Is there a rôle for architects in mainstream private sector house building?

Abstract

The paper draws on a recent research project 'Design at the Heart of Housebuilding', commissioned by the Scottish Government and undertaken in 2006-7; subsequently published in early 2008. This research focused on the conceptions and practice of design within private sector house developers in Scotland, which is used here as a basis for speculatively exploring opposing values between private sector housing developers and architects in housing design. Drawing initially on reviews of this relationship in the initial mass private sector housing provision in the inter-war period in the UK the paper then compares this with the more recent position as evidenced in the research, two generations later. It identifies and analyses the basis for a perpetuated mutual wariness as a way to understand the potential for change in current trends, and ends by highlighting some examples of alternative collaborations, where the skills and values of architects are more fully articulated with those of developers and manufacturers in innovative housing provision, including forms of mass customisation.

The Role of Planning in Housing Design: Design Implications of Land-Use Management

“…Thus, while various planning schools refocus their education to reinforce design skills, and local authorities undertake continuing professional development on design, this needs to be embedded within a more realistic appreciation of the wider structural impacts on the housing development process in the UK, and the ways developers act and react within the wider economy. This needs to be contemporary, as, since the above study was undertaken, for example, the current recession has raised levels of uncertainty over how developers' approaches and priorities may change to address economic realities (Jenkins and MacLachlan, 2010). While it is quite possible that economic issues will take priority over design aspirations in house builders' decision making, there may be opportunity for exploration of what the public sector means by good design in new interests in council-house building programmes.…”

Prioritising Storage Practices: A New Approach to Housing Design Thinking

“…The rising demand for housing in the UK, and its lack of affordability, have had an impact on the space provided for living (Morgan & Cruickshank, 2014;Williams, 2009). Current design practices are led by profit margins, development costs and housing demand, as well as the planning policies that govern the developments themselves (Mayor of London, 2010;West & Emmitt, 2004;Williams, 2009) and the design quality of houses, according to developers, is maintained by using house types with tested specifications where architects have a very controlled input (Jenkins & McLachlan, 2010). While architects' research advocates for flexible housing as part of the future housing provision (Designing for Well-being in Environments for Later Life [DWELL], n.d.; Schneider & Till, 2007), developers continue to build inflexible schemes where storage is hardly considered.…”