Managing an award-winning estate

Andrea Taylor, director of development and new business at Radian, talks about managing the Chapel estate in Southampton.

Awarded a Building for Life Gold Standard in 2005, Chapel is a flagship residential scheme in Southampton, which reversed the usual development process.

Prior to the development, the 5-acre site was used as a lorry park and was mostly in local authority ownership. Situated between St Mary's (one of the poorest districts of the city) and Ocean Village (one of the richest), it's at the heart of a development zone within Southampton's Local Plan.

Development on a plate

Chapel is unique because it switches the normal process whereby a private housebuilder is the lead developer and the affordable housing is secured through a Section 106 agreement.

At Chapel, Swaythling Housing Society acted as the 'arms length developer' for Southampton City Council, carrying out all necessary site investigations at its own risk, obtaining detailed planning consent for the scheme and securing a three-year funding commitment from the Housing Corporation. As a result, the site attracted much interest from developers and private house builders who described the approach as \"development on a plate\". Persimmon Homes were selected to build the development and market the private housing. All three parties entered into a tri-partite development agreement that identified the respective roles and responsibilities. This unique approach also allowed Swaythling to increase the number of affordable housing units on offer and gain a greater commitment to the design and sustainability criteria set out by the Housing Corporation.

Triple role

Swaythling has retained the freehold interest in the whole development enabling them to retain control over the management of the scheme in the long term. Swaythling issued long term occupational leases to private sector purchasers, and tenancy agreements to the residents of the affordable housing. Each lease specifies the financial contribution required from the occupants of each dwelling for the management of the communal internal and external areas, the maintenance of the external building fabric, and the management of the underground car parking and lifts.

Swaythling Housing Society has a triple role, as freeholders, as managing agent and as landlord for the affordable housing. In order to differentiate these roles and also to ensure that the services provided in respect of a large integrated mixed tenure scheme are appropriate and accounted for in a way that would be acceptable to the private occupants, Swaythling appointed a professional managing agent to act on its behalf.

The principles of sustainability

The success of the development lies not only in the quality of the physical environment, but in the development of the new community at Chapel and by the measures that have been adopted in the management and maintenance of the scheme. Chapel is a text book example of how to tackle the nine principles for sustainability set out in the Housing Corporation's toolkit:

1. Demand for housing

The South East Regional Housing Strategy highlighted Southampton as a priority area for investment and the Chapel development has been able to meet the two key aims of this Strategy by increasing the supply of affordable homes and contributing to neighbourhood renewal by closing the gap between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the city.

2. Reputation

Chapel falls within one of the most deprived districts in England and the area had increasingly gained a reputation for a hot spot of crime and anti-social behaviour. The new development has enabled stronger links to be made between Chapel and its more affluent neighbours and is gradually enabling Chapel to establish itself as a desirable area to live.

3. Crime and anti-social behaviour

The development incorporates many design principles that promote a safe and secure residential environment - and achieved a Secured by Design award - and a number of community initiatives were also developed to reduce the perception of crime and to offer diversionary activities.

4. Social exclusion and poverty

Chapel has undoubtedly helped to revitalise the neighbourhood and contribute to its social, economic and physical regeneration. A number of initiatives were used and developed to help support not only the new residents, but also existing communities and service providers in the vicinity. Both prior to and during the first few months of residents moving in, interviews were carried out to enable residents to discuss the realities of living in a mixed tenure development, whilst a welcome event was held in June 2005 to encourage existing businesses and service providers to introduce themselves to the new community. Activities to raise awareness and forge links with the surrounding community have continued - for example, a series of cookery classes led by local residents have been a great success.

5. Accessibility of employment, facilities and services

The success of Chapel has promoted a neighbourhood where people want to spend time. This, in turn, has encouraged businesses to locate there and there is now a local, privately-run café and nursery, together with a growing neighbouring business park.

6. Quality of community's built and green environment

The landscape design at Chapel has created an attractive and functional setting for all users, with a public park as well private outdoor space for each property. Due to Chapel's close proximity to the city centre, a sustainable travel plan was incorporated in the scheme. This included the creation of a 20mph zone, a segregated cycleway and the provision of secure communal cycle storage. The residents group actively worked with local agencies and organisations to further enhance the travel plan, which included lobbying the LA for a bus route close to the development, encouraging membership of the city's local 'car club scheme' as well as introducing clamping on the development to prevent abuse of the limited car parking available.

Chapel also achieves many of the government's environmental standards and scored well under the Eco Homes Standard. Furthermore, one of the most successful programmes has been to encourage environmental awareness amongst young people. The project worker teamed up with Hawthorne Wildlife Centre to provide activities such as bulb planting, creating bird boxes, and identifying local wildlife.

7. Quality, design and layout of housing

The design of the scheme is a mix of three and four storey houses and flats with a five-storey landmark building. The 174 homes consist of 37% for affordable rent (including shared ownership) and 63% for open market sales. There is no architectural distinction between tenures, and affordable homes are pepper-potted throughout the development. As well as being awarded the Building For Life Gold Standard, Chapel was also the winner of the Large House Builder category at the Housing Design Awards.

8. Extent of community cohesion

Through the local letting scheme, prospective residents were identified at an early stage enabling them to become involved in the development and delivery of the scheme. A partnership programme to consider options for the future management of the scheme has produced a neighbourhood Charter, providing a unique opportunity for community empowerment whilst helping to develop the skills, capability and confidence of residents.

The planned open spaces and green environment have also enabled residents to navigate the scheme with ease, encouraging them to spend more time within the development, reducing social isolation and increasing community cohesiveness.

9. Mix of the community

The layout and design of the development encourages informal interaction and creates opportunities for casual meetings. The pepper-potting of affordable housing has also promoted natural social integration between households, and the approach to neighbourhood management has played a key role in making the integration of tenures work.

Andrea Taylor is the Director of Development and New Business at Radian (which incorporates the Swaythling Housing Society Ltd)