts as a thermal store, absorbing heat
timber as the basic structural material. As when the internal temperature rises and
a system its most obvious advantage is discharging stored heat when the building
the ability to supply completely fitted-out would otherwise be cooling down. Concrete
modules including all fittings, services walls and floors are ideal for houses and flats
and fixtures in sealed units, with very short designed to absorb as much passive solar
on-site construction times. Its most obvious heat as possible by means of a sunspace
disadvantage is that, although there is or conservatory and this is an increasingly
little limitation on the maximum length of important factor as we move towards zero
rooms, normal transport regulations mean carbon for all new housing. Looking at
that the internal width can be no more than long-term sustainability, it is inadvisable
3.3 metres. Costs tend to be a shade higher to introduce either electric or plumbing
than conventional construction but can be services into precast concrete wall and
less overall if the time on site is taken fully floor panels as they have invariably proved
into consideration. Possible storey heights impossible to replace, even when run in
become progressively more ambitious both conduit. This places limitations on lighting
for timber and steel but six storeys for timber positions, switch drops and later adaptations/
and up to eight for steel is a reasonable rule replacements, etc.
of thumb.
Lightweight steel frame There are several
Flat-pack construction using concrete, lightweight structural-steel-frame systems,
steel or timber is more versatile and less all based on similar principles, some of
costly than volumetric. There is virtually no which have been in use for up to ten years.
constraint on room sizes beyond the normal The production method takes CAD data and
limitations of floor spans, and the labour fabricates rolled structural sections from
needed on site in constructing wall panels, thin (0.8–2.4mm) galvanised-steel strip,
complete with windows and doors, and floors welded into rigid frames, some of which
and roofs is considerably reduced. are then pre-insulated using rigid foam.
Most applications to date use prefabricated
In general terms, there are three alternative wall panels to replace the traditional load-
structural materials suitable for the off-site bearing inner skin of cavity-wall construction,
manufacture of housing: precast concrete, assuming some form of masonry external
lightweight steel, and timber frame. skin or other rain screen.

Precast concrete is probably the most Although the thermal properties of this type
challenging in terms of cost; economical of lightweight steel construction are good
precasting requires extensive repetition due and can be enhanced to achieve the highest
to the investment required to make moulds, required standard, there is very little thermal
usually from steel. Concrete is a material that mass in either steel or timber construction
Design for sustainability 240_241

and if passive solar gain is a built-in feature of areas are then contributing to overall heat
the design high daytime internal temperature loss. While external shading can be designed
peaks can be expected in summer. Problems to reduce unwanted heat gain there is no
over interstitial condensation affecting useful means of capturing heat for use when
lightweight steel frames have been reported temperatures drop.
from Canada; these echo the problems with
Airey steel frames experienced in the UK Taking advantage of passive solar gain
after World War 2. and capturing some of the heat is just one
of many measures necessary to combat
Timber frame Of the three most common climate change, achieved via an unheated
structural materials, timber is the most sunspace. Because they demand an
frequently used, the cheapest and the most understanding of how they can be used to
suitable for medium to small degrees of best effect by the householder, opinions
repetition. As with lightweight-steel frame on their universal effectiveness and the
panels, timber-frame wall panels, consisting measures needed to deal with overheating in
of vertical studs with horizontal wall and sole summer are divided. To take full advantage,
plates braced on one face with a rigid OSB doors between inner living spaces and
board, can be fabricated from CAD data, any kind of sunspace must remain closed
although obviously not in such an automated when the sunspace temperatures are
way. In their most common form, timber- lower than the inside temperature and
frame panels are engineered to replace the there is no sun, and opened only when
inner load-bearing skin of a traditional cavity the air temperature in the sunspace rises
wall. Insulation fills the cavities within the above that of the rest of the house. Heat
thickness of the timber-frame panel and there gain through passive solar works most
is usually an inner lining of plasterboard. effectively in tandem with structures that
Since it has to be kept dry and free from have high thermal mass, absorbing solar
condensation, the outer, boarded face has energy when available for slow release when
to be covered with an absolutely intact layer it is not, but high thermal mass does not
of breather membrane to which ties can be feature strongly in many of the construction
attached. These are then built into a masonry methods now being employed. Unwanted
external skin or some form of lightweight heat build-up in summer has to be reduced
cladding such as timber. by a combination of external shading and
passive ventilation.
Allowance has to be made for timber frames
to shrink after erection on site. If the building We do build potentially thermally massive
rises to five or even six floors the cumulative structures (inner concrete block and
amount of shrinkage can be considerable; concrete floor slabs for example), but
details have to allow it to take place without negate their effectiveness by covering them
allowing any masonry external materials with plasterboard or suspended ceilings,
suddenly to become load-bearing. Of all the immediately cancelling out the potential
materials used in off-site manufacture, timber of thermal mass. Looking at the Energy
is the most receptive to the installation of Savings Trust’s recommended U-values for
electrical and plumbing services within the masonry external walls for Code level 5 and
structure and to their replacement when they 6 dwellings, the wall thickness goes up to
are worn out or obsolete. at least 465mm, as opposed to 345mm for
a metal-frame wall or 335mm for current
Making the most of passive solar Building Regulations. Building to PassivHaus
Obviously, all windows orientated anywhere standards with 0.1 U-values increases the
in the sun’s path will contribute towards solar thickness to at least 515mm.
gain inside a building, but only when the sun
is out. The larger the glazed area the more Using less water
temperatures rise when the sun shines – with As with renewable energy, the first steps
the likelihood of too much heat gain – and fall towards using less water are relatively simple
when there is no sun at all and large glazed and inexpensive but become progressively
Design for sustainability

more expensive as we move towards Current strategies for reducing all kinds of
the eventual goal of 80 litres per day, the domestic waste stem from climate change
government target, by 2016. and the need to make drastic reductions
in CO2 emissions from landfill. Separating
The first steps, changing to water-saving waste at source is much more efficient than
fittings, have an impact on specification bulk containerisation and the most basic
but not on design. They are followed by approach to recycling involves separating
arrangements for the storage of rainwater, dry from residual waste. More common than
usually underground, for use in flushing these two streams is the adoption of three:
toilets, watering gardens and washing cars. organics, dry waste and residuals, with
Beyond that point further savings are only separate storage for glass and hazardous
made by installing separate drainage for the items such as batteries.
waste water from baths and showers (‘grey
water’), as distinct from foul drainage (‘black The separation of domestic waste for
water’), so that this water can be processed recycling is having a considerable effect
and recycled for general domestic use, on planning the interior and exterior layouts
excluding washing and anything to do with of both houses and flats. Within the home
washing. There are compact devices already it means having a single gathering point,
on the market for capturing water from usually in the kitchen. If built into the kitchen,
showers, basins and baths to flush WCs, separating waste at source internally usually
with localised technology installed in each involves compartmented below-worktop
bathroom. storage space: 1 x 600 mm floor units. More
importantly, it involves much more storage
Managing waste outside the dwelling – that is, three bins
There are two main strands to the issue of 60 litres internally – and a response to
of waste and buildings; waste during whatever system of collection is applied
construction and eventual demolition, and by the local authority, some of which have
the disposal of household waste during a doorstep collections while others rely on
building’s lifecycle. householders depositing all their recyclables
in Eurobins on the street. Much more
Reducing or eliminating waste during centralised systems for collecting and storing
construction is a growing discipline but rubbish are bound to follow, especially for
one which is extremely difficult to achieve. new large-scale high-density schemes that
It should go without saying that, as housing have been provided with major infrastructure,
forms the largest part of the national building such as the underground vacuum system
programme, its importance as a source at Hammarby in Stockholm (see pages
of waste should not be underestimated. 268–271).
Construction of properties in the UK
produces 70 million tonnes of waste per All schemes for multi-storey flats must be
annum – 17 per cent of the UK total – and provided with a store for bulky refuse (beds
the UK also produces 30 million tonnes of and mattresses are usually the largest
demolition building waste each year. As objects) as well as separate spaces for
a general principle, off-site manufacture the number of bins needed for different
reduces the generation of waste. Otherwise categories of recycling. These have to be
there is little that can be done at the design provided inside the secure zone of the
stage to reduce waste during construction, common circulation.
which is down to the organisational skills
of individual contractors. Again generally
speaking, the less room there is on
site for storage the greater the wastage
through damage to unfixed materials. New
regulations require all projects to have ‘site
waste-management plans’ prepared for
them.
Solarsiedlung, Freiburg, 242_243
Germany

For a visitor from the UK the immediate This difference of 2850e finances the extra Architect Architekturbüro Rolf Disch
impression of this development is such that investment. As for the extra capital investment Developer Solarsiedlung GmbH
it is difficult to understand why such a clearly for the PV itself, there is a subsidised credit Site 1.1 hectares
stated demonstration, beautifully designed from a state bank and after six years this Number of dwellings 59
and engineered, is not being rolled out investment is paid off. There is a feed-in Density 53 dwellings/hectare
across every town and city in Europe. guarantee over 20 years so that after the first Mix variable between 2, 3 and 4
six years the PV is adding to the household bedrooms
It consists of 50 south-facing two- and income. For an average house this would be Affordable none
three-storey houses in short terraces laid about 3000e.’ Parking spaces per dwelling 0.4 + car club
out on a 1.1-hectare site. The site is shielded and remote multi-storey
from the main road by a three-storey building Along the rear, north-facing wall of the latest Non-housing uses retail and
commercial, 5500 square metres
accommodating 5500 square metres of retail, houses are two core modules placed one
commercial and office space, on top of which above the other. These ‘Power Boxes’ contain
are nine two-storey apartments in pairs, very the kitchen and bathroom, services control
similar in form to the houses themselves. room, staircase, entrance lobby, cloakroom,
utility room and downstairs WC – virtually all
The residential construction is modular the complex parts of the house, which have
timber frame, clad externally in stained been fitted out in the factory.
timber and with triple-glazed windows. As
the houses have south orientation the south There are no affordable tenancies in this
elevations are almost entirely glazed and scheme. In the UK context it requires a
have a small external garden/patio. The roofs degree of imagination to think of these
above have a deep overhang that is designed houses, which embody a considerable
to cut out overheating in summer but to allow additional investment in renewables, being
passive solar gain in winter. occupied by affordable tenants without a
strong commitment and interest on the part of
The south-facing slope that accounts for the tenants and a great deal of support from
about two-thirds of the total roof area is not their landlord. However, as the Solarsiedlung
merely covered with PV panels because architect points out, predicted rises in energy
these PV panels are the roof itself. They costs suggest that this kind of prototype
generate a considerable surplus of electrical points the way for affordable housing in the
energy, which is sold back into the local grid very near future.
on a tariff that exceeds the price at which it
is normally purchased. These houses are
not simply zero energy – they are surplus
energy, producing more than they use. While
the householders obviously do consume
energy, the net production of solar electrical
power exceeds the net consumption of all
energy. The actual surplus of an average
house is 36kWh per square metre per year.
The incentive to install PVs for individual
house owners is an additional income stream
that can repay the original capital investment
in approximately six years.

To quote the architect: ‘The investment

(excluding the PV) is about 10 to 15 per
cent higher than the same house would
cost if built in accordance with current
compulsory EnEV standards. For the average
Solarsiedlung house, heating costs are about
150e a year, as opposed to an estimated
3000e a year for a conventional house.
All house and apartment roofs clad
with PV panels face due south. The
south-facing elevation treatment
and the roof overhang are designed
for passive solar gain. In the
background is the three-storey
‘barrier’ block of commercial and
retail fronting the main road with
a row of two-storey maisonettes at
roof level reached by a pair of
lift and stair cores.
Solarsiedlung, Freiburg, Germany 244_245

1:1000
Above Solarsiedlung masterplan
showing plans of south-facing
houses, flats and maisonettes
together with the commercial
barrier block along the main road
frontage.
 1:500
Above Plans and section of Solar
Ship.
Right Plans of two typical terrace
houses.

1:250
Solarsiedlung, Freiburg, Germany 246_247

Above Rooftop view of the houses

from the south showing the huge
area of PV panels.
Right Diagram shower the volumetric
‘Power Boxes’ containing all the
mechanical components of the
houses.
Top left Houses from the rear.
With all houses facing south it
is inevitable that each has its
principal windows facing the rear
elevation of the house in front.
Above West elevation.
Top right The PV-panel roof viewed
from below.
Left View of apartments.
Bottom right Principal living room.
The Lighthouse 248_249

The designers and manufacturers of the layout carries the vertical loads of the Architect Sheppard Robson
Lighthouse claim that it is the UK’s first net open-plan frames above and provides Developer Kingspan
zero-carbon house that also meets the Code stability to the load-bearing shear walls. It is
for Sustainable Homes level 6, the standard constructed using Kingspan Off-Site’s TEK
to which all new homes must be constructed Building System, a high-performance SIPS
by 2016. It is designed to encourage lifestyles (structurally insulated panel-based system)
that are inherently ‘light’ on the world’s that provides high levels of thermal insulation
resources, balancing the practical needs of and performance – U-values of 0.11W/m2K
homeowners with a response to the climate and air-tightness of less than 1.0m3/hr/m2 at
change expected in the UK. 50Pa – potentially reducing the heat loss of a
standard house by two-thirds.
The project is the result of long-term
collaboration between the developer The foundations are offsite timber floor
Kingspan, architect Sheppard Robson, cassettes on a ring beam of timber beams
engineer Arup, construction consultant Davis supported off the ground level by screw-
Langdon and landscape architect McFarlane fast pile heads. The piles involve minimal
Wilder. The prototype was constructed at the disturbance to the ground and provide
Building Research Establishment in Watford suitable supports for domestic-scale
in June 2008 and will remain on the site for dwellings. When the building reaches the
four years while the building’s performance end of its useful lifespan, the fast foundation
is monitored. support point can be removed.

The design and construction of the house Technical design

proves that a carbon-free house is achievable The design of the Lighthouse embodies
but it places responsibility on both the a response to predicted increases in
technologies and the user. It is a living temperature due to climate change, achieved
experience that relies on occupants adapting through a combination of design techniques
their lifestyles. and systems.

Design Solar gain and shading At level 6 there

The heart of the design concept for the is a mandatory heat-loss parameter that
Lighthouse, the prototype of which is a demands high U-values for the building
93-square-metre, two-and-a-half-storey fabric – 0.8 watts/m2K for the windows and
two-bedroom house, is an ambition to create 0.11 watts/m2K for the walls. As a result the
homes that are attractive, adaptable spaces ratio of glazing to wall in the Lighthouse
designed for modern living, intuitively is 18 per cent rather than the 25–30 per
integrating sustainability. The environmental cent of traditional houses. This drove the
systems and construction methods should decision to locate the living space on the
not compromise the quality of the occupant’s first floor, enabling daylight and volume to
life but add to it. It has also been designed in be maximised with a top-lit double-height
line with Lifetime Homes standards. living space. Shading to the west elevation is
provided by retractable shutters restricting
Structure The Lighthouse has a simple direct sunlight and minimising heat gain in
barnlike form, derived from a 40-degree roof summer. Although future temperatures in
accommodating a PV array. The sweeping the UK may reach levels similar to southern
roof envelops the central space – a generous, Europe, the sun angle will remain low.
open-plan, top-lit, double-height living area,
with the sleeping accommodation at ground Selective thermal mass Phase-changing
level. The living space uses a timber-portal material in ceilings absorbs the room heat
structure so floors can be slotted between by changing from solid to liquid within
the frames or left open. microscopic capsules embedded in the
board. This process is reversed when the
Stability is achieved through the moment room is cooled with night air, working with
connections at first-floor and ceiling level. the passive system of the wind-catcher. Right Prototype of the Lighthouse
At ground level a timber-frame structural exhibited at the BRE in Watford.
The Lighthouse 250_251

Mezzanine Roof plan

Mezzanine Roof plan

Above Diagram illustrating all

sustainability measures to achieve
a Code level 6, zero-carbon house.
Right Floor plans indicating the
timber-frame system. Ground floor 1:250
First floor
The prototype house showing
internal and external details,
including the glulam principal
structure.
Moho, Manchester 252_253

Developer Urban Splash, with ShedKM as private sector. In most previous applications Architect ShedKM
its architect, set out its proposals for the the units have been arranged with a narrow Developer Urban Splash
Britannia Basin site in Castlefield in line with frontage – a product of the maximum Site 0.219 hectares
the recommendations of Sir John Egan’s 3.6-metre module width transportable by Number of dwellings 102
report on rationalising the construction road without an escort – and deep plans. To Density 465 dwellings/hectare
process. The scheme consists of 102 create a mixture of accommodation sizes Mix 39 x 1B + 39 x 1B plus + 24 x 2B
apartments in various sizes and types. two such units then have to be placed side Affordable 40 per cent
These are based on a modular steel-framed, by side. But by rotating the module through Parking spaces per dwelling 1
factory-produced, prefabricated residential 90 degrees, the window frontage of a room Non-housing uses ground-floor retail
unit. With a series of additional clip-on is no longer limited to 3.6 metres and the
components including balconies, dining base module can be extended in length
pods and a further bedroom, they provide to accommodate an extra bedroom, the
high-quality compact accommodation for governing transportation dimension being
outright sale and rent. the width and not the length.

The scheme forms part of a second phase of Once the modules have been installed,
a development by Urban Splash, extending stacked on top of each other, an external
the regeneration of the Britannia Basin area, framework is constructed into which a series
offering further types of accommodation in of supplementary prefabricated elements
addition to those already provided by the is fixed. This louvred framework provides
earlier Timber Wharf and the Box Works. The shading from the summer sun, while allowing
proposals for Moho (modular housing) work the lower angle of the winter sun to provide
within the overall masterplan for an area passive solar gain. Balconies, dining pods,
that includes Timber Wharf, also by Urban louvred screens and balustrades infilling the
Splash with Glen Howells as architect, based framework all give a layered appearance
around a new pedestrian street. The Moho to the elevation, adding further diversity
site forms half of the city block with frontages to the three basic apartment types: 39
on the new pedestrian street, Ellesmere one-bed (38 square metres); 39 one bed
Street, and Arundel Street. These all contain plus (42 square metres); and 24 two-bed
new commercial space to activate the (54 square metres).
street frontages at ground-floor level, below
six floors of residential accommodation The developer’s brief identified the fact that a
arranged around a central courtyard. significant number of city-centre apartments
were outside the price range of many
The plan is based on single-aspect flats with first-time purchasers and key workers within
either an east, west or south orientation and the city. Moho was designed to respond to
views out either on to the street frontages or this, building on prototypes such as Murray
on to the private internal garden courtyard. Grove in the London Borough of Hackney,
questioning every aspect of construction
The Ellesmere Street elevation contains the and reinterpreting it to provide homes that
main entrance to the scheme, which allows positively and outwardly celebrate the
views from the street into the courtyard, part aesthetic and technology of prefabrication.
of which is a raised garden planted with
mature trees. This provides space below Obtaining mortgage finance for modular
it for residents’ storage and cycles, as well construction was an obstacle that had to
as the ventilation plant for the two levels of be overcome before the scheme could go
basement parking. Access to the flats is ahead, and this was eventually achieved.
either through the garden or the central lift Construction started in February 2004 and
and stair core linking the parking and the the first units were occupied in April 2005.
entrance to the floors above.

Moho develops the application of

prefabrication already successfully used in
mixed-tenure housing, and transfers it to the Right External street view.
Moho, Manchester 254_255

Left Layout plan and typical

section.
Below Flat plans showing options
for different size units.
A

1:500

Moho:Moho Flat Types 1:250

Top External elevation showing the
self-supporting balcony screen
wall.
Below Construction principles
diagram.
Below right Internal view of
courtyard and circulation core.
Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes 256_257

The Oxley Woods development grew generation – the developer’s aim is for the Architect Rogers Stirk Harbour and
out of the UK government’s ‘Design for house to rely on locally generated electricity. Partners
Manufacture’ competition, launched in Developer George Wimpey UK
2005 with the aim of getting architects and The developer claims that the fabric of the Site 3 hectares
house builders to collaborate in building houses enjoy a 27 per cent reduction in CO2 Number of dwellings 145
high-quality homes at a construction cost emissions compared with conventional new Density 48 dwellings/hectare
of £60,000. houses of the same size. With the inclusion Mix 9 x 1B + 20 x 2B + 76 x 3B +
of the EcoHat this rises to 40 per cent, and to 20 x 3/4B + 14 x 4B + 6 x 5B
Affordable 30 per cent
RSHP’s response was to develop a generic 50 per cent if the EcoHat is fitted with solar
Parking spaces per dwelling 2
house type capable of fitting into any location collectors for hot water.
at suburban densities, using modern
methods of construction. The combined team This Wimpey/RSHP system makes an
claimed two main threads to the design: interesting contrast with ZEDfactory’s
timber-panel construction, and an energy- proposals for ruralZED and the completely
saving system they call ‘EcoHat’. They different approach taken for the houses
settled on a practical way to cut construction at Freiburg. Most notably, while ruralZED
costs on site by fabricating timber frames depends on thermal mass to achieve
for walls, ceilings and floors in a factory- even temperatures through the summer/
controlled environment with a high degree winter cycle, Oxley Woods relies on the
of airtightness. Considerable emphasis was whole-house ventilation system. The houses
placed on using materials from sustainable at Freiburg rely on renewable electricity
and managed sources with: generation together with solar panels for hot
• recycled paper insulation; water to achieve both heating and cooling.
• softwood cladding from renewable sources
with no wastage;
• no superstructure skips on site;
• no wet construction beyond foundations.

Each house has two distinct zones: a ‘service

zone’ combining bathrooms, utility space,
boilers, kitchen and staircase, and a ‘living
zone’ comprising living rooms, bedrooms
and dining space.

The house shell was designed to exceed

Building Regulations by 20 per cent but the
construction team claim to have exceeded
that target, achieving:
• airtightness 2.5m3/(hrm2) (Building
Regulations 10);
• thermal insulation 0.22 U-value (Building
Regulations 0.35);
• acoustic insulation 75dB (Building
Regulations 55).

The EcoHat combines a whole-house filtered

ventilation system with solar hot-water
heating. Being virtually a stand-alone unit
with a solar collector that is small in area, it
has the advantage of being able to face south
whatever the orientation of the house it is
attached to. Attaching a sufficient area of PV
panels would not be so easy but there is no Right Typical view – street
intention of installing any form of electricity elevations.
Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes 258_259

1:2500
N

1:250

Left Layout plan, a mixture of

detached and terraced houses.
Above Two-bedroom house plans.
Top Two-bedroom houses in terrace
form.
Centre Typical street layout.
Below left Larger house type with
car port and room over.
Below right Interior views.
New housing in Bourbon 260_261
Lane, Shepherds Bush,
London W12

This project was the result of an international The new Bourbon Lane is categorised as a Architect Cartwright Pickard
competition to encourage Anglo-French ‘home zone’ with traffic-calming measures Architects
collaboration and to demonstrate best making the street and mews safe areas for Developer Octavia Housing and Care
practice combined with new thinking in children to play. Site 0.81 hectares
the design of affordable housing. The Number of dwellings 78
competition was promoted by CABE and Each mews has its own sense of identity, Density 95 dwellings/hectare
won by Cartwright Pickard in partnership clearly defining public from private space, Mix 2 x 5B + 5 x 4B + 12 x 3B +
with the French practice B+C Architectes. and an informal car-parking layout is set 31 x 2B + 28 x 1B
Affordable 100 per cent (58 per cent
In recognition of the French theme the between tall trees and native planting.
rent, 42 per cent shared ownership)
scheme has been named Bourbon Lane
Parking spaces per dwelling 0.3
and the four mews are named after French Unusually for buildings of this height, the
duchies: Burgundy, Gascony, Normandy primary structure is a steel frame, combined
and Savoy. with external walls that are a prefabricated
steel closed-panel cladding system providing

Wes
The site was a challenging run-down piece a high degree of air-tightness. Walls are

t C
ro
of brownfield between the blank four-storey finished externally with a Siberian larch

ss
Rou
rear wall of the massive new £1 billion retail timber rainscreen. This is fixed horizontally

te
A32
development at Shepherds Bush, and a with 12mm gaps between each board and Bo

20
ur
Ta bo
mixture of traditional Victorian, Edwardian promises to weather well. A fine-guage nylon dm n

Caxton Road
or la
St ne

and later terrace housing, some of it listed. mesh keeps out small birds.
re
et
eet
Str
Eight timber-clad blocks rising to five Ste
rne

storeys are set at right angles to the rear Bourbon Lane boasts its own CHP plant,
wall of the shopping centre. The decision which supplies all space heating and hot Uxbrid
ge Ro
ad

to avoid lifts meant it was possible to have water as well as satisfying a proportion of
a greater number of separate stair cores, the electrical load. This is combined with Site plan.
N

each of which serves only two apartments whole-house ventilation including heat
on each floor. recovery, and U-values 20–25 per cent better
than current Building Regulations. Energy
Family dwellings are created by the familiar costs should be very low, further encouraged
device of placing one two-storey maisonette by the installation of ‘interface’ units in each
above another. Importantly, this allows all home that allow residents to see how much
dwellings to have dual aspect, with the energy they are consuming. In terms of
consequent advantages of access to daylight, active mechanical services there is therefore
sunlight and through ventilation. At second- much that is new to be tried out by residents
and third-floor levels the structures are cut and monitored by Octavia Housing and Care.
back to form roof terraces for the upper
units. And the last bay to the ground floor The number of innovative features at
is cut away entirely, by cantilevering the Bourbon Lane is entirely appropriate
floors above over the access road to form a for a competition-winning scheme for a
dramatic entrance to the common stair core progressive housing association. All these
at the end of each block. features will, however, prove to be a distinct
challenge for housing management and
Four of the spaces between the eight blocks, the association’s maintenance team in the
roughly parallel to each other, become the years to come. The history of collaboration
back-to-back gardens for the ground-floor between those responsible for development
maisonettes while the others become within most housing associations and
landscaped pedestrian cul-de-sacs or mews. those responsible for maintenance is an
One of the French contributions to the layout inglorious one. If developments such as
was to reduce the space between blocks to Bourbon Lane are part of the journey towards
just 15 metres, a more efficient use of the site all new housing being carbon neutral by
without any severe drawbacks from the point 2016 the monitoring, resident support and
of view of privacy. All dwellings have either a maintenance will need to be of a very high
garden, roof terrace or balcony. standard indeed. Right View of shared entrances to
flats.
New housing in Bourbon Lane, 262_263
Shepherds Bush, London

Layout plan – an almost impossible 1:1000

site jammed up against the
monumental metal-clad wall of the
new Westfield shopping centre in
Shepherds Bush.
Right External views showing
cantilevered balconies and timber
rainscreen fixed with gaps between
each board, with a fine-gauge
plastic net to exclude small
animals.
Below Typical floor plans of one
block.
Bottom Typical section showing a
second-floor flat cantilevered over
the shared entrance and with a
roof terrace above it – a feat
made possible by the steel-framed
structure (see plans).
Bottom right View of shared
circulation.

1:500
Flats for keyworkers, 264_265
St Matthew’s Estate,
Lambeth, London SE1

These 12 flats for keyworkers are part of a housing associations will raise the necessary Architects PRP Architects with
much larger regeneration project for the St capital to add the renewables for which ZEDfactory
Matthew’s Estate. They are the result of a provision has been made. On the other hand Developer Presentation Housing
collaboration begun in 2003 between PRP it is a sensible objective. Renewable features Association
Architects and Bill Dunster to produce an such as photovoltaics will steadily reduce Site 0.0752 hectares
exemplar project, designed to put various in relative cost as energy costs increase Number of dwellings 12
low-energy initiatives into practice to reduce over time. Density 160 dwellings/hectare1
residents’ heating costs, to be monitored Mix 6 x 1B + 6 x 2B
over time. Costing 10 per cent more than The combination of superinsulation and Affordable 100 per cent
constructing to current Building Regulations, high standards of airtightness is the most Parking spaces per dwelling none
the difference was covered by an additional important basic element, together with
1
notional density: the development
forms part of a large estate and the
grant from The Housing Corporation. the central ventilation system. Keeping
site has ill-defined boundaries
mechanical systems working effectively,
Apart from an emphasis on a combination especially in rented flats with a relatively
of passive measures producing a building frequent turnover of tenancies, is a new
fabric with a highly efficient thermal challenge to which designers can contribute Bri
xto

e
n H

Brixton Water Lan

il
performance and active measures such by anticipating as far as possible the access l

as solar collectors and a biomass boiler, that will be needed.

Road w's
this is an unusual scheme of flats in the

e
atth
way sunspaces have been integrated into
St Matthew's Road

St M
the design. Each flat has a sunspace on
the south side of the living room; this is ra
Roa
d
Eff
constructed as part of a self-supporting
steel-framed balcony structure, bolted on to
the main masonry superstructure. Site plan.
N

The building has a high thermal mass,

absorbing surplus heat on warm days and
evening out its distribution on cool days.
This determined the choice of conventional
load-bearing concrete block for the main
structure.

As well as high standards of air-tightness,

superinsulation and triple glazing, each flat
is centrally ventilated with a built-in heat-
recovery system. When solar collectors for
domestic hot water and a central biomass
fuel boiler are added, energy bills for each
tenancy were expected to be £98 per year at
the time of completion in 2003.

As built, the expected levels of CO2

produced were 18.08kg/m2/year, which is
only slightly above the government’s initial
target of a 60 per cent reduction (to 14.06kg/
m2/year) by 2050. The design anticipates a
future upgrade to include 130 square metres
of photovoltaics mounted at roof level.

Apart from the determined attempt to

address the issue of passive solar gain, this
Right External sunspaces and self-
pilot project is also an exercise in ‘future supporting balconies on the street
proofing’. It is, however, far from clear where elevation.
Flats for keyworkers, St Matthew’s 266_267
Estate, Lambeth, London SE1

Dray Gardens

St Matthew's Road
Brixton Water Lane

Top Layout plan: the building forms part of the 1:1000

St Matthew’s Estate.
Right Section showing wood-pellet store.
Bottom right Typical upper-floor layout showing flat
types, common stair and pellet store.

A 1:250

1:250

A
Top Exterior view.
Below The bio-mass boiler house.
Bottom right Passive solar sunspaces.
Wembley City: large-scale 268_269
waste management by
Envac

Since World War 2 several different technical are enormous. At Hammarby the domestic Masterplanner Rogers Stirk Harbour
solutions have been tried for large-scale by-products, waste and water are all recycled and Partners
waste management in the UK. These include for electrical generation, biogas and space Architect phase 1 PRP Architects
the Garchey system, which originated in heating. Developers Quintain Estates and
France and was installed in a number of Development plc + Genesis with
large new high-density developments for The impact of Envac on the design and Family Mosaic housing associations
local authorities as far back as Quarry Hill, layout of housing depends on the scale and Site 34.5 hectares
Sheffield, in 1939, and later at the Barbican in density of development. Viable incorporation Number of dwellings 4200
the City of London. This was a water-borne of the Envac system is much more an urban- Density 122 dwellings/hectare1
system for the removal of kitchen waste, to design challenge than something that affects Mix 4 per cent x studios + 55 per
which every household in large blocks of flats the design of buildings themselves – the cent x 1B + 35 per cent x 2B + 6 per
cent x 3B
had access from beneath the kitchen sink. underground installation is entirely external.
Affordable 47 per cent
What could be disposed of via a 100mm- It is hard to imagine the system being
Parking spaces per dwelling 0.46
diameter pipe was necessarily limited and economic in developments at densities of
Non-housing uses 929 square metres of
a combination of abuse by householders less than 100–150 dwellings per hectare.
development
and the enormous growth in the volume 1
residential only covers a small
of packaging finally resulted in the system
part of the site. Within the
being taken out of service. area designated for housing the
residential density is much higher
The Envac system, developed in Sweden than this
from 1961, has been installed worldwide
in 600 locations, serving private and
social housing as well as commercial
applications. It was selected as the central
waste-management system for a new urban
extension at Hammarby in Stockholm, where
it has proved highly successful (Hammarby
will eventually comprise 10,000 dwellings).
Wembley City, the first Envac installation
in the UK, will contain 4200 dwellings as
part of a total residential and commercial
development of 929,000 square metres.
Obviously, the Envac installation has to
be laid down along with the water supply,
cabling, gas, electricity and drainage, as
part of the urban infrastructure of a new
neighbourhood consisting of at least 500
dwellings. Once the infrastructure is in place,
as at Wembley, the phases of development
can be attached to the Envac network as
each comes on-stream.

Unlike earlier systems such as Garchey,

Envac involves residents sorting their
household waste and placing it in above-
ground hoppers (the number varying
according to the particular development’s
waste strategy) located in the street nearest
to the block in which they live. Twice a day
the waste accumulated beneath each hopper
is drawn by a vacuum process to a central
collection station. As the manufacturer’s
diagrams show, the advantages in terms
of efficient and comprehensive recycling
Top The first-phase flats complete.
Above Plan of the collection grid
of underground pipes at Wembley.
Wembley City: large-scale waste 270_271
management by Envac

Energy

Högdalen's combined Hammarby

heat and power plant thermal power station

Environmentally
friendly electricity

The sea

Sjöstaden's and Henriksdal's

waste water treatment plants

Equalizer

Lake Hammarby Sjö

Lake Mälaren/drinking water plant Filter treatment

Top The Hammarby model, showing

all the processes in use there.
Right Envac hoppers at Hammarby,
Stockholm.
Top Envac system for collection at
plant on site, as at Hammarby and
Wembley.
Centre Envac system for on-site
storage and subsequent removal by
vehicle.
Right Aerial view of model
showing high-density housing on a
triangular site at the top of the
image, above the stadium.
The Hockerton Housing 272_273
Project, Nottinghamshire

The original group of self-builders came water. The filtration process consists of two Architects Brenda and Robert Vale
together in 1993 and in 1996 obtained ‘slow sand’ filters that remove solids and Developer The Hockerton Housing
planning consent for five self-sufficient organic matter before the water passes into Project
earth-sheltered houses on 10 hectares of a holding tank to be pumped on demand to Site 10 hectares
agricultural land. The houses, designed by the point of use. The households estimate Number of dwellings 5
Brenda and Robert Vale with Nick Martin, that their water consumption is only 25 per Density 0.5 dwellings/hectare
who was also a project member, were cent of a conventional home, but this is Mix all single-storey family houses
designed to be self-sufficient in electrical achieved through the general use of showers Affordable none
energy, space and water heating and in the rather than baths, spray taps, water-efficient Parking spaces per dwelling 1
supply of water for all purposes. The aim was washing machines and low-flush WCs.
to achieve ‘net zero’ emissions.
Due to the very low density of development
The houses are designed without and the surface-water catchment area
central heating but their high thermal there is no need for the Hockerton project
mass – combined with superinsulation, to employ ‘grey water’ recycling. Grey
central ventilation with heat recovery and water – waste water produced from domestic
conservatory/sunspaces – maintains them at processes – accounts for about two-thirds of
an average 20 degrees C. all household use. The other third is ‘black
water’ used for flushing WCs; a number
The autonomous water systems designed by of proprietary systems are available that
David Leigh are divided into three separate use bathing water for WC flushing or for
parts – water for drinking, water for washing, garden irrigation. At Hockerton water for
bathing and flushing WCs, and water for irrigating plants and vegetable cultivation is
irrigation – obviously with different degrees collected into a separate second pond and
of filtration. is untreated.

The entire supply of drinking water is The water cycle is completed at Hockerton
collected from the glazed sunspace roofs with its own sewage-treatment plant. This
and porches of the five houses and carried processes all water, including human waste,
via copper gutters to concrete underground and finally delivers it into a lake that is
storage tanks. Each sunspace roof has an suitable for swimming. There are two main
area of 66 square metres and this is sufficient components to this process. The effluent
to replenish the underground tanks, which first passes for 10 to 15 days through a septic
have a total storage capacity of 25,000 litres. tank that allows solid matter to settle, and
With average consumption of 20 litres per then into an elongated reed-bed system.
household per day there is sufficient supply The arrangement of suspended geotextile
for 250 days. The drinking water is pumped baffles in the reed bed ensures that liquid
through a string filter, a carbon filter and a UV effluent spends up to three months being
filter before being delivered to the houses. treated before passing through a gabion
wall into the lake, having reached EU
Brenda and Robert Vale built a house for bathing quality standards. The design of
themselves which had a roof capable of the reed bed is extremely sophisticated ,
collecting all the water they needed, but using both traditional and the latest scientific
the area of more than 140 square metres is understanding of aquatic ecological
obviously not going to be achieved in the processes, employing three types of reed
design of the average house. At Hockerton floating on coir mats.
what is described as ‘medium-grade’ water
is collected from rainwater run-off from
the whole site, via swales at the side of the
roads and the rear of the houses. It feeds Top General view of the five houses
with the lake in the foreground.
into a sump at the lowest part of the site Above Close-up view showing
from where it is pumped into a reservoir of sunspaces and solar collectors
with the reed bed for sewage
25 x 3 x 2 metres deep, constructed at the processing at the head of the lake
highest level to store 150 cubic metres of in the background.
 copper guttering

draiage f r o m r o o f
clay

drainage f r o m f i e l d s e t c water collected from

p l a s t i c liner
conservatory roofs

bentamat
tiles
concrete
resevoir sump insulation
concrete
top soil
soil/skerry water pump
clay
pump

wall of services on side of SRC

Tanks burried in earth
beneath floor of SRC

4m3 x 4

removable lids

ball valve ultra-violet light -

600mm sand f i l t e r

string filter -
100mm
removes particles

carbon filter -
smuchdecker layer removes chemicals
holding tank
geotextile

pea gravel w a t e r t o houses

Side Elevation

Conservatory House

Geofin

Argon Soil
Membrane
Above left Diagram showing the E - coating
Membrane
process for collecting and storing
rainwater for bathing and washing. Insulation

Above right Diagram showing the Concrete

process for purifying rainwater C o n c r e t e Blocks

into drinking water. Plaster
Right Diagram showing passive solar T r i p l e Glazing

collection.
Glossary 274_275

B bedroom GLC Greater London Council the strategic P person

authority for the whole of London from 1965
BRE Building Research Establishment (when it succeeded the London County Pa pascal, the SI unit of pressure, one
a trust providing research, consultancy Council) until 1986 newton per square metre
and accreditation in many areas related to
construction, including energy use and safety HBF the Home Builders Federation PTAL Public Transport Accessibility Level,
(www.bre.co.uk) represents and lobbies on behalf of the a method of describing access to public
home-building industry (www.hbf.co.uk), transport that brings together frequency of,
CABE the Commission for Architecture and is jointly responsible (with CABE) and distances from, transport services
and the Built Environment (www.cabe. for the Building for Life standards (www.
org.uk): a quango that advises government buildingforlife.org) PV photovoltaics the technology – emerging
on architecture and urban design and in the UK, emerged elsewhere – that converts
is responsible (with the Home Builders HCA the Homes and Communities Agency light energy to electrical energy
Federation) for the Building for Life standards a non-departmental public body sponsored
(www.buildingforlife.org) by the DCLG. Its role in turn is to sponsor SAP Standard Assessment Procedure the
regeneration and communities throughout government’s system for rating the energy
CHP Combined Heat and Power (aka England (www.homesandcommunities. performance of building. The procedure
cogeneration): a technology that uses the co.uk). Responsible for HQIs covers annual energy costs per unit of space
surplus heat energy produced by electricity and the predicted cost of water heating
generation for space heating HQI Housing Quality Indicators the HCA’s
system for assessing housing schemes SBD Secured by Design an initiative of
CGI computer graphic imagery simulated (www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/hqi). the Association of Chief Police Officers,
pictures of buildings and projects, often HQIs incorporate the design standards that expressed in publications and online
reassuring, or even glamorous providers of affordable housing must meet if resources, that aims to baffle criminals
they receive NAHP funding by applying design criteria (www.
DCLG Department of Communities and securedbydesign.com/professionals/index.
Local Government branded just as CLG, HR habitable rooms include living rooms, aspx)
this is a government department, set up bedrooms, kitchens large enough to use for
in 2001 and responsible for, among many dining, etc.; exclude lobbies, bathrooms, etc. SIPS structural insulated panels widely
other things, housing, planning and Building used in North America and Scandinavia
Regulations (www.communities.gov.uk) IMDA internal minimum dwelling area and now being promoted in the UK as being
environmentally friendly, flexible, light, etc.
EnEV Energie-Einspar-Verordnung the LTH Lifetime Homes a set of 16 design
German federal energy-saving act. Covering criteria intended to obviate the need to SLOAP space left over after planning
all kinds of products and programmes, move home as families grow and change,
it prescribes, for example, the energy- and when infirmity sets in. The standards TMC tenants management committee; TMO
effiency measures that are compulsory for already apply in some areas and all publicly tenants management organisation
new buildings. It defines the standards – funded housing in England will have to be
progressive in UK terms – that must be met built to meet them from 2011. The private UDP unitary development plan a local
in order to qualify for state subsidies for sector is supposed to follow in 2013 (www. authority’s long-term strategy for land use
construction or renovation lifetimehomes.org.uk) and the policies and standards that will
be used to make decisions on planning
EST Energy Saving Trust a not-for-profit NAHP National Affordable Housing applications
organisation providing free advice to Programme a government agency that
businesses, communities and households, funds new affordable housing and regulates
including information on achieving the housing associations. Despite the web
energy criteria in the Code for Sustainable address, it has already succeeded the
Homes (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk) Housing Corporation (www.housingcorp.
gov.uk)
GLA Greater London Authority the strategic
authority for the whole of London, set up in NHF National Housing Federation
1999 after a 13-year vacuum in the top tier of a body representing not-for-profit housing
local government for the capital associations in England (www.housing.
org.uk)
Sources of further information

Regulations and guidance change frequently. DCLG: Code for Sustainable Homes: CABE: Actions for Housing Growth:
For up-to-date information go to http://www. Technical Guide. May 2009. http://www. Creating a Legacy of Great Places. February
routledge.com/9780415491501 planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/code_for_ 2007. http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/Actions-
sustainable_homes_techguide.pdf for-housing-growth.pdf
Accessibility DCLG: Homes for the Future: More
CABE: Design and Access Statements: How Affordable, More Sustainable. Cm 7191. CABE: Buildings and Spaces: Why Design
to Write, Read and Use Them. 2007. http:// July 2007. http://www.communities.gov.uk/ Matters. March 2006. http://www.cabe.org.
www.cabe.org.uk/AssetLibrary/8073.pdf documents/housing/pdf/439986.pdf uk/files/buildings-and-spaces.pdf

CABE: The Principles of Inclusive Design. English Partnerships: A Climate of Change: CABE: Creating Excellent Buildings: A
(They Include You.) 2006. http://www.cabe. English Partnerships’ Response to the Guide for Clients. October 2003. http://
org.uk/AssetLibrary/8853.pdf Environmental Agenda. October 2006. www.cabe.org.uk/files/creating-excellent-
buildings.pdf
GLA. Wheelchair Accessible Housing: Best English Partnerships: Carbon Challenge
Practice Guidance – consultation draft. Standard Brief. August 2007. http://www. CABE: The Cost of Bad Design. June 2006.
March 2007. http://www.london.gov.uk/ englishpartnerships.co.uk/docdownload. http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/the-cost-of-bad-
mayor/strategies/sds/docs/bpg-wheelchair- aspx?doc=Carbon%20Challenge%20brief_ design.pdf
acc-housing.pdf 0.pdf&pid=64241OphaK9K2AAJhl5lwMwRz
Z4YhYXY CABE: Design Champions. March 2006.
Habinteg Housing Association: Lifetime http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/design-
Homes. http://www.lifetimehomes.org.uk/ GLA with London Energy Partnership: champions.pdf
website with on-line resources and toolkits
Habinteg Housing Association with Thorpe, at http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/ CABE: Design Review-ed [sic] Urban
S.: The Wheelchair Housing Design Guide. environment/energy/partnership-steering- Housing: Lessons Learnt from Projects
2nd edition 2006. http://www.habinteg.org.uk/ group/index.jsp Reviewed by CABE’s Expert Design Panel.
pages/whdg.html July 2004. http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/
Housing Corporation: RuralZED: Affordable design-review-ed-urban-housing.pdf
National Disability Authority: Building Sustainable Housing for Cornwall. http://
For Everyone. 2002. http://www.nda.ie/ www.housingcorp.gov.uk/upload/pdf/ CABE: Housing: Raising Standards.
cntmgmtnew.nsf/0/EBD4FB92816E8BB48025 CRHA_Rural_ZED_2005-07-29_FINAL_ PowerPoint presentation. March 2007.
6C830060F761/$File/Building_for_Everyone. web72.pdf
pdf CABE: What Home Buyers Want: Attitudes
Health-related issues and Decision Making Among Consumers.
Older Persons’ Housing Design: A CABE: Physical Activity and the Built March 2005. http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/
European Good Practice Guide. 2007. Environment. 2006. http://www.cabe.org.uk/ what-home-buyers-want.pdf
http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index. AssetLibrary/8954.pdf
cfm?request=c1163815 Carroll, Caitriona, Cowans, Julie and
Housing Corporation: Good Housing Darton, David (eds): Meeting Part M and
Environment/sustainability and Good Health? A Review and Designing Lifetime Homes. Joseph Rowntree
CABE: Sustainable Design, Climate Change Recommendations for Housing and Foundation. 1999. http://www.jrf.org.uk/
and the Built Environment. http://www.cabe. Health Practitioners. nd. http://www. bookshop/eBooks/1859351441.pdf
org.uk/AssetLibrary/10661.pdf housingcorp.gov.uk/upload/pdf/health_
housing_20060816144328.pdf DCLG: Housing Quality Indicators.
DCLG: Building a Greener Future: http://www.communities.gov.uk/
Policy Statement. July 2007. http:// Housing quality including space standards housingqualityindicators
www.communities.gov.uk/documents/ Building for Life standard: A Better Place
planningandbuilding/pdf/building-greener.pdf to Live. November 2005. http://www. DCLG: Housing Quality Indicators: Housing
buildingforlife.org Scheme Data Sheets
DCLG: Code for Sustainable Homes: A
Step-Change in Sustainable Home Building Building for Life: Delivering Great Places DCLG. HQIs: Scoring spreadsheet
Practice. December 2006. http://www. to Live (includes BFL checklist). 2008.
planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/code_for_ http://www.buildingforlife.org/AssetLibrary/ Drury, A. Standards and Quality in
sust_homes.pdf 9350.pdf Development: A Good Practice Guide. 2nd
edition. NHF. 2008
Sources of further information 276_277

English Partnerships: Quality Planning policy GLA: Planning for Equality and Diversity
Standards: Delivering Quality Places. DCLG: Planning Policy Statement 1: in London: Draft Supplementary Planning
Revised November 2007. http:// Delivering Sustainable Development. Guidance. December 2006. http://www.
www.englishpartnerships.co.uk/ February 2005. http://www.communities.gov. london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/sds/docs/
qualityandinnovationpublications.htm uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/ spg-planning-for-equality2.pdf
planningpolicystatement1.pdf
Housing Corporation: Design and Quality GLA: Connecting with London’s Nature: The
Standards. April 2007. http://www. DCLG: Planning Policy Statement Mayor’s Biodiversity Strategy. July 2002.
housingcorp.gov.uk/upload/pdf/Design_ 3: Housing. November 2006. http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/
quality_standards.pdf http://www.communities.gov.uk/ biodiversity/docs/strat_full.pdf
documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/
Housing Corporation: Design and Quality planningpolicystatement3.pdf GLA: Green Light to Clean Power: The
Strategy. April 2007. http://www.housingcorp. Mayor’s Energy Strategy. February 2004.
gov.uk/upload/pdf/design_and_quality_ DCLG: Planning Policy Statement 7: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/
strategy_20070501111140.pdf Sustainable Development in Rural Areas. energy/docs/energy_strategy04.pdf
August 2004. http://www.communities.gov.uk/
Housing Corporation: HQI: Housing Quality documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/ GLA: Housing: The London Plan
Indicators (version 4). April 2007. http:// 147402.pdf Supplementary Planning Guidance.
www.housingcorp.gov.uk/upload/pdf/ November 2005. http://www.london.gov.uk/
HQIFormv4_Apr_2007.pdf DCLG: Planning Policy Statement mayor/strategies/sds/docs/spg-housing.pdf
22: Renewable Energy (includes a
Housing Corporation: Plans That Meet the companion guide). November 2006. http:// Security
Standards. http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk/ www.communities.gov.uk/documents/ ACPO: Secured by Design – New
server/show/conWebDoc.1058 planningandbuilding/pdf/147444.pdf Homes. June 2004 (version 1).http://www.
securedbydesign.com/pdfs/SBD-principles.
HTA, LBA, PRP and PTE with Design for DCLG: Housing: Overview of Policy for pdf
Homes: Recommendations for Living at Housing Demand and Supply (web links
Superdensity. NHBC, 2007. http://www. to the Barker Review and other related Office of the Deputy Prime Minister:
designforhomes.org/pdfs/Superdensity.pdf resources). http://www.communities.gov.uk/ Safer Places: The Planning System and
housing/housingsupply/overviewpolicy/ Crime Prevention. February 2004. http://
London Housing Federation: Higher DCLG: Planning Policy Statement 25: www.communities.gov.uk/documents/
Density Housing for Families: A Design and Development and Flood Risk. November planningandbuilding/pdf/147627.pdf
Specification Guide. 2004. (Order from http:// 2006. http://www.communities.gov.
www.housing.org.uk/) uk/publications/planningandbuilding/ Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: The
pps25floodrisk Fire Prevention Handbook. August 2005.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: http://www.firekills.gov.uk/handbook/pdf/
The Future for Design Codes: Further GLA: The London Housing Strategy: Draft handbook-english.pdf
Information to Support Stakeholders for Public Consultation. May 2009. http://
Reading Draft PPS3. December 2005. http:// www.london.gov.uk/mayor/housing/strategy/ Site appraisal/development potential
www.communities.gov.uk/documents/ docs/london-housing-strategy09.pdf CABE and English Heritage: Guidance
planningandbuilding/pdf/142898.pdf on Tall Buildings. March 2003. http://
GLA: Sustainable Design and Construction: www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/
Modern methods of construction Supplementary Planning Guidance. May Guid_tall_build.pdf
CABE: Design and Modern Methods of 2006. http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/
Construction. nd. http://www.housingcorp. strategies/sds/docs/spg-sustainable-design. English Partnerships: The Brownfield Guide:
gov.uk/upload/pdf/MMC_full_report.pdf pdf A Practitioner’s Guide to Land Reuse in
England. (Six parts and six annexes.) 2006.
Housing Corporation: Modern Talking: GLA: The London Plan: Spatial Development http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk/
Building Better Value Homes Using Strategy for Greater London. February 2004. docdownload.aspx?doc=Cover%20intro_0.
Modern Approaches. February 2007. http:// http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/ pdf&pid=64241OphaK9K2AAJhl5lwMwRzZ
www.housingcorp.gov.uk/upload/pdf/ sds/london_plan/lon_plan_all.pdf 4YhYXY
ModernTalking.pdf
Sources of further information

NIHE (Northern Ireland Housing Executive) CABE: Decent Parks? Decent Behaviour? English Partnerships: Car Parking:
Higher Density Design for Quality and Low May 2005. http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/ What Works Where? 2006. http://www.
Maintenance. http://www.nihe.gov.uk decent-parks-decent-behaviour.pdf englishpartnerships.co.uk/publications.
htm#bestpractice
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing CABE: Design Re-viewed [sic] Urban
Land Availability Assessments: Identifying Housing: Lessons Learnt from Projects English Partnerships and Housing
Appropriate Land for Housing Development: Reviewed by CABE’s Expert Design Panel. Corporation: Delivering Quality Places:
Draft Practice Guidance. December 2005. July 2004. http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/ Urban Design Compendium 2. September
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/ design-review-ed-urban-housing.pdf 2007. http://www.urbandesigncompendium.
planningandbuilding/pdf/143075.pdf co.uk/public/documents/UDC2FULL.pdf
CABE. Green Space Strategies: A Good
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Practice Guide. May 2004. http://www.cabe. Frith, M., Harrison, S.: Decent Homes,
Housing Market Assessments: Draft org.uk/files/green-space-strategies.pdf Decent Spaces: Improving the Green
Practice Guidance. December 2005. http:// Spaces for Social Housing. c. 2005
www.communities.gov.uk/documents/ CABE: Involving Young People in the Design http://www.neighbourhoodsgreen.org.uk/
planningandbuilding/pdf/142889.pdf and Care of Urban Spaces: What Would You ng/_ui/dhds.pdf
Do With This Space? May 2004. http://www.
Space standards (Parker Morris) cabe.org.uk/files/what-would-you-do-with- GLA: Providing for Children and Young
GLA: Housing Space Standards. August this-space.pdf People’s Play and Informal Recreation.
2006. http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/ Draft Supplementary Planning Guidance.
planning/docs/space-standards.pdf CABE: It’s Our Space: A Guide for October 2006. http://www.london.gov.uk/
Community Groups Working to Improve mayor/strategies/sds/docs/spg-children-
Ministry of Housing and Local Government: Public Space. February 2007. http://www. recreation.pdf
Homes for Today & Tomorrow (the Parker cabe.org.uk/files/Its-our-space.pdf
Morris report).HMSO. 1961, 1964, 1969. Housing Corporation: The Williams Report:
CABE: Paved With Gold: The Real Value of Quality First: The Commission on the
Ministry of Housing and Local Government: Good Street Design. June 2007. http://www. Design of Affordable Housing in the Thames
Space in the Home. (Design Bulletin no. 6) cabe.org.uk/files/paved-with-gold.pdf Gateway. http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk/
1965 (extract) upload/pdf/Thames_Gateway_final.pdf
CABE: Start With the Park: Creating
Urban design/external environment Sustainable Urban Green Spaces in Areas Institute of Highways Engineers: Home
Building for Life/CABE: Accommodating of Housing Growth and Renewal. July 2005. Zone Design Guidelines. June 2002.
the Car. (Building for Life Newsletter 02/06) http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/start-with-the- http://www.ihie.org.uk/gateway/home-
http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/building-for-life- park.pdf zones/home-zones/
newsletter-issue-6.pdf
CABE: This Way to Better Streets: 10 Case Llewellyn-Davies for English Partnerships:
Building for Life/CABE: Better Studies on Improving Street Design. July The Urban Design Compendium.
Neighbourhoods: Making Higher Densities 2007. http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/this-way- Second edition 2007. http://www.
Work. March 2005. http://www.cabe.org.uk/ to-better-streets.pdf urbandesigncompendium.co.uk/
files/better-neighbourhoods.pdf OrderACopy.aspx
CABE: What Its Like to Live There: The View
Building for Life/CABE: Evaluating Housing of Residents on the Design of New Housing. London Housing Federation: Think Big:
Proposals Step by Step. March 2008. http:// November 2005. http://www.cabe.org.uk/ Delivering Family Homes for Londoners.
www.cabe.org.uk/files/evaluating-housing- files/what-its-like-to-live-there.pdf n.d. http://www.housing.org.uk/Uploads/
proposals-step-by-step.pdf File/London%20Housing%20Federation/
DCLG: Manual for Streets. March 2007. Publications/Final%204pp%20summary.pdf
CABE: Better Places to Live by Design: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/
A Companion Guide to PPG3. September planningandbuilding/pdf/322449.pdf National Housing Federation: No Parking:
2001. Making Low or Zero Parking Work on
Design for Homes: Perceptions of Privacy Higher Density Housing Schemes. March
CABE: Creating Successful Masterplans: and High Density. 2003. 2006. http://www.eukn.org/binaries/
A Guide for Clients. March 2004, new edition greatbritain/bulk/research/2006/12/no-
April 2008. http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/ parking.pdf
creating-successful-masterplans.pdf
Index 278_279

Bold figures indicate references within Britannia Basin, Castlefield 252 common facilities 8, 110 Edward Cullinan Architects: Bradwell
captions Broadclose, Bude 111 communal areas 10, 102, 110, 114 Common 2, Milton Keynes 232–5
Brooks Murray 139 concierge control 19, 28, 72, 74, 113, 134, Egan, Sir John 252
Abbotts Wharf, Tower Hamlets 134–7, Brown, Neave 177 137, 153, 154, 186, 220; and service electricity 237: and pollution 238
154–5 brownfield development 18, 56, 80, 118, charges 72 enclosed external space 5
access: experiments 73; galleries 72 128, 260 conduits for services 217 energy from sustainable sources 237
accessibility 196: and housing 192; and Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury 4, 22–7, 99 conservatories 237, 272 Energy Savings Trust 236, 240
wheelchairs 36, 37 Building for Life 38, 44; and transport 150 construction methods: and flexibility 190; English Heritage 220–2
Accordia, Cambridge 56–65 building materials: and renewable and sustainability 216 English Partnerships 38, 66, 90, 91
Adamstown, Dublin 72, 198 sources 106 consultation 114, 206: and security 127 entrances and accessibility 37
adaptable structures 192 Building Regulations 37, 40, 44, 240: and convenience stores: and location 18 Envac waste-management system 268–71
Adastral, Barnet 166–9 accessibility 37; and acoustic conversion from other uses 6, 96, 97, 180 escape routes 73
Adelaide Wharf, Hackney 113 performance 37, 140, 141; and climate cores: lift and stair 19, 72–4, 84, 172, 186, Estate Action 10
adventure playgrounds 111, 112 change 104; and fire-engineering 37; 198; shared 72 external access galleries 133: and
affordable housing: 14; and Lifetime and foundations 217; and glazed areas corridors: and accessibility 37; internal experiments in social housing 4; and
Homes 92; and security 128; and space 37; and internal space 88; Part B and 73; and security 73 privacy 73; and social stigma 72, 73
standards 89; typical three-bed flats 79, means of escape 73; and pre- cost in use 228–31 external skin: and renewal 191, 218–9;
164, 166 completion testing 140; and safety of Countryside Properties 56 and sustainability 218
AHHM 113 balustrading 99; and wall thicknesses courtyards 56, 83, 84, 87, 110, 114, 115,
airborne sound transmission 141 237 116, 117, 118, 122, 124, 144 146, failure: and demolition 4, 10, 84, 100, 127,
airtightness 236, 264 Building Research Establishment 248 148, 149, 198, 227, 256; above other 133; and detailing 229–30; and flat
Alison Brooks Architects: Accordia, built form: and sustainability 204–5 uses 19 roofs 99; and mechanical services 230;
Cambridge 56–65 crèches 113 and the consumer 231
Allied London Properties 22 CABE. See Commission for Architecture Cremer Street, Hackney 182–5 Family Mosaic Housing Association 6, 268
anti-social activities 10, 18, 100, 110, 126 and the Built Environment cul-de-sacs 6, 10 Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios: Accordia,
architects: and clients 176, 177–8 Cambridge: Accordia 56–65 curtains: net 129 Cambridge 56–65, 71; Bennet’s Yard,
architectural style 178, 180: and clients 5, Campbell, Colin 32 customer focus 179 Merton Abbey Mills 71
10, 11, 46 car-free streets 153 cycle storage 19, 38, 71, 72, 106, 113, 117 Ferry Street, Isle of Dogs 5, 14–7
Architekturbüro Rolf Disch: Solarsiedlung, car parking. See parking CZWG 118 flat-pack construction 239
Freiburg 242–7 carbon-neutral housing 236 flats 70–9: configuration 75–8, 164–5; and
Arup 248 cars 150–3; and crime 114, 130; Darbourne & Darke 177–8 family households 70–1; for affordable
atria 71, 74, 80, 82, 83, 84, 86 dominance 5; ownership 30, 150 David Wilson Homes 66 rent 79, 164; issues for non-family
Aylesbury Estate, Southwark 84–7, Cartwright Pickard Architects: Bourbon Davis Langdon 248 households 71; and grouping 72;
170–1 Lane, Shepherds Bush 260–3 DCLG. See Department of Communities internal planning 71; and privacy 70;
CASPAR, Leeds 196–9, 224 and Local Government private 165; and security 70
B+C Architectes 260 Catalyst Housing Group 124, 158 de Botton, Alain 178 flexibility 172, 190–4; and tenure 162–3;
balconies: 46, 56, 98, 99, 103, 104, 114, CCTV 126, 134, 186 ‘defensible space’ 5, 56, 97, 110, 127, 238 and terrace houses 162, 190, 200
118, 134; cantilevered 99; as extensions Chalkhill, Brent 18, 19 demolition 4, 10, 84, 100, 133 football 111, 112
of living space 97; large enough to eat Chamberlin Powell & Bon 113, 177, 193 density 32: and built form 75–7 and foundations: and sustainability 216–7
on 71; and privacy 99, 139; and shading Chapel, St Mary’s, Southampton 111, circulation 78; and detached houses Freiburg, Germany 70, 238, 242–7
206;used for storage 96, 170; and water 114–7 66; high 6, 18, 22, 28, 74, 84, 118, 124, frontages, narrow 36–7, 38
penetration 99; and wind protection 99 Chetwoods: Chapel, St Mary’s, 142, 144, 146; low 272; and security future-proofing 205
balustrading: and safety 99 Southampton 114–7 128; and terrace houses 40–3
Barbican, City of London: and flexible choice 176 ‘density ceilings’ 14, 80, 118, 142 garages; built-in 150; underground 127
planning 193 children’s needs 112, 114, 133; and noise Department of Communities and Local Garchey waste-management system 268
Bellway Homes (North London) Limited 141 Government 37; and Code for gardens 6, 9, 71, 96–9, 110: and access
166 Chimney Pot Park, Salford 38 Sustainable Homes 38 97; as extensions of living space 79;
benefit-dependent households 127 Circle 33 Housing Trust 6, 14, 130 design and anti-social behaviour 126 boundaries 97, 98; communal 111, 206;
Bennet’s Yard, Merton Abbey Mills 71 Circle Anglia Housing Group 176 Design and Quality Standards 37, 44 and families 112; front 97, 126; and
Benson & Forsyth 177 circulation 78: and lifts 72; and security Design for Manufacture 256 maintenance by residents 98; and
Berkeley Homes (North East London) 127, 134; shared 5, 73–4, 124, 128, 134 design life 4 police recommendations 98; and
Limited 186 City Wharf, Islington 162 design/build 229 privacy 100, 139–40; rear 98; shared 96;
Bermondsey Spa 80, 118, 144 Civic Trust 38 detached houses 66, 68 uses 97
Bernstein, David 22 client choice 177 details: oversizing 5; vandal-proofing 5 Genesis Housing Association 268
‘black water’ 241, 272 climate change 46, 204: and terrace developers: as proxy clients 176 George Wimpey UK 256
blinds: and privacy 144, 146 houses 40 dogs 113 GLA. See Greater London Authority
The Bolonachi Building, Site D, clothes drying 99 domestic waste reduction 241 GLC. See Greater London Council
Bermondsey 80–3, 156–7 Code for Sustainable Homes 38, 44, 79, Donaldson, Antony 146 Golden Lane Estate, City of London 113
boundary treatments 98 106, 212, 214 Donnybrook, East London 176 Goldfinger, Erno 177
Bourbon Lane, Shepherds Bush 260–3 Coin Street, Southwark 111, 150 door-entry systems 134 Grainger Trust Southern Properties 28
Bradwell Common 2, Milton Keynes 232–5 Colquhoun and Miller 232 dual use of sites 19 Grant Associates 56
BRE. See Building Research Combined Heat and Power (CHP) 106, Dublin, Adamstown 72 Granville New Homes, Kilburn 104–9,
Establishment 238, 260 Dunster, Bill 212, 264 206–7: and shared gardens 112
Brent, London Borough of 104 Commission for Architecture and the Built Greater London Authority 38, 90, 192: and
brick and block construction 217 Environment 37, 38, 150, 260 East Thames Housing Group 134 minimum space standards 91
Index

Greater London Council 10, 32, 84, joint management plans 20 MacCormac, Jamieson and Prichard 232 Octavia Housing and Care 260
190 Joseph Rowntree Foundation 89, 196, 208, Maccreanor Lavington Architects: Odhams Walk, Covent Garden 32–5: flats
Greater London Council Architects 224; and Lifetime Homes 37 Accordia, Cambridge 56–65 for families 71
Department: Odhams Walk, Covent Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust 192 McFarlane Wilder 248 off-site manufacture 217: and achieving
Garden 32–5, 71 Juliet balconies 98 mail-delivery facilities 71 zero energy 238; and waste reduction
green roofs 192, 206 maintenance 8, 97: and funding 5; and 241
‘green walls’ 226, 227 Kenworthy Road, Hackney 172–5 mixed uses 19, 20; and the public Old Royal Free Square, Islington 5, 6–9,
Greengate House, Plaistow 224–7 keyworkers, flats for 110, 146, 150, 182, realm 5, 232 98, 142–3: and mixed tenures 180–1
Greenwich Millennium Village 111 224, 264 management: and innovation 106, 260; Oldbrook, Milton Keynes 232
‘grey water ’ 241, 272 Kingspan 248 and mixed tenures 220; and mixed uses on-street parking 151
The Guinness Partnership 100 19, 20; and security 127; and shared open plans 72
Laing Homes 130 open space 110 open space: private 10, 56, 134
Habraken, N. John 190 land leftover in planning 206 market testing 4 orientation: and flats 74; and terrace
Hackney, London Borough of 46, 130, 146, landscape: and budgets 5; and Martin, Leslie 22 houses 40
182 maintenance 5; and management Martin, Nick 272 owner-occupiers: and lifestyle 162–3
Hammarby, Stockholm 268 12 materials: local 66 Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes 256–9
Harlow 52 Lasdun, Denys 22: Bethnal Green cluster Max Fordham and Partners 196
Hawkins\Brown: Park Hill, Sheffield 220–3 blocks 177 means of escape 73 Page Road, Bedfont, Hounslow 158–9
Haworth Tompkins 150 laundry facilities, shared 99 Meeting Part M and Designing Lifetime Park Hill, Sheffield 220–3
HCA. See Homes and Communities layout: and sustainability 216 Homes 192 Parker Morris standards 38, 46, 84, 88, 89,
Agency Leigh, David 272 Metropolitan Housing Trust 18 91
heat: from renewable sources 237; pumps Levitt Bernstein Associates: Aylesbury Metropolitan Workshop 39, 72 parking 19, 28, 106, 130, 150–3, 195: at
238; recovery 106, 205, 236; reducing Estate, Southwark 84–7, 170–1; Midsummer Cottages, Milton Keynes street level 80; bays 5, 151, 158; courts
demand 236–7 The Bolonachi Building, Site D, 208–11 151, 152; and front gardens 97; in
Heelands, Milton Keynes 232 Bermondsey 80–3, 156–7; Brunswick Midsummer Housing Association 208 curtilage 129, 151, 208; multi-storey
Henry Doubleday Research Association Centre, Bloomsbury 4, 22–7; CASPAR, Milton Keynes Development Corporation 153; off-street 30; on-street 151;
214 Leeds 196–9; Chalkhill, Brent 18, 19; 232 podiums 154; and security 127, 134,
high-rise housing 127 Cremer Street, Hackney 182–5; minimum space standards 91 153; short-term 18; stacking systems
Highworth Cottages, Leighton Buzzard 36 Ferry Street, Isle of Dogs 5, 14–7; mixed tenures 114, 162–3, 220; and 153; undercrofts 116, 120, 137, 152,
Hockerton Housing Project, Granville New Homes, Kilburn 104–9, separation 170 154, 155, 156, 157, 184; underground
Nottinghamshire 272–3 112, 206–7; Greengate House, mixed uses 20, 28: and circulation 20; and 34, 152–3, 186, 224, 226
Hodgkinson, Patrick 4, 22, 177 Plaistow 224–7; Holly Street, Hackney managment problems 19; and security party walls and insulation 140
Holly Street Estate, Hackney 46–51, 46, 51, 130–3; Kenworthy Road, systems 20; and services 19, 20, 22 passive solar energy 40, 240; and building
130–3: and crime 126 Hackney 172–5; Midsummer Cottages, Moat Housing Association 52 orientation 204
Home Builders Federation 38 Milton Keynes 208–11; Naish Court, models of sustainable development 66 PassivHaus standards 236, 240
‘home zones’ 8, 112, 172, 260 Islington 100–3; Old Royal Free Square, Modernism 5, 178; backlash against 14, patios 71, 98, 112, 114, 118, 120, 144
Homes and Communities Agency 44, 90 Islington 5, 6–8, 142–3, 180–1; Pimlico 180; and the relationship between patronage 176–9
Homes for Today and Tomorrow 89 Village, Victoria 28–31; St James exterior and interior 97; social stigma of Peabody Trust 146, 182
hot-rolled structural steel frames 218 Square, Bermondsey Spa 118–23, 138, 114, 128, 130 ‘pepper potting’ 167
Hounslow, London Borough of 158 144–5; Wick Village, Hackney Wick 4, modular construction 52–5, 252 Persimmon Homes 114
housing combinations 19 10–3 Moho, Manchester 252–5 Peter Barber Architects 176
Housing Corporation 37, 44, 89, 90, 91, Levitt, David 22 Monahan Blythen Hopkins: Oaklands photovoltaic panels 204–5; as external
150, 264 lifestyles: design implications 163; Court, Hammersmith 124–5 cladding 236, 238 ; as roofing 238,
Housing Quality Indicators 37, 44, 89, 91: anticipating changes 208 multi-storey car parks 153 242
and parking 150 Lifetime Homes 37–8, 40, 72, 79, 90–1, 92, Munkenbeck + Marshall Architects: Nile Pimlico Village, Victoria 28–31
housing: failure 228, 229 99, 100, 144, 172, 196; alternatives Street, Hackney 110, 146–9 pitched roofs; and solar collectors 204
Howell, Bill 39 for internal arrangements 194; place-making 4–17: Old Royal Free
HTA: Upton Site C, Northampton 66–9 and flexibility 192; main features Naish Court, Islington 100–3 Square, Islington 6–8
Hyde Housing Association 80, 118 195 narrow-frontage houses 39, 40–3: and planning: and security 128; open 72; and
lift and stair cores 19, 72–4, 84, 186, 198; built-in garages 150–1 sustainability 204–5
impact sound transmission 141 shared by different tenures 172 National Housing Federation 37, 89, 91 planting 32: and sound transmission 141
in-curtilage parking 151 lifts: and economics 72; retrofitting 72 neighbourhood centres 18 play: areas 6, 8, 71, 111, 112, 124, 133;
infrastructure: and sustainability 216 The Lighthouse 248–51 net curtains 139 equipment 12
innovation 4: and public social housing lighting 5, 106 Network Housing Group 28, 172 pocket parks 107, 110, 206
177 lightweight steel construction 239–40; wall New Towns 126 podiums 19, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 82, 134
internal corridors 73; double-loaded 73 panels 217 Newbury Mews, Kentish Town 139 points of entry 19
internal planning: and flexibility 71 ‘live frontages’ 19, 80, 98, 127, 137, 156; Newman, Oscar 110 police 10; and Secured by Design 37, 114
internal sound transmission 141 and self-policing 128–9 Nile Street, Hackney 110, 146–9 Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects
internal space 88–95; standards 38 ‘local lettings’ 73 noise nuisance 30, 140 (PTEa) 162: Adastral, Barnet 166–9;
Isle of Dogs 14 location and success of housing 4–5 Northamptonshire County Council 66 Naish Court, Islington 100–3; City
Islington, London Borough of 100 London & Quadrant Group 84, 224 Notting Hill Housing Group 166 Wharf, Islington 162; Old Royal Free
London Docklands 14 Square, Islington 6–9; Page Road,
Jacobs, Jane 126 London Plan 90, 91 Oaklands Court, Hammersmith 124–5 Bedfont, Hounslow 158–9
Jestico and Whiles: Abbotts Wharf, Tower longevity: and sense of place 4 observation: and security 129, 131, 132, post-war housing boom 4
Hamlets 134–7, 154–5 Lynn, Jack 220 142; and privacy 139 Postmodernism 5, 178, 180, 182
Index 280_281

Powell & Moya 36 security 10, 12, 32, 114, 126–9: and density Stadium Housing Association 28 timber frame 218, 242: and off-site
precast concrete; and off-site manufacture 128; and naivety 127; and parking 128; Standards and Quality in Development: A manufacture 196, 240
239 personal 130; and podiums 19; and Good Practice Guide 37 Total Cost Indicators 89
pre-completion testing 140 privacy 128; and shared open space Standards and Quality in Housing Tower Homes 224
prefabrication 92, 196, 238–9, 252, 256, 234; and tenure 127 Association Development 89 traditional street patterns: and security
260:and transportation 252 sedum roofs 206 steel frame systems 52, 134: and off-site 127
Presentation Housing Association 264 semi-private spaces 96, 97 manufacture 239–40 traffic separation from pedestrians 10
Prince’s Trust 66 ‘sense of place’ 4–5, 6, 66 Stirling, James: Runcorn housing 177 Traffic in Towns 22
privacy 96, 138–41: and balconies 99; and service charges 72, 106, 110, 114, 124: Stonehouse, Roger 232 transfer structures 19
balcony access 139; in continental and lifts 78 storage 19, 52, 71, 205: individual 113; trees: and the public realm 5, 80, 156, 157,
Europe 139; distances 5; and net services: and access 106; replaceable shared 113 158, 159
curtains 139; and overlooking distances 191, 217 street life 5 Trewin Design Partnership 111
139; and private open space 96–9, 102, sewage treatment 272 street patterns: re-establishing 6, 46, 130, Trowbridge Estate, Hackney 10
139–40; and regulation 138; and Shad Thames 118, 120 131,
stacking rooms 140; and window sizes shared circulation 5, 73–4, 144 street-based layouts 74, 100, 118, 120, 127, undercroft parking 152
139; visual 138–40, 144 shared facilities: external 110–3; indoor 166, 204: and limits to density 128; and underground parking 152–3
private housing: measuring success 4 111 passive solar gain 204–5; and security United House Developments Limited 46
private open space 96–9, 102, 139–40 shared open spaces 110, 111, 114: and 129, 143 Upton Site C, Northampton 66–9
Proctor and Matthews Architects: South high density 111; and management ‘streets in the sky’ 220 urban design and solar orientation 38
Chase, Newhall, Harlow 37, 200–1 110; and ownership 111; and security structural timber frame 218 Urban Splash 220, 252
PRP Architects 268: St Matthew’s Estate, 128 structure-borne sound 140 urban-design principles and security 127
Lambeth 264–7 shared ownership 88, 146, 166, 168, 182 Studio Egret West: Park Hill, Sheffield URBED 208
public realm: design of 100; and security ShedKM: Chimney Pot Park Salford 38: 220–3 utility rooms 71
127 Moho, Manchester 252–5 style preferences: of owner-occupiers U-values 236, 248, 256, 260; and wall
Sheffield City Council 220 178–9; of tenants 178 thickness 237
Quintain Estates and Development plc Sheffield District Heating System 220 subsidy 89: and standards 88
268 Sheppard Robson; The Lighthouse sunspaces 46–7, 99, 215, 237, 264, 272: Vale, Brenda and Robert: Hockerton
248–51 and overheating 240 Housing Project, Nottinghamshire
Radburn layouts 10 ‘Simple Living Opportunities’, South superdensity 186 272–3
rainwater: collection 106, 206; storage Chase, Newhall, Harlow 52–5 superinsulation 236, 264, 272 vandalism 18, 100, 113
241 Smith, Ivor 177, 220 supermarkets: and housing 19, 28; and ‘vandal-proofing’ 5
recycling 19, 38; and domestic waste 168, Smithson, Alison and Peter; Robin Hood lack of presence on the street 19 visual privacy 138–9
241; and planning 241 Gardens 177 superstructures: and sustainability 217; volumetric construction 52, 196, 198, 217,
regeneration 46, 166, 170 snake blocks 130, 133 concrete panel 217 239
renewable energy generation 38; and social housing: failures 177; meaasuring ‘Sustainable Urban Drainage’ 68
individual dwellings 208 success 4; and stigma 6 sustainability: and landscape 219; and walls: and sound transmission 141;
resident control 12 Social Housing Grant 37 structures 216–9; and urban thickness and U-values 237
resident-inspired regeneration schemes soft landscape 111 development 66 waste: centralised systems 241; domestic
10 solar gain: maximising in winter 66 Swaythling Housing Association 114 241; management 66, 241, 268;
retail: and housing 19, 22, 24 solar orientation 56, 66: and Code for system building 10, 84, 130 produced during construction 241;
reuse 220–3, 224–7 Sustainable Homes 38 recycling 106
‘right to buy’ 4, 12, 127, 178 solar panels 46, 106, 204–5, 237, 256, 272; Tabard Square, Southwark 186–9 water: and fittings 241; recyling 272
road widths 5 as external cladding 236, 238; as teenagers 10, 71, 111–2 weathering and sense of place 5, 233
‘Robust Details’ 140 roofing 238, 242; mounting angles 238; Telford Homes 134 Weekend family house, Wiltshire 228, 229,
Roding Lane, Redbridge 39 payback periods 238, 242 tenant management organisations 10, 11, 230
Roger Evans Associates 52 Solarsiedlung, Freiburg 70, 238, 242–7 12, 32 Wembley City 268–71
Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners: Oxley sound: insulation 72, 140; transference tenants: and lifestyle 163 wheelchair access 37: and terrace houses
Woods, Milton Keynes 256–9; Wembley 140–1 tenure 38, 84, 228: externally 36
City 268–71 South Chase Newhall Limited 52 indistinguishable 46, 56, 128, 162, 186; whole-house ventilation 205, 236, 256
Rolfe Judd; Tabard Square, Southwark South Chase, Newhall, Harlow 37, 52–5, flexible 162–3; and lifestyle 162–3; Wick Village Tenant Management
186–9 200–1 mixed 6, 114, 128, 162–3, 178, 220; and Cooperative 10
Ronan Point 14 Southgate, Runcorn 177 success of housing 4, 6 Wick Village, Hackney Wick 10–3
roofs: and communal gardens 124, 125; South Kilburn Estate 104 tenure-neutral communities 88 wind protection: and balconies 99
flat 106; sedum-planted 106; and Southwark, London Borough of 80, 84, terrace houses 36–48: and density 39, Woodward, Crhistopher 32
terrace houses 40; and terraces 70, 96, 118 40–3; and economy of street layout 190;
97, 98, 99, 110, 111 space: heating 236; internal 88–95 and flexibility 190; floor plans 40; youth activities 113
ruralZED 212–5 space left over after planning (SLOAP) frontages 39; modular 200; and narrow
104 frontages 36–7, 71; and orientation 40; ZEDfactory 212: St Matthew’s Estate,
St James Square, Bermondsey Spa space standards 88, 132: and affordable plans 36–8; and privacy 40; and Lambeth 264–7
118–23, 138, 144–5 rented housing 88; as a design tool 89; regulations 36; and roof design 40; and zero-carbon housing 212, 238, 242, 248
St Mary’s, Southampton 114 compared 91; and different tenures 88; suburbia 52; and sustainability 39; and zones and internal planning 90
St Matthew’s Estate, Lambeth 264–7 internal 38; mandatory 90 and private thermal efficiency 40; with private
secure routes 5 housing 88; and stacking rooms 140 gardens 100
Secured by Design: 37, 56, 114; and Spaces Homes, People, English thermal mass 272
parking courts 152 Partnerships’ Quality Standards 90 thresholds and cold bridging 99
 Acknowledgments

Levitt Bernstein Structural engineering advice The Authors and Publishers The organization is an expert
Simon Aitken Edge Structures would like to recognise and on low-carbon strategies for
Eve Burrough thank Design for Homes for all housebuilding, working with
Jo McCafferty Manufacturers the support they have provided partners such as the Zero
Andy Jobling Envac AB for this publication. Carbon Hub to find solutions
Julia Park and organizing study visits
Sofie Pelsmakers Managing and recycling waste Design for Homes is a research to see viable models in UK
Jackie Wood Robin Murray company set up in 2000 to and northern Europe. Go to
improve design, planning and www.designforhomes.org for
Design for Homes Hockerton Housing Project construction which invests its more details.
David Birkbeck Bill Bolton profits in spreading awareness
Ivan Lazarevic HHP Trading Limited of what works best, such as by
sponsoring David Levitt’s book.
Photographers who have kindly
donated their work Part of the organisation’s work
Nicholas Champkins is to investigate trade-offs
David Churchill between consumer preferences
Peter Cook and professional imperatives.
Tim Crocker This has shaped research
Nick Dawe such as ‘Perceptions of Privacy
Nick Hufton and Density in Higher Density
Katsuhisa Kida Housing’ as well as ‘Car
Benedict Luxmoore Parking: What works where’,
John MacLean a toolkit looking at more than
Joanna Shaw 100 treatments published with
Killian O’ Sullivan English Partnerships.
Tom Scott
Galit Seligmann Design for Homes created the
Morley von Sternberg Building for Life assessment tool
Charlotte Wood in 2002, now a core tool for the
public sector to assess housing
Architectural practices who proposals. It was part of a team
have kindly contributed their which created a similar tool for
work Ireland which became a statutory
Cartwright Pickard instrument in 2008.
Chetwoods
Edward Cullinan The organization set up
Rolf Disch the swingacat.info website
FCB Studios with the developer Gentoo
Hawkins\Brown making recommendations to
HTA architects householders on plan form
Jestico + Whiles and size of home for their
Maccreanor Lavington families. It also published
Metropolitan Workshop the ‘Recommendations for
Monahan Blythen Hopkins living at Superdensity’ report
Munkenbeck and Marshall in partnership with four
Pollard Thomas Edwards architectural practices whose
Proctor and Matthews work is featured in this book.
PRP
Rogers Stirk Harbour Design for Homes manages
Rolfe Judd England’s Housing Design
ShedKM Awards. It has made films of the
Sheppard Robson best winners which are streamed
ZEDfactory from its website.

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