Lessons Learnt - Design for London

However, it is incre singly recognised th t highdensity
development per se will not necess rily
e environment lly sust in le if design
st nd rds re low. Key issues such s energy
efficiency, re-providing veget tion, encour ging
p ssive sol r g in nd n tur l ventil tion,
m ximising n tur l d ylight nd minimising w ter
run-off re to e t ken into ccount. Hence there
is need to put design t the he rt of housing to
sh pe more ttr ctive, well designed city nd
m ke London he lthier nd etter city for people
to live in. London Plan policies, Supplementary
Planning Guidance on Sustainable Design nd
Construction and the draft London Housing
Strategy, s well s non-st tutory documents
such s on green roofs, specify m itions
reg rding energy efficiency st nd rds nd reproviding
veget tion, ut there is long w y still
to go to improve qu lity in pr ctice.
More intense use of sp ce y more people
dem nds design excellence nd solutions th t re
well thought out to prevent pro lems such s
l ck of outdoor priv te menity sp ce, insufficient
pu lic sp ce for children nd young people, noise
nd l ck of ppropri te f cilities for ins nd
ikes.
In p rticul r, new housing development h s not
lw ys nswered loc l needs, such s fford le
housing for f milies with children nd housing
th t is suit le for the elderly. Some of the 1- nd
2- edroom fl ts th t re delivered in typic l town
centre intensific tion schemes re now seen s
unsuccessful s they re too sm ll nd do not
meet the needs of these groups. Recognising this
concern, policym kers h ve emph sised the need
to ensure th t supply of new units is ppropri te
to dem nd. There re sever l policy documents
outlining nd det iling this m ition:
• The Government’s Planning Policy Statement
3: Housing emph sises the need to produce
f mily homes in neigh ourhoods th t re
ttr ctive nd ppropri te for children nd
young people, for ex mple through the
provision of pl y sp ce nd youth f cilities;
• English P rtnerships in 2007 introduced
minimum sp ce st nd rds for dwelling units
in developments supported y the org nis -
tion, which exceeded Lifetime Home sp ce
st nd rds;
• The Gre ter London Authority h s recently
pu lished Supplementary Planning Guidance
on the provision of sp ce for children’s nd
young people’s pl y nd inform l recre tion, in
new residenti l projects including qu ntit tive
guidelines for the minimum provision of sp ce
per child or young person;
• The pu lic tion Recommendations for Living
at Superdensity, the result from coll or tive
rese rch project y group of le ding housing
rchitecture pr ctices, m kes pr ctic l recommend
tions for the design nd m n gement of
new residenti l schemes th t re ‘superdense’,
i.e. of 150 u/h (which in the document is seen
to equ l 500 hr/h ) or over, which includes the
top r nge of the London Pl n Density M trix.
This study shows how different ppro ches to
intensific tion in p rticul r loc lities c n le d
to results th t suit diverse household types
oth in terms of unit qu lity nd neigh ourhood
menities. It lso shows how wide r nge of
different typologies c n produce etter qu lity
housing nd ur n design outcomes, including for
fford le housing.
1. INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGy fOR THE STUDy 11
LGN WNW BAL ANH PUR MOR OKR