First survey of affordable housing design

CABE and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have pledged commitment to drive up the design quality of new affordable homes.

Broadclose Farm, Bude
Photo by Tribal

The first national survey of the design quality of affordable housing shows that while nearly two thirds (61 per cent) was judged to be ‘average’, a fifth of schemes (21 per cent) was rated ‘poor’ and 18 per cent of schemes was judged either ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

The Affordable Housing Survey of 218 schemes was commissioned by the Housing Corporation, now part of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), and produced by CABE.  

It looked at the whole place: not only the buildings, but the streets, play spaces, recreation areas and transport links.

Schemes often performed well in terms of architectural quality, public realm, and the tenure and accommodation mix. Many also outperformed statutory minimum criteria such as building regulations.

But other design aspects were weaker, such as a lack of distinctiveness, and designs which do not respond to their context. Many schemes were difficult to find your way around or had poor access to local amenities such as shops and health centres. A sizeable number failed to show the flexibility that would allow them to be adapted or extended in the future.

The survey creates a baseline for the quality of affordable housing. Better results can be expected if in the future schemes are subject to minimum Building for Life standards (which were stipulated by Housing Corporation design standards).

The survey is a nationally representative sample of the output of Registered Social Landlord development partnerships commissioned under the Housing Corporation’s 2004-06 and 2006-08 investment programmes.

How can new social housing be improved?

Given the scale and proportion of investment it now commands, the affordable housing sector has an opportunity to eradicate poor design. This sector can not only create great places that meet their needs of their residents, but also drive up the quality of housing across the whole industry.

The report recommends the HCA commit to enforcing minimum design standards, including Building for Life. Other important standards include the Manual for Streets and the Code for Sustainable Homes. CABE will continue to support the HCA and RSLs across the country to make this a reality.

Sufficient time for design should be allowed at the start of the development process. And higher levels of architectural and urban design expertise are needed among registered social landlord (RSL) staff.

Registered Social Landlords have to specify good design but the local planning authority, the highway and transport authority, and other developer partners all play their part in making places that are good to live in. The whole team has to want good design and work to deliver it.