Wherever we go, we always find great examples of quality places for people to live and work, whatever the property values are. We try to show people how it was done.
With the housing sector united in wanting the maximum number of homes built, housing providers know too that people strive for a better life for themselves, family and friends through the places they live in. When places are good, life can be good too and thinking about design acts as a proxy for thinking about people. I lead the HCA design team and we work with local authorities and registered providers to build good quality homes that people are happy to live in as well as being financially viable.
We go around the country and source projects and people who have created value through a variety of means. Looking at different ways of creating value - financial and community based value - we see different models of place-making emerging.
The models we see successfully do this under very different conditions:
Take the Cambridge Master Plan – with its thoughtful, long term and deliberate strategy to bring the whole community on board through a clearly defined growth plan via the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth. A lot of thinking went into how to create jobs and investment in the right places. Cambridge insisted on starting with the right infrastructure as well as making checks throughout the process, including design reviews, to achieve quality.
Then there is Horsted Park, Chatham – a low value site brought forward by developers on the edge of town, whose local authority, again helped by design review, insisted on using good architects and were able to achieve an award winning housing scheme on a limited budget.
Inner City, Derby – one of our smaller cities, who through the delivery of quality urban design is hoping to attract people to come and live within the city centre, even though they could choose to live out of town.
Estate Renewal, Nottingham – using a combination 1970s estate renewals as well as some new build and opening up streets, the Meadows has successfully improved both the place and housing values.
A people-led approach to saving a place and its community and redeveloping it with the help of architect and design collective Assemble, resulted in Granby Four Streets, Community Land Trust, Toxteth being set up. The vision is to create a thriving, vibrant mixed community, building on the existing creativity, energy and commitment within the community, where people from all walks of life can live, work and play. Assemble and Granby Four Streets were nominated for the Turner Prize this year.
These projects all demonstrate how to build great places and communities for people, providing good, long-term value, regardless of the financial status of an area and irrespective of the type of place.
Do you have examples of how you have created value through quality? Have you helped to create a great place when you saw the opportunity?