Veteran developer Sir Stuart Lipton has criticised government for what he said was a failure to deal with the housing crisis and make buildings designed for people.
“Buildings are about life, governments are about death,” he said at an event this morning hosted by property network Profile in association with Estates Gazette and Hogan Lovells.
He said politicians prioritise cost-cutting over creating office buildings designed to serve workers, who he compared to farm animals in pens.
At 22 Bishopsgate, EC2, the planned office tower which will become the tallest in the City of London, he said workers will have access to climbing sessions, guitar and cookery lessons. Lobbies will be like theatre sets and vary from floor to floor, “so people’s minds are alive”.
The £1.5bn office tower at the heart of the Square Mile will be the UK’s first to adopt the WELL Building Standard, which means it has to be tested for air quality, water and amenities.
Lipton said: “BREEAM [the government’s sustainability standards measure] is about the government’s energy codes and materials but not really people. That is more important, but the government doesn’t think that.”
The property industry’s job, he said, was to “try and train governments and local governments to think of humanity”.
Lipton said developments needed to be a combination of craft and technology and described Silvertown, the masterplan designed to regenerate the Royal Docks, as the “new Soho”, but for “people who show, make and tell”.
He called for a reform of the planning system, which he said used 18th century buildings where people could not use lifts to govern how tall today’s buildings can be.
Describing London’s mayoral candidates as “disappointing people”, he said the city needed a London plan and infrastructure investment.
“Housing is a catastrophe yet government does nothing,” he said.
