1. A place to live
Finding solutions to the housing crisis
Jaimie Ferguson
Head of Design, Turley Associates

2. The answer is already
here isn’t it?

3. And with almost universal
political support
“I am a very big supporter
of new garden cities”
“apply the principles of
garden cities”
“We’ll identify new towns
and garden cities”

4. Universal appeal
Rural locations & village ideal

5. A nostalgic movement
with a central contradiction

6. Controlling physical
growth
• A victim of its own success this
relatively low density housing began to
create new pressures relating to loss of
countryside
• Green belt policies became formalised
over the early part of the 1950s
• A more intense programme of urban
development ensued, clearing out
‘slum areas’
• Introduction of more experimental
housing forms and system built
neighbourhoods

7. Addressing ‘urban slums’
with system built solutions

8. Reinforced idea of urban
decline and failed to help

9. Urban flight to the
new wave of New Towns

10. Sustainable Urban
Extensions

11. Finding a
solution

13. Finding a solution
Market
innovation
Viability
(financial)
Process
innovation
Desirability
(people)
Utopia?
Feasibility
(technical)
Design
innovation

14. Finding a Solution
Intensification & Renewal
Example Project – Ferrier Estate, Kidbrooke
•
•
•
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands’ Masterplan
Physical transformation allied with significant
intensification from 1,906 predominantly council
properties to over 4,000 mixed tenure homes
Draws on existing infrastructure
£1bn project – significant capital risks but also
returns

15. Finding a Solution
New Urban Communities
Example Project – Collyhurst / Irk
Valley, Manchester
•
•
•
Reclaiming redundant or underused
employment sites for new
development
Estate renewal/intensification allied
with new build
Variety of products and potential
development sites

16. Finding a Solution
New Urban Communities

17. Finding a Solution
New Settlement / Urban Extension
Example Project – Coed D’Arcy, South Wales
•
•
•
•
•
Reclaiming former BP Oil Refinery
Heavily contaminated brownfield site
New settlement on ‘New Urbanist’ principles
Strong involvement of Prince’s Foundation but
delivered by volume housebuilders
12-14 years in planning and design with
delivery affected by remediation and
economic cycles

18. Looking for
inspiration

19. VINEX –
A National Solution
•
•
•
•
Vierde Nota Ruimtelijke Ordening
EXtra, or 4th Memorandum Spatial
Planning Extra
Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial
Planning and Environment
response to increasing population
Proposed 460,000 new houses
between 1996 to 2005
Alongside brownfield infill a
majority were to be built around
existing cities in suburbs, with the
requirement to:
– be compact to preserve the countryside
– link to existing cities to minimise car use
– be developed around existing or new public
transport
– be close to shops and employment
opportunities.

20. Facilitating development
delivering change
•
VINEX (1995–2005) offers an alternative gearing of housing production. The national
spatial plan set the strategic framework for the decade and also created a public-private
house production programme.
•
VINEX agreements came in the form of package deals, with government funding for land
purchase, remediation, regional environmental areas, and for transport infrastructure. An
example: In Alkmaar (c 35km north of Amsterdam), subsidies per home were € 2.726, of which
€561 accounted for land development and € 1.697 for transport infrastructure.
•
In practice in most of the urban areas land, amenities and infrastructure land was developed by
the municipality, and developers filled in the housing and commercial plots.
•
In return developers committed to rates of delivery and quality as well as contribution to policy
objectives:
–
–
Afforable housing was delivered in new areas (capped at 30%) whilst targeted supply of higher value
homes encouraged a freeing up of existing stock for more efficient or appropriate occupation
Climate change mitigation was factored in from the outset, with a particular emphasis on sustainable
drainage and intelligent landscapes were delivered against

21. VINEX outcomes
Urban living on the edge

22. VINEX outcomes
•
The delivery targets were met through
public-private partnerships on 86 ‘city edge’
sites
•
Housing was co-ordinated with other
elements in the built environment, creating a
socially focused house production
programme
•
The aimed-for intensification of existing
places was achieved (61% of new additions in
urban regions).
•
Density varies by location but average net
density of 34.3dph (with 80% houses with
garden in greenfield and 28% in urban areas)

23. VINEX outcomes
•
New development supports services such as
public transport (extensions to existing
services)
•
Provision of new public transport for
new/larger sites was still problematic given
long build out times.
•
Netherlands continued to run with an
‘acceptable’ permanent housing shortage of
1.5% or more of total demand (as we have
seen this is considerably lower than the UK)
•
Dwellings completed in the Netherlands over
the period averaged at 55.5 per 10,000
inhabitants while the UK averaged around
32.5 per 10,000

24. The VINEX programme is based on a compromise (a usually very British trait):
that compact cities were needed to be more sustainable and environmentally
sensitive, but in order to achieve this a re-defined urban footprint was required.

25. Lessons and
conclusions

26. Lessons and conclusions
•
Vinex as just one example shows that urban
growth needn’t be the same thing as sprawl.
Well planned and well design expansion can
reinforce existing settlements and control
impacts on the natural environment.
•
If planning is to be reformed to boost delivery
the focus should be on spatial planning and
control rather than process of determining
applications, allowing developers and Local
Authorities to work together to deliver the
change we need
•
In all previous movements now cited (Garden
Cities, New Towns etc.) the identification of
land at non-residential values for new
development was required as a key part of the
financial model.

27. A recent Shelter
article estimated that
we dedicate as much
land in England to
golf courses as we
do to homes.
DefraUK National Ecosystem Assessment by identifies around
10% of land in England as urban, but majority of this is
gardens, parks, roads, lakes and rivers. 2.27% of land in England is
built upon while just 1.1% is domestic buildings.
Estimates for golf courses assume 75 hectares per course
multiplied by 2000 full size courses which is 150,000 ha, or 1.1%
of England’s 13.4m hectares.

28. Lessons and conclusions
•
A ‘triple lock’ green belt control, protection of employment land
(often in long term absence of demand) and requirement for
infrastructure and other contributions has led to fewer and
smaller homes over the last 30 years
•
More land should be allocated for housing from a variety of
sources:
- Intensification of existing development
- Urban infill and gap sites
- Land use change
- Designated urban extensions / New settlements
•
Lessons from last cycle suggest new market entrants needed to
respond to these varying conditions
•
A broader and more diverse residential sector targeting the
likely markets (people) for these areas

29. A place to live
Finding solutions to the housing crisis
Jaimie Ferguson
Head of Design, Turley Associates