Prince Charles: 'London needs more mansion blocks and garden squares'

 
27 March 2014

London’s unique character with its “city of villages” is under assault from “faceless” towers and “poorly conceived” mega-developments, a major report from Prince Charles’s housing charity warns today.

The hard-hitting study urges developers, architects and planners to look at the mansion block and the classic Georgian and Victorian squares and crescents of central London as inspiration for forms of housing that perfectly meet the capital’s needs.

It warns that the remorseless surges in home prices threaten the “vitality and vibrancy” of the capital by creating unhealthy divisions between property “haves and have-nots” and barring young families from the housing ladder.

The 62-page report, Housing London: A Mid-Rise Solution, was launched today by Charles at his Foundation for Building Community’s latest project at Ham Close in south-west London. It follows the results of a survey from urban design body New London Architecture showing that almost 250 towers of at least 20 storeys are planned or under construction in London — the vast majority blocks of apartments for private sale.

But the foundation’s report condemns them as “glittering towers of exclusivity and luxury living, out of the reach of the average Londoners and unsuitable to the needs of many households”.

It says a return to the mid-rise model, with buildings of five to eight storeys, is the best route to providing the density of housing desperately needed in London without resorting to urban sprawl over the green belt or more impersonal high rises.

According to the report: “One of London’s greatest architectural legacies is the mid-rise residential building. Whether the mansion blocks of Maida Vale or the converted Victorian houses of Sloane Square, well constructed beautiful mid-rise housing is one of London’s greatest assets.”

It says Victorian and Edwardian mansion blocks such as Albert Hall Mansions in Kensington and Prince of Wales Drive in Battersea, in particular have “proved its capacity to be adopted to the residential needs of a variety of households” and should be revived. Dominic Richards, executive director of the foundation, said: “Mid-rise looks like London — not Singapore or Dubai. If you have six or seven floors you can still get light on the other side of the road, you can still create green spaces and it fits with the existing vernacular. What we are really saying is “more London please”.

The report points to the success of central Paris where the classic Haussman era apartment buildings that give the city its unique look are typically no more than six storeys high.

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Mr Richards said developments should also house a “pepper-potted” mix of people from different backgrounds in different types of tenure, including owner occupiers, private renters, key workers in affordable housing and social tenants.

At one of the foundation’s London projects, Highbury Gardens on the Holloway Road, there are 120 homes of which 70 were sold on the open market, 32 are for shared ownership and 18 are local authority social flats, all built to an almost identical specification and mixed in together.

The report goes on to argue that mid- rise buildings can bring other benefits. They can be built with a wider range of building materials rather than the steel and glass that predominate in the new towers. They will also promote a greater “bio-diversity” of builders.

The report says: “London’s house building market has becoming increasingly narrow over the past decade with only a handful of mega-builders producing the majority of London’s new housing stock. The nature of the high-rises in development around the capital means that not only is the final housing offering exclusive to a few but so too is the building process.”

The report’s conclusions appeared to chime with the results of new poll findings today from New London Architecture showing that while Londoners often admire the new generation of tall buildings dominating the skyline the vast majority do not want to live in them, including more than seven out of 10 of the under 35s. Ben Marshall, research director at pollsters Ipsos MORI, which carried out the research for New London Architecture, said: “With London facing a ‘housing crisis’ and keen to grow economically, the onus tends to be on the quantity of new building. Tall towers offer promise, but our new poll underlines the importance the London public place on quality and design. Opinion is mixed — Londoners might like looking at tall towers, but they are less sure about living in them.”

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