Tag Archives: procurement

New ideas for housing in London

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Houses-on-coins-by-Images-Money

2015 was the year London’s population reached 8.6 million, a peak figure last reached in 1939. The capital’s population is set to rise by a further 1.6 million over the next 20 years, and by 2050 may have reached 11 million, more than the current combined populations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The rising numbers will add exacerbate the shortage of housing in the capital, which the head of the London Housing Commission has described as “one of the biggest public policy failures of the last 50 years.”

A showcase for new ideas
A major exhibition highlighting new thinking on solving London’s housing crisis is currently taking place. Organised by New London Architects (NLA), “New Ideas for Housing” highlights more than 100 ways in which London’s shortage of housing might be addressed.

Ten of the 100 shortlisted ideas were selected as winning entries from a competition that attracted ideas from architects, contractors, manufacturers, economists and house builders.

Among the winners were:

The Urban Darning Project
Employing the sewing technique for repairing holes or worn areas in fabric, the project aims to encourage small residential developments in central London to ‘fill-in the gaps’ of the urban fabric.

Supurbia
This idea has twofold approach: redeveloping local main streets and parades as mixed-use places with increased housing and amenity provision; and allowing owner-occupiers of semi-detached homes to develop their land, creating rich diversities of housing.

Investing in London’s Future by Learning from its Past
Drawing on London’s former leasehold system, this idea suggests that separating the cost of housing as a physical product from land costs would make it more affordable to build and buy houses.

MegaPlan for a MegaCity
The originators of this idea suggest that in order to meet the shortfall in housing by 2050, less than 4% of ‘edge land’ (the inner belt running from the inner London Green Belt to the M25) would need to be released from the Green Belt.

Wood Blocks
This idea proposes scaling up the growing appetite for self-build homes. A structural, weatherproof, thermally- and acoustically-insulated shell would be built by a developer / housebuilder, which could then be partitioned and fitted-out by new owners, delivering faster and cheaper housing.

The ideas are described in greater detail in a publication accompanying the exhibition. The NLA Insight Study also examines the current state of play in London’s housing supply, addressing the barriers around planning, land, funding, construction, procurement and design.

New Ideas for Housing
Exhibition dates: Thursday 15 October – Thursday 17 December 2015. Opening time: Monday to Friday: 9.30 am – 6.00 pm; Saturday: 10.00 am – 5.00 pm.
Address: NLA, The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT
http://newlondonarchitecture.org/

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Addressing the causes of in-work poverty

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Image from Flickr user MoB68, licensed for reuse under Creative Commons License

Image from Flickr user MoB68, licensed for reuse under Creative Commons License

By Donna Gardiner

This week is Living Wage Week and the issue of workers struggling to make ends meet has been in the news again. Back on 23rd September 2014, I attended an event held by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) on the changing nature of work and in-work poverty in the UK, with a specific focus on Glasgow.

Over 100 delegates from across the public, private and voluntary sectors came together to learn about the latest research findings, take part in round table discussions and contribute to a panel debate on how to address the causes of in-work poverty. Speakers included experts on poverty from the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, Ipsos MORI, the Employment Research Institute at Napier University and the Glasgow Centre for Population Health.

The day began with a presentation by Jill Morton, from the Communities and Analytical Services division of the Scottish Government. Jill provided an overview of the Scottish Government’s policy commitments to tackle poverty, and highlighted recent statistics regarding the incidence of poverty in Scotland.

She reported that, in Scotland in 2012/13 (the most recent data available), 16% of people, and one in five children, were living in poverty.

Jill noted that whilst employment was the best route out of poverty, it was no longer a safeguard against poverty as over half of all working age adults in poverty in Scotland were from households in which at least one person was in employment. Six in ten children in poverty were also from working households. Jill concluded that for poverty to decline, lower income households must have access to quality and sustainable employment.

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