The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) will have the brief to assess the design quality of recently completed affordable housing in England.
In his speech at the National Housing Federation Conference, Housing Corporation Chief Executive Steve Douglas announced that the Corporation has commissioned CABE to audit National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP) schemes where homes have been developed and completed via the partnership route. CABE will provide an independent assessment of the homes, through a series of audits, using the Building for Life assessment criteria as a basis for assessing the design quality of the external environment.
The Housing Corporation has agreed a service level agreement with CABE, which will assess the design quality of an extensive sample of schemes funded by the Housing Corporation.
The announcement follows on from the requirements to partners set out in the Housing Corporation's new Design and Quality Strategy, which emphasises the importance of good design in housing in creating sustainable developments and delivering social, economic and environmental benefits.
The CABE audits will be carried out on developments completed in the last three years and will focus on the external environment rather than internal environment or the environmental performance of the home itself.
Lovell started a £4.1m refurbishment project, which will transform two multi-storey blocks of flats in Great Barr, Birmingham. The Sandwell Homes scheme involves extensive improvement work to a 9-storey and an 11-storey block, which were built in the 1960s and contain a total of 118 flats.
The exterior of the two blocks will be transformed by new external render and tiles, with repairs to the buildings' external structure and to the roofs. Windows and balcony doors will be replaced with aluminium and timber windows which conserve heat. The lift system in each block will also be upgraded.
The work is being carried out under Sandwell Homes' £80 million modernisation programme for 44 high-rise blocks in the area.
Lovell is one of a number of partners involved in delivering the improvements.
Work started on a Flagship Housing Group scheme to build a £1.3 million housing development at Brandon in Suffolk.
The 13-home timber frame scheme will create three bungalows, six houses, and four flats for rent and shared ownership through Kings' Forest Housing which is part of Flagship Housing Group.
The project is set for completion in May 2008.
