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Watchdog says many new homes 'substandard'

Posted: 18/05/2007

One in three homes built in recent years should not have received planning permission, according to a damning indictment of the industry by the government's architecture watchdog. Only 18 per cent of new homes measure up to design standards, according to the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, in its first national survey of the industry.

Inspectors from Cabe, who visited more than 300 sites, found 53 per cent of new homes were "mediocre" while another 29 per cent should never have been allowed. The hard-hitting report comes after the government encouraged local authorities to wave through tens of thousands of new homes to meet the country's perceived housing shortage. But ministers' concerns have been growing over the quality of some of these new properties. Ruth Kelly, communities secretary, said recently that many new houses were "just not up to scratch".

As a result, the government recently tightened up planning guidelines to force housebuilders to raise their game. Under PPS3, the new planning policy statement issued in November's pre-Budget report, councils will no longer just focus on the quantity but also the quality of new homes built.

The Home Builders Federation said the picture was not as "apocalyptic" as the survey suggested as it was backward-looking in nature. "Cabe's housing audit, begun over four years ago, does not necessarily reflect the progress that has been made in recent years," said Stewart Baseley, HBF chairman. Several housing developments were endorsed only this month by Prince Charles, he added.

However, Cabe believes that housebuilders have failed to meet standards which had been agreed between itself and the HBF. Many schemes had failed to create a sense of place or take advantage of their surroundings. They were often bland and homogenous with no distinct identity. "There was little to distinguish one development from another," said the report. New estates generally had "only minor variations in their architectural approach".

Matt Bell, head of campaigns at Cabe, said housebuilders would now have to improve their architecture or suffer from more failed planning applications. "They are getting better but not fast enough," he said.

Tividale in the West Midlands is home to Europe's biggest Hindu temple, built on the site of a former tip. Not far away is a giant Bellway housing scheme called Regency View, also erected on a landfill site. But planning gurus at Cabe consider the estate far from sacred. Instead, the architecture watchdog gives the development a score of just 33 per cent. Inspectors were unimpressed by the scheme's weak layout, unimaginative architecture and "poor" public park.

Regency View is one of many new schemes meeting the government's ambition to build more homes on brownfield sites. But Cabe says that Bellway used a "standard-led, technical approach" and failed to make use of the site's "dramatic" location.

Residents of Regency View's 149 homes, however, beg to disagree. Many disliked "nothing" about where they lived. Bellway said housebuilders had to balance good design with "affordability".

The Financial Times  
 

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