Housing and Planning Minister, Yvette Cooper, said new UK homes should be built to Scandinavian standards and better them within ten years.
Speaking after a visit to environmentally friendly and sustainably designed housing developments in the Netherlands and Scandinavia, to stakeholders from the house building, regeneration and environmental sectors, the Minister said developers need to increase standards to meet the challenges of climate change.
The Minister wants to use ideas and techniques already being developed and adopted in other European countries to deliver substantial cuts in carbon emissions from new homes. She is also challenging UK companies to plan and innovate now, to beat designs and standards from Scandinavia and the Netherlands within ten years.
The second phase of the Design for Manufacture competition will be launched by the end of the year, challenging builders to develop environmentally friendly, low carbon housing developments. The competition will involve private and public sites for low and zero carbon developments. European companies will be invited to join the competition to increase innovation. Yvette Cooper said: "The homes we build today will house our children and grandchildren for decades to come, which means they need to be sustainable. If other countries can do it so can we. The challenge now is for UK developers to create low cost and low carbon homes. We believe that new developments in the Thames Gateway and in areas like Northstowe can also lead the way."
Two outstanding social housing schemes received the highest accolade from Building for Life: the gold standard. One of them was the first entirely social housing scheme to be put up for an award.
The Building for Life standard is the national standard for design quality in housing and neighbourhoods. It is backed by CABE, the Government, and the housing industry. Developers now seeking to build on any public land controlled by English Partnerships (6,000 hectares of real estate) must demonstrate their designs will meet the Building for Life standard.
A total of five new housing developments have been awarded the standard in this current round and all the schemes are transforming run-down areas.
Two schemes received the Building for Life Gold Standard:
Selwyn Street, Oldham: Great Places Housing Group (previously Manchester Methodist) with TADW Architects.
This is the first housing development under the Oldham Rochdale Pathfinder programme. TADW architects have responded to the unusual brief by introducing larger house types, including a seven-bedroom, 11-person house. The scheme deals sensitively with an existing neighbourhood, incorporating 18 new units within terraced housing.
Selwyn Street homes are set to achieve Eco-Homes 'excellent' thanks to their high levels of insulation, wind turbines and solar water heating panels, which will provide 90% of hot water in summer (60% in winter). Annual energy bills for residents should be £400 below the UK average.
A 'contemporary' park promises to provide a 'visually stimulating and tactile environment,' incorporating art, seating and communal areas. As well as play facilities for 100 additional children, it will provide much-needed green space for a very densely populated area.
Angell Town, Brixton, London: Lambeth Housing, Ujima Housing Association, Presentation Housing Association, Family Housing Association (Angell Town Estate Management Board, Angell Town Community Project, Government Office for London) with Burrell Foley Fischer, Anne Thorne, Greenhill Jenner, and Mode 1 Architects.
The estate where footballer Ian Wright grew up is hardly recognisable today. Built in the 1970s, Angell Town was a fortress of poorly constructed concrete blocks connected by high-level bridges, with garages dominating the ground level.
The community has driven regeneration of this entirely social housing scheme. Nearly 600 units have either been refurbished or newly built. The design is subtle but the variety and quality of materials used - render, brick, glass and timber and innovative design features such as striking white rendered staircases - make a statement.
The most recently completed project on the estate is Boatemah Walk, which is a new-build block of 18 flats by Anne Thorne Architects and is rated Eco-Homes excellent. It integrates a solar power, rain water harvesting and water conservation. Environmentally friendly paints and floor finishes were used.
Three schemes received the Building for Life Silver Standard:
Abbotts Wharf, Limehouse, London: East Thames Group and Telford Homes, Jestico + Whiles Architects and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
This pioneering development reconciles market sale and affordable homes. The judges praised the scheme for pushing the limits of social housing and believe it could be an effective model for social housing arrangements. Balconies and small vividly painted panels enliven the four white-rendered buildings, ranging from five to 13 storeys. All units benefit from generous glass and steel balconies with great views to nearby Canary Wharf.
New River Village, Hornsey, London: St James Homes, Circle Anglia and Metropolitan Housing Trust, Stock Woolstencroft Architects with Haringay Borough Council.
Bold, contemporary architecture combined with smartly refurbished listed buildings makes New River Village a fresh, continental challenge to the British market. The developer was applauded for finding a piece of land with a new London view - to Alexandra Palace - and has even succeeded in creating a 'destination' by refurbishing a pump-house into a bar/restaurant.
Important improvements still to come include resolving lighting and an unsatisfactory access issue, as well as the transformation of the 'New River' into a 450m long linear park to link Hornsey High Street to Wood Green and Alexandra Palace.
Mealhouse Brow, Stockport: Northern Counties Housing Association, TADW Architects and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council.
This is a painstaking refurbishment of a grade II listed building and surrounding buildings into a mixed-use development of 20 rental apartments and seven retail units. It is helping regeneration and putting some life back into the town.
Eighteenth century timber, paving and brickwork and sandstone were expertly restored and re-used, and Welsh slate salvaged to roof all the street frontages. Timber shop fronts and traditional sash windows were made locally. Restoration also included a medieval gaol and stone revetment. Homes achieve the good Eco-Homes rating.
The modern communal areas were praised, with internal courtyards overlooked by smaller windows providing security as well as privacy.
Work was well on the way at Oxford Citizens Housing Association's 41 new homes development in Barton, east Oxford. The £3.7 million scheme by Lovell is using Fusion Building Systems' light steel frame technology. The development comprises 18 one- and two-bedroom flats, and 23 two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom houses for affordable rent and shared ownership through the Association. It is scheduled for completion in Summer 2007.
ASRA Greater London Housing Association, part of the LHA-ASRA group, is developing new homes at Grand Union Village in Ealing, the former headquarters site of Taylor Woodrow, at a cost of over £3 million.
This latest phase features 44 homes built using timber frames. ASRA is building 11 houses, which consist of two six-bedroom homes and nine three-bedroom homes. The three-bedroom houses will be ready for handover in October, with the six-bedroom houses set to be available in December 2006.
Grand Union Village main features include high environmental standards, efficient heating boilers to reduce local pollution levels, high levels of insulation, and low water usage apparatus.
The official opening took place of Eastern Valley Housing Association's T_ Clarence, in Pontypool. T_ Clarence, formally known as The Clarence Hotel, underwent £3.8 million worth of regeneration.
The former hotel building, which is over 200 years old, had been empty for almost 20 years and had become a derelict, eyesore at the gateway of Pontypool, has now been transformed. The building now provides 10 apartments for rent, 4 apartments sold to local people at low cost rates to help them bridge the affordability gap and so get onto the housing ladder, and 8,000 square feet of office space.
The Housing Corporation published the second edition of Open.
Published three times a year, Open magazine showcases the latest developments in the delivery of affordable homes and strong communities. Aimed at people interested in affordable housing, it brings together examples of work being carried out by housing associations and social landlords in England and in other countries. Each issue has a different theme, with this edition focusing on the latest green developments in housing. It shows how housing associations are upping the environmental standards of both new homes and existing buildings, and how greening the spaces in between homes is helping to improve the quality of residents' lives.
Highlights of this latest edition include:
Each magazine also features a directory of the latest research and guidance on the issue's theme, building up an authoritative resource for readers.
Open is available online via the Housing Corporation website - www.housingcorp.gov.uk/open.
The next edition of Open (Spring 2007) will be published in January 2007, and will focus on the theme of respect.
Future Investment Approaches (a discussion paper)
Working together, the Housing Corporation and the mixed economy of organisations that it funds have made some significant achievements in the past year. Delivery targets for 2005-06 were exceeded and a new two-year programme for 2006-08 was set up, which will provide 30% more homes for only 15% more resources - the single largest investment in the Corporation's history. This paper seeks to contribute to building on these achievements.
Ideas into Action: The Research and Innovation Compendium
As the Corporation considers funding applications under new themes and priorities, it has drawn together a selection of recent research and innovation activities. As well as recording the programme's achievements, this compendium is designed to stimulate further interest in taking up the innovations highlighted.
