Providing London with the housing its people, environment and the city itself deserves
Rob Westcott explores a sustainable approach to delivering public housing throughout the city with NLA
Rob Westcott, director in our London studio, explores a sustainable approach to delivering public housing throughout the city, in an article first published by NLA:
When considering how we can ensure a sustainable approach to delivering public housing across London – one that supports both the capital’s growth and the needs of future generations – we inevitably face a series of challenges. Many of these are environmental or financial in nature. Yet, there are clear opportunities we can unlock.
Much of London’s post-WW2 social housing suffers from varying degrees – and types – of neglect. Local authorities have a choice when looking to regenerate: demolish and rebuild, or work with what already exists to make it fit for the future. At Civic, we favour the second retrofirst approach wherever possible and early engineering assessment of the buildings is essential to success.
Demolishing and replacing an estate is costly. But we are often told that a new build is more straightforward and cheaper overall. This ignores embodied carbon and the many other benefits of retention. In our view, it’s better to sensitively refurbish, often taking a building back to its concrete frame, and enhance it, for example with appropriate cladding, new services or through reconfiguration. This is what we’ve done at the award-winning Park Hill in Sheffield, and with the heritage-led refurbishment of Chelsea’s Sutton Estate, one of the country’s oldest purpose-built social housing developments. Both have delivered modern, sustainable homes.
In most of the historic estates we work on, there’s an opportunity to reuse and adapt materials, buildings and the spaces around them, rather than start from scratch. This might involve structural repairs, such as fixing exposed slab edges, but these are typically minor and straightforward.
Even in cases where buildings over six storeys must now, under the post-Grenfell Building Safety Act, include a second staircase, we’ve found that kind of adaptability is achievable.
Another point to consider is how to balance sustainability with affordability, ensuring housing delivery supports London’s equity and prosperity. Good-quality, affordable housing, along with equally well-designed surrounding public realm, is essential when looking to create a fairer, more equitable and happier society.
Strong town planning is key to delivering this. In many cases, we aim to create walkable neighbourhoods; 15- or 20-minute cities where homes are close to employment, schools, healthcare, and other essential services.
Prosperity can be generated and maintained when people live, work, and use amenities in their local area. One of the mistakes of the immediate post-war period was placing new homes wherever land was available. It was an understandable response to the demands of the time, but it has since proven less than ideal. Instead, we should be building homes where they are truly needed.
This demands strong, effective system thinking.
Access to reliable public transport and active travel is another critical factor. Where possible, focusing development around existing transport hubs brings significant benefits to residents. The London Plan rightly promotes car-free developments, and we must design places that work for a wide range of people and their individual needs. There’s a real opportunity to prioritise nature-based solutions as we do so, such as public realm and green space that incorporates cycle paths, space to walk and wheel, and sustainable urban drainage all together, with significant benefits for the people that live there and our planet.
Ultimately, we must provide good-quality, affordable and climate resilient homes – places that serve the many, not the few.
