Influential figures in policy and development have issued a call to action for Homes England to ensure quality in housing development.
Nicholas Boys Smith (pictured), co-chair of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission and chair of the government’s design body, and Chris Brown, founder of igloo Regeneration, have demanded a commitment to design standards at every stage of development and decision-making at the government agency.
The pair have listed six requirements for Homes England and its £6bn annual budget in a bid to ensure design quality. They call for a Quality Framework incorporating government policy on beauty, net zero, community and levelling up.
Their Beauty and the Planet report says Homes England’s corporate objectives should include design incentives to raise quality and diversify housing supply towards SMEs, community groups and BCorps. It adds that this activity should be incorporated in executive director targets and investment committee processes.
Homes England should procure developers using quality-based competition and fixed land values, the report goes on to say. Boys Smith and Brown have also called for the agency and government to drop the 80:20 rule, which prioritises areas of high affordability pressure and high values, as well as providing enhanced CPO powers.
The call to action includes comments highlighting the under-weighting of design in land sale decisions and funding decisions, and fears that on-the-ground teams do not stress design as a priority to third parties.
The report comes at a period of change for Homes England, following the appointment of Argent co-founder Peter Freeman as chairman last October and as the agency launches recruitment for a new chief executive. Homes England is currently completing a Quality Framework.
The move builds on the BBBBC and government response, which includes the National Model Design Code and changes to the NPPF.
Boys Smith said: “When it comes to building homes and creating places Homes England is ‘big battalions’. There’s hardly a development in the country untouched by the funding that courses through them.
“The government has an exciting desire to create better, more beautiful and more sustainable places. The appointment of Peter Freeman is inspired. The new National Model Design Code is first class.
“It must be time to line up Homes England’s £6bn with the government’s wider ambitions. Housing is not just a numbers game. It is not a case of quality versus quantity but of quantity thanks to quality.”
A spokesman from Homes England said: “We care deeply about design, quality and the sustainability of the built environment. We look forward to continuing to work with government and industry to explore how we can further develop our work in this area.”
In an interview with EG last week, outgoing Homes England chief executive Nick Walkley said: “On design, it is absolutely fair comment that the agency has a troubled legacy. Not everything it has built or has been supportive of has been in plans that everyone can be proud of.
“It’s not been hard to then convince even some of the most recalcitrant majors that there are steps you can take that lead you on a journey and you can accelerate that as you go. I think that is exactly where we’ve got to be and we need to get there quickly on design, being more inclusive, homes being built for lifetimes, being part of community, caring about place.”
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