The housing design handbook: a guide to good practice

361 Pages·2018·122.86 MB·English

by  Levitt

The Housing Design Handbook
A guide to good practice
This book is dedicated to the memory
of David Bernstein (1937–2018).
David Levitt

Jo McCafferty
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2nd edition
Biographies June Barnes worked in housing for the country. She has published research and
more than 35 years, retiring in 2014 as contributed to several publications.
chief executive of East Thames Housing
Association. Throughout her career she Teresa Borsuk is an architect and senior
Authors promoted the design of attractive homes partner at Pollard Thomas Edwards. She has
David Levitt trained at the University of that would be valued by their residents more than 30 years’ experience in the housing,
Cambridge and worked for five years as an and easy and cost effective to manage and mixed-use and regeneration sectors, and
assistant to Patrick Hodgkinson on the design maintain. She is currently a board member has both designed and delivered a series of
of the Brunswick Centre. He co-founded Levitt of Urban&Civic plc, a large developer; of successful and award-winning projects. She
Bernstein with David Bernstein in 1968. At the the Building Research Establishment has a keen interest in the underlying issues
same time, they started what is now one of Trust and of Hornsey Housing Trust. She is that influence the design, planning and
the UK’s largest housing associations. David also a member of the Jersey Architecture delivery of better homes and places.
Levitt’s involvement in commissioning and Commission.
designing housing – and his interest in the Andy von Bradsky is an architect with more
concerns of clients and residents – produced Simon Bayliss is an architect and urban than 30 years’ experience in the design and
The Housing Design Handbook in 2010. designer, passionate about designing better delivery of housing and regeneration for the
Eight years later, and with the housing crisis homes and places to live. He is managing private and public sectors, drawing from
ever worsening, he has returned to co-author partner of HTA Design, an interdisciplinary extensive experience as former chairman of
this new edition. Despite retiring from practice practice of architects and designers working PRP, a practice specialising in housing. He
in 2005, David has continued as a ‘design to improve all forms of housing, which has is an architectural advisor at the Ministry of
champion’ for housing developers and housing been responsible for the design of some of Housing, Communities and Local Government
associations and as a board member of the most innovative and influential housing supporting planning, design, supply and
Design for Homes. developments of the past twenty years. He is regeneration programmes. He is also
a regular contributor to the debate on housing chairman of the Housing Forum, a cross-
Jo McCafferty studied at the University of design, as both speaker and writer. housing-industry organisation committed to
Liverpool and the University of Washington, more and better housing.
and has worked with practices in Switzerland, Claire Bennie has been working in housing
Ireland and London, including Arbeitsgruppe, design and commissioning for more than Nick Bristow has been a project architect at
an architectural collective specialising in twenty years, both as an architect in Mæ since 2016. Led by Alex Ely, former head
housing design, in Bern. She joined Levitt practice (including at Proctor and Matthews of sustainable communities at CABE, Mæ
Bernstein in 1997 and now leads the practice’s Architects) and until 2015 as development design buildings that seek to address today’s
major housing studio. Her key role has been director at the London housing association urban, social and environmental challenges.
championing inventive solutions at both Peabody. Claire is known for her championing Nick works primarily on housing and is
masterplanning and detailed-design scales, of high-quality design and has now founded currently leading the design of an estate-
and to work with communities to empower Municipal, which is advising ambitious regeneration project for the London Borough
residents through the design process. As co- commissioners (including the Nationwide of Lambeth. His wider interests extend to
author of this edition of The Housing Design Building Society) on the delivery of lasting, planning and sustainable development, both
Handbook, she brings her experience on attractive homes. She also enjoys living on a internationally and in the UK.
current projects and emerging policy. 1930s estate in south London.
Jo sits on the RIBA Awards National Panel Russell Brown formed Hawkins\Brown with
and is a CABE Built Environment Expert. David Birkbeck helped to set up Design for Roger Hawkins in 1988, after working for
She is also a guest critic at the University Homes as a social enterprise and has been Rock Townsend and Peter Eisenman. He
of Newcastle, University of Cambridge the director of the Housing Design Awards has experience across the whole spectrum
and invited lecturer at the Architectural since 2005. He wrote Building for Life in 2002 of housing, from comprehensive estate
Association. and co-wrote a revised edition in 2012, backed regenerations for Notting Hill and Peabody
by the National Planning Policy Framework. to commercial towers in Canary Wharf. He
Contributors He initiated John Prescott’s £60k/house also leads the practice’s research into rental
Alexander Abbey has more than twenty competition and was its only private-sector developments, co-living and micro-flats for
years of architectural experience in a range judge. David also contributed to the 2009 all forms of tenancy. He believes passionately
of sectors, with an interest in reducing the HAPPI report, which showed how homes that people benefit from living collectively, and
carbon footprint of buildings in construction designed for older people can be at least as that being a good neighbour is an essential
and use. Having specialist knowledge in appealing as general-needs homes. civic skill.
modern methods of construction, he recently
developed an offsite, quick-build timber Dinah Bornat is an architect, urban designer Clare Cameron, a director in the Later Living
system for schools, and is researching how to and co-founded ZCD Architects with team at PRP, is an architect and expert in the
apply this to housing. He enjoys teaching, and Cordula Weisser in 2013. The practice has a field of design for older people, dementia
lectures widely. He also leads the practice’s commitment to projects with a social purpose and those with physical, cognitive or learning
development team, ensuring the advance of and a particular focus on neighbourhood disabilities. In her 22 years at PRP she has led
skills and knowledge, and sits on the TRADA design for children and young people. Dinah is the design team on a series of award-winning
Advisory Committee. a London Mayor’s Design Advocate, a design projects in the sector, written several design
review panel member for Harrow Council and guides and undertaken multiple portfolio
works with a number of other boroughs across reviews of specialist housing stock for
iv
clients. Clare has a real passion to share her local authority, commercial development, in Hackney. The practice is also working with
knowledge and to bring innovation and delight housing association, government agency, Urban Splash on 200 homes as part of the
to ‘age-friendly’ housing. and community-led housing, latterly as a regeneration of Park Hill in Sheffield.
consultant advising all those sectors. As a
Zohra Chiheb is an architect at Levitt market and policy disruptor, he has helped to Julia Moulder is an experienced development
Bernstein, specialising in the design and bring community housing back into the policy and regeneration professional. She worked
delivery of large-scale housing projects, and a arena, enabling communities to build the type for twenty years in executive director
researcher with a focus on offsite technology of homes they really want and need, and that roles at Catalyst Housing, where she was
and alternative models of housing delivery. In public policy and the market have not been responsible for their 1,000-unit per annum
2016 she co-founded Appropriate Housing, offering. mixed-tenure development programme,
a community-led housing-enabler service and for asset management. She chaired the
and research collective. She is also a non- Richard Lavington established Maccreanor g15 development directors’ group between
executive board member for CDS Cooperative Lavington with Gerard Maccreanor in the 2013 and 2017. She has now set up her own
Housing Association and chairs the steering 1990s. The practice is recognised for its consultancy business, focused on increasing
group of the London Community-Led Housing research in masterplanning and the built the supply of good-quality new homes
Hub for the GLA. environment, setting the agenda within through process and product innovation, and
the housing sector and focusing on estate improvements to development-client skills,
Neil Deely established Metropolitan regeneration and growth opportunities knowledge and resources.
Workshop in 2005, and is experienced in within outer London boroughs. He has led the
leading complex mixed-use residential practice on many award-winning projects, Clare Murray is head of sustainability at
masterplans, collaborating with many of including the RIBA Stirling Prize recipient Levitt Bernstein, where she champions
the UK’s best housing practices. He has Accordia. He is also a London Mayor’s Design the importance of new buildings being
designed major urban projects and buildings Advocate and has taught at Cambridge, Bath, sustainably designed using a holistic
in sensitive conservation, heritage and Nottingham, Canterbury, Belfast and the approach, and oversees the sustainability
green belt contexts such as Durham, Oxford, Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow. strategies for all projects from concept
Cambridge and London. Neil serves on a range through to post-occupancy. She is responsible
of design review panels, including Design Barry McCullough is a director at Levitt for the practice’s sustainability strategy and
Council CABE, Croydon, Newham and Harrow, Bernstein, leading on the design and delivery has also contributed to a range of research
and provides Urban Design London with of new housing projects across the country. work and publications, campaigning for
training programmes for local authorities on With significant experience in masterplanning sustainability to be a key consideration
the principles of urban design. and regeneration, he is an expert on within policy and design. Most recently, she
revitalising urban housing stock and recently co-authored the NHF Housing Standards
Kate Digney, head of landscape at Levitt co-wrote Thinking Ahead: A Best Practice Handbook, providing guidance and standards
Bernstein, applies her extensive experience of Guide to Estate Regeneration. He is also a on a range of sustainability topics.
placemaking, landscape design and ecology keen advocate of community consultation
to bear on a broad range of projects, from and collaborates closely with clients and Dominic Papa is a founding director of S333
complex urban regeneration sites to sensitive others to establish the best approach for Architecture + Urbanism, whose work has
rural landscapes. A specialist in designing each project. become a benchmark for urban, residential
residential-led landscapes, she has a quality in the Netherlands and New Zealand.
particular aptitude for engaging communities Andrew Matthews and Stephen Proctor He is a Fellow of the Commission for the
to ensure the successful delivery of projects. are founding directors of Proctor and Royal Exhibition of 1851, researching
As well as her project work, she sits on a Matthews Architects with more than 30 intense forms of housing and urbanism, and
number of design review panels and writes years of experience as architects and urban delivering guidance for better-quality family
regularly for industry journals. designers. The practice has an extensive living. He is also a tutor at the Architectural
portfolio of award-winning work including Association, chair of Islington’s Design Review
Hendrik Heyns trained at the University mixed-use regeneration projects, education Panel and part of a team advising the federal
of the Free State in South Africa, working and community buildings and new residential government of Brazil on housing policy.
in Johannesburg before joining Allies and neighbourhoods. They have been lecturers,
Morrison in 1999 and becoming a partner visiting critics and external examiners at Julia Park has spent most of her 30-year
in 2015. He has been involved in a range of schools of architecture across the UK and career as a housing architect at Levitt
residential, retail, education and regeneration abroad, including the University of Sheffield, Bernstein where she is head of housing
work. He led the award-winning St Andrew’s where they are currently visiting professors. research. She now concentrates on housing
project in Bromley-by-Bow, producing the policy, research and writing and has published
initial masterplan of 964 homes. Currently, David Mikhail is a co-director of Mikhail three books: Age-Friendly Housing, One
Hendrik is working on several residential Riches, founded with Annalie Riches Hundred Years of Housing Space Standards:
projects in London, including West Hendon, in 2014. He studied at Cambridge and What Now? and the NHF Housing Standards
Aldgate Place and the Lampton Road Westminster Universities, and has a wide Handbook. Currently chair of the RIBA Housing
masterplan. range of experience in housing. The practice’s Group, Julia advises government, is a London
projects include: 105 Passivhaus homes Mayor’s Design Advocate and gives evidence
Stephen Hill is a chartered planning and in Norwich, four sites in Croydon for Brick to inquiries and examinations.
development surveyor. Since 1970, he has by Brick, 40 homes for Mid-Devon District
worked in every house-building sector: Council in Tiverton and 100 new homes
v
Contents
Biographies iv Student accommodation 4 10
Good design in housing – and Build to Rent 96 Internal space 178 Tenure and sustainable
no excuses 1 Russell Brown 98 Julia Park 180 communities 272
Introduction 2 Goldsmiths student Essex Mews 182 Barry McCullough 274
residences 102 Growing space 186 Aylesbury Estate phase 1 276
1 Campus Hall, University 100 ways to use 100m2 188 Kings Crescent 280
Places that get better of Southern Denmark 106
over time 4 Quigley Residence, 5
Claire Bennie 6 University of Limerick 110 External space 190 11
Byker Estate 8 Dinah Bornat and Estate regeneration 284
Old Royal Free Square 12 3 Kate Digney 192 Andy von Bradsky 286
Ruskin Park House 15 Density 114 Christchurch Estate 194 Portobello Square 288
Built form as densities Barrier Park East, Ocean Estate 292
2 increase 118 buildings A and D 198 Park Hill phase 1 296
Typologies 18 Bo01, Västra Hamnen 202
Low density (35–90dph) 12
Semi-detached 18 Andrew Matthews and 6 Co-design 300
Neil Deely 20 Stephen Proctor 122 Mixing homes with other Stephen Hill 302
Horsted Park 22 Abode at Great Kneighton uses 206 Spreefeld 304
The Guts, New Islington 26 phase 1 124 Dominic Papa 208 New Ground 308
Derwenthorpe phase 1 128 Schots 1 and 2, CiBoGa Marmalade Lane 311
Terraces 30 Lime Tree Square 132 Terrain 212
Types and density 32 Brunswick Centre 216 13
Nick Bristow 36 Medium density M9-C, Rive Gauche 220 Sustainable design and
Hammond Court 38 (90–250dph) construction 314
Accordia 42 Teresa Borsuk 136 7 Sustainable design
Chimney Pot Park 46 Harvard Gardens 138 Privacy 224 Clare Murray 316
The Malings 142 David Mikhail 226 Goldsmith Street 318
Flats 50 Sutherland Road 146 Church Walk 228 Hanham Hall 322
Richard Lavington 52 One Tower Bridge 232 Sustainable construction
Ryle Yard 56 High density Pinnacle N10 235 Zohra Chiheb 326
Darbishire Place 60 (250–350+dph) Town House 328
Piraeus 63 David Birkbeck 150 8 Trafalgar Place 332
Camden Courtyards 154 Security 238
Maisonettes 66 Via Verde 158 Simon Bayliss 240 14
Jo McCafferty 68 Royal Road 161 Officers Field 242 Cost in use 336
Vaudeville Court 70 Brentford Lock West, June Barnes 338
Highgate New Town 74 Tall buildings (350+dph) building G 246 Cost in use:
Silchester Estate 77 Hendrik Heyns 164 St Andrew’s 250 a whole-life approach
Aldgate Place 168 Julia Moulder 342
Housing for an ageing Ruskin Square phase 1 172 9
population 80 Colville Estate phase 3 175 Bins, bikes and cars 254 Abbreviations and
Clare Cameron 82 Alexander Abbey 256 glossary 344
Windmill Court 86 Spring at Stonebridge Sources of information 346
Buccleuch House 90 Park 260 Index 350
Almshouse 94 Aura, Great Kneighton 264 Acknowledgments 353
Dujardin Mews 268
vi
Good design in housing – no excuses
A foreword by Richard Best
The good news is that all the key policy makers are now Derwenthorpe is a mixed community, with 60% home
signed up to a huge increase in annual housebuilding. ownership and 40% affordable housing. Home zones favour
The new homes – at least 300,000 of them each year – pedestrians, children can walk to school, the Sustrans
are badly needed to make up for decades of undersupply, cycle track takes you into town, new residents are given a
which has meant that almost everyone under 40 today year’s bus pass or a cycle loan, and a car club has started
faces a housing problem. up. A combined heat and power plant, run on renewable
energy, means lower fuel bills. A very active residents’
The bad news is that most of the new homes will be association works with the on-site management team
built in defiance or in ignorance of what constitutes and this new community is generating a rich social life for
decent housing. Increased production is essential, but young and old. The children’s play areas are in constant
it is not sufficient. use. High-speed internet keeps everyone connected and
extensive activities bring people together, protect against
The UK is heavily dependent on a handful of volume loneliness and strengthen good neighbourliness.
housebuilders motivated by short-term profitability.
This model has served us badly. It has, of course, failed This is one of 60 case studies that feature in this book,
to create more than about half the new homes that the illustrating how masterplanning, architecture and
country needs. But more fundamentally, it has failed us landscape can bring together housing and wellbeing
in the quality of design and placemaking. As well as poor and hugely improve quality of life. There is no excuse
workmanship, abysmal space standards and an absence for continuing to turn out low-grade, poor-quality new
of investment in innovation and building skills, the major places when positive alternatives like these are so
housebuilders have let us down by reneging on promises clearly achievable.
to include affordable homes.
This book is part of the fightback. From years of
campaigning for housing of higher quality, David Levitt,
alongside Jo McCafferty, has invited a galaxy of influential
experts to share their collective wisdom and imagination
across the whole range of housing typologies. The lessons
learned from hard-won experience are encapsulated here
to challenge and inspire us all to put quality – not just
quantity – at the heart of future housebuilding.
In Chapter 3 on density, one of the examples of good
practice is Derwenthorpe, a Joseph Rowntree Foundation
project with which I was involved, for about 550 homes
on the east side of York. This new neighbourhood, echoing
Parker and Unwin’s 100-year-old Garden Village of New
Earswick close by, features Studio Partington’s brilliant
designs for Lifetime Homes set in an uplifting yet practical
landscape.

1
chapter header
case study header
Introduction
‘If only I had known then what I know now’. sales to cross-subsidise the affordable homes that
developers are obliged to provide. In London in recent
This is how the first edition to The Housing Design years, local authorities have started to build their own
Handbook began, and some eight years on the old adage housing again; some boroughs have even established
still rings true. In our preparations for this new edition, their own development companies to circumvent lengthy
many of the subjects remain, but several new ones – procurement processes and increase borrowing capacity,
including increasing density, co-design, the needs of while local communities are instigating co-housing
older people, provision for storage and disposal of waste projects. But, regrettably, these small-scale initiatives
– reflect issues that have become much more urgent in alone are not going to solve the housing crisis. Many
the meantime. have called for renewed state funding and a reskilling of
borough departments or even a centrally funded national
With new homes and the funds to build them in such housebuilding agency. Without a radical rethinking of
short supply, some will ask if this is the time to put the procurement and funding for truly affordable dwellings,
primary focus on design. This new edition is intended homelessness will continue to soar, and with it a rising
to demonstrate that sacrificing design quality in burden on all the major services – health, education and
favour of basic numbers would be both dangerous and policing. Meanwhile, accessible central locations will be
counterproductive. We know that homes must be built solely for the wealthy.
to last and that replacing them after just a couple of
generations is not merely wasteful but can be deeply This is the context in which we have invited some 26 of the
disturbing for the people affected. It would be a tragedy country’s most esteemed designers and clients to discuss
if a significant proportion of homes built today simply the challenges and principles in the design of good homes,
replace those that have failed to last. drawing from exemplary projects in the UK and beyond.
Much can be forgotten in the drive for numbers, but this
Writing more than two thousand years ago, Vitruvius manual aims to refocus attention on the importance of
identified ‘Firmness, Commodity and Delight’ as essential quality in the creation of the fundamental right for all:
components of a well-designed building. However, it good housing that lasts. Beginning with Claire Bennie’s
appears that firmness and delight are often forgotten in discussion of the factors influencing housing that gets
new housing, despite it being the most significant built better over time, the rest of the book explores a series of
form in the urban landscape, while its ability to achieve issues that designers need to consider – a base of useful
a ‘sense of place’ provides an essential basis for social experience from which their own creative contributions
continuity. And in addition to housing quality, there is can spring.
pressure on space itself: research published by LABC
shows that space standards have been in continuous As a primer, this book is intended to provide a firm
decline since a peak in the 1980s.1 foundation of practical knowledge, an aid not only to
architects but to everyone involved in commissioning
Since the onset of the 2008 recession, a succession of housing. In essence, the creative skills involved in the
government ministers enacting a programme of austerity design of good housing are much the same as those
has presided over the removal of direct subsidies for involved in the design of anything else, and for which there
construction, particularly in the provision of affordable is no substitute. Architects feed their creativity as they gain
housing. This has had the inevitable consequence of experience until they build their own intuitive base, a kind
increasing densities in a scramble for more private of platform from which to develop their own innovations.
2
We have included only two examples from the heroic Just as almost all books on housing had to mention the
post-war period of UK and European housing. This is partly collapse of Ronan Point, so Grenfell Tower, which burned
because the most celebrated are already well-documented in June 2017, now represents a watershed in the study of
and partly because they represent a ‘top-down’ period of regulation and procurement. Unless some way is found to
architecture, when this book is devoted to the ‘bottom-up’ avoid the disconnect between the component parts of the
approach. The building now synonymous with the most entire design and construction team and those in control of
notorious housing event of the period between 1945 and managing and maintaining the housing itself, similar issues
1968, Ronan Point, which partially collapsed after a minor are likely to reappear. New forms of contract are essential
gas explosion in a kitchen, was indirectly influenced to bind these relationships together formally through the
by Le Corbusier and the Brutalist movement. This had design and construction process, and to ensure that the
generated a vast number of ideas and fuelled a healthy team working together at the beginning of a project is still
dialogue between the leading architects of the day, but there at the end.
had passed completely over the heads of the people for
whom the buildings were designed – mostly tenants As this book tries to show, there are many good examples
of local authorities. Many of these ideas are still only of housing of all generations; they have stood the test
partly digested by the public at large and the architects’ of time and are supporting happy, healthy and mixed
dialogue often overlooked the domestic sensitivities that neighbourhoods. Evaluation of these and other built
are so crucial to successful housing – and that this book projects, through discussions with their designers,
attempts to address. contractors, residents and housing managers is crucial
in defining what works and what doesn’t, in order to
Some of the schemes that represent these ideas survived influence what we design and build tomorrow, particularly
for only a few years (James Stirling at Runcorn), or are now with the current focus on offsite construction methods,
being demolished (the Smithsons’ Robin Hood Gardens) new technologies, speed and efficiency. Meaningful
or altered beyond recognition (Darbourne & Darke’s analysis of long-term cost-in-use for all scales and types
Marquess Road). However, Neave Brown’s Alexandra of development also needs to inform our thinking. New
Road, Ivor Smith’s Park Hill and Patrick Hodgkinson’s forms of tenure that offer the hope of affordability, with
Brunswick Centre are listed, respected and increasingly a broadening of rental and ownership options in both
influential. Many of these iconic projects, as well as the the public and private sectors, are emerging and should
work of architects in the early New Towns, were lauded by continue to evolve. But at the heart of all this, there has to
architects and are now increasingly appreciated by some be a genuine commitment from all those involved in the
sections of the public. funding, design, delivery and management of housing to
the social purpose of creating good homes – not social or
Architectural taste outside the cities may still be inherently private, just ‘good housing’, in the words of Neave Brown –
conservative but the same can no longer be said of those a message he delivered with such passion and poignancy
whose choice is to embrace higher-density urban lifestyles. on being awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in October 2017.
And whereas most experimentation in housing during
the post-war period to 1970 seemed to be imposed on 1 Are Britain’s Houses Getting Smaller? (New Data), available at www.labcwarranty.
people who had no choice, it is now those who can afford co.uk/blog/are-britain-s-houses-getting-smaller-new-data/
to choose who are leading a change and, in the process,
carrying those who still have little or no choice along
with them.
3