Igloo Regeneration invested in design to attract independent, design-led, creative business occupiers at the Round Foundry, Holbeck Urban Village. similar industries in an interactive location has helped ensure that the development is fully let, and has been successful in helping new enterprises evolve.
Chris Brown, Chief Executive of Igloo Regeneration explains the company’s philosophy; ‘If we developed ‘contractor design’ (as we call it), we would just be creating a poor building in an off-centre location, and we could only let it to an average tenant. Instead we commission and deliver great design to attract dynamic, design-led independent creative business occupiers. The Round Foundry in Holbeck Urban Village is a good example of a building which we own and where we are funding developers CTP St. James with the support of Yorkshire Forward and Leeds City Council to create a dynamic and successful new neighbourhood.’
‘Creative industries are becoming an engine of economic growth,’ Brown says. ‘It’s important to use design skills to deliver neighbourhoods that can support their growth and compete with similar locations around the world.’
3.1.4 What is the cost of bad design?
For those with a long-term interest in a project, the best justification for investing in design is the potential costs involved in managing and renewing poorly designed places. A report by the construction group Wates looked at a series of examples, good and bad, of investment in growth and regeneration over the past two decades. It concluded that short-term thinking – and in particular an inability to take account of whole-life costs and benefits – tends to lead to the development of unsustainable communities with only short-term benefits and potential for long-run failure.9
CABE’s publication The Cost of Bad Design10 found that
badly designed places imposed costs on their occupiers, neighbours and on society. These included undermining amenities and potentially turning them into liabilities; physical disconnection, making it hard for the less mobile to get about; poor public transport connections, making it difficult to recruit and retain staff, and social value being diminished by poorly designed public spaces.
It’s not just a case of the cost of demolishing and replacing poorly designed places. Poor design can have continuing costs for both residents and local authorities in terms of higher levels of public services being required to tackle poor housing, high crime, vandalism and poor health. In 1997, 7.6 per cent of the housing stock was considered to be unfit. This cost £3 billion in health care, £1.8 billion in crime and £120 million for fire services.11
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 2000 place a significant moral and legal obligation on authorities responsible for the design of the built environment to take adequate steps to ensure that they consider likely crime and security implications in their design decision-making process. Research by Huddersfield University has shown that designing places in line with Secured by Design principles can help to achieve this, and to achieve significant reductions in crime and the fear of crime.12 Good urban design will help achieve the principles
of well-connected places, well-surveyed streets and clearly defensible private space required by Secured by Design.
KEY MESSAGES FOR SECTION 3.1 1. Investment in good urban design can add
financial value to a place.
2. Well-designed places deliver environmental and social benefits.
3. Poorly designed places are likely to incur higher costs to individuals and society in the long run.
REFERENCES
1. Steuteville et al 2001. Eppli and Tu 1999. FPD Savills. 2002
2. Valuing Sustainable Urbanism. 2007. The Prince’s Foundation/English
Partnerships.
3. Economic Value of Urban Design. 2007. NWDA/RENEW Northwest
4. The Value of Good Design. 2002. CABE
5. Proposal to introduce a Code for Sustainable Homes: Regulatory Impact
Assessment. 2006. CLG
6. Getting Value for Money from Construction Projects. 2004. NAO
7. Green Book, Appraisal and Evolution in Central Government.
2003. HM Treasury
8. Circular 06/03: Local Government Act 1972 general disposal consent
(England) 2003 disposal of land for less than the best consideration that can reasonably be obtained. 2003. ODPM
9. Failing communities: Breaking the cycle. 1006. Wates Group
10. The cost of bad design. 2006. CABE
11. The Real Cost of Poor Homes: Footing the Bill. 1997. RICS 12. Source: Strathclyde Police website
3.2
ADDING VALUE THROUGH DESIGN
3.2.1 Adding value to land
3.2.2 Creating a place
3.2.3 Reducing development costs
3.2.4 Thinking ahead
Urban design requires investment upfront but can add value to a development in a number of ways. Decisions on how buildings, streets and landscapes are arranged can add value by making the best use of land. Good design can transform perceptions of an area and property markets, and create successful places where people want to live, work and spend time. These places can deliver a range of social and environmental benefits too.
3.2.1 Adding value to land
046 047Recent research by The Prince’s Foundation, English Partnerships and Savills1 indicates that good urban design
can produce a more efficient built footprint by making the best use of land and creating value through the appropriate densities, public space, uses and distribution of buildings. By following the principles of the Urban Design Compendium, schemes can create successful places at little or no additional cost.
Good urban design adds value. The same floorspace, streets and landscape can be arranged in ways that create attractive or unattractive places. Achieving a high quality of urban design is likely, however, to require a higher level of spending early in the development process than a conventional development route. Research has found that the added value this investment delivers usually more than outweighs these costs.2
Efficient planning
Good urban design can add value to development through using land highly efficiently, and planning and distributing uses and building types to create a sense of place. Density must be appropriate for the location to avoid undermining quality through site-cramming. Research by CABE has found that increased values achieved for higher-density schemes can be far above the increased costs of building
where schemes were well designed.3 The most successful
places are often characterised by density peaks and troughs. Densities should peak in the vicinity of public transport stops or intersections, and around neighbourhood facilities, ensuring that catchment areas have workplaces within walking distance.
The distribution of uses will also have an impact on the values those uses can commend. Commercial uses should be located in places where they are accessible. Locating these near main junctions with good public transport connections will improve footfall and viability. Care should be taken to ensure that sites located in places with high footfall are fully exploited.
Good design can help to reduce the amount of hard surface, and to deal imaginatively with requirements for servicing and car parking.
Making the best of of open space
As well as providing a range of social and environmental benefits, amenity spaces such as squares, parks and waterfronts can add considerably to the economic value of neighbouring properties and the wider area. A garden bordering water can increase the price of a house by 11 per cent, while a view of water or having a lake nearby can raise the price by ten per cent and seven per cent respectively. A view of a park can raise prices by eight per cent, while having a park nearby can raise prices by six per cent.4
The disposition and type of properties that are allocated to these potentially high-value sites should be carefully considered. An active waterfront including a mix of uses, for example, may be able to create a higher overall site value than a scheme that uses the waterfront sites fully for single- use residential development but where adjoining areas gain little benefit.
At Adelaide Wharf, Hackney, First Base has been working through the London-Wide Initiative (a partnership between English Partnerships, Housing Corporation, CLG, and the GLA) to deliver a high-quality new urban block next to the Regents Canal. The scheme designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) delivers 147 high-quality, sustainable apartments around a central amenity space, including 50% affordable. Adelaide Wharf makes an important contribution to the regeneration of the local area by raising confidence through quality and by creating an active new street front which helps improve perceived safety in the area.
First Base believes that investing in good design and good designers makes economic sense. Ben Denton, Director of Investment and Management at First Base and a CABE enabler is convinced that any additional costs incurred by employing good designers or additional spending on construction, can be
Offsetting costs to increase values
Adelaide Wharf, London
recouped through increased value; ‘Great architects generally cost more than average architects; up to 2% more in fee rates. Design fees are calculated on construction works; construction is generally about 40% of total scheme value. To offset the cost of great design we need about 0.8% increase in values. ‘Architect-designed buildings may cost more to build, however, with a strong client it is possible to restrain the architect to keep costs within 10% above the normal 40% of total development value; therefore, we need to achieve a 4% increase in total development value to offset this additional cost. In total therefore we are looking at 4.8%, rising to 6.5% (to cover profit and on- costs) increase in value required to offset costs.’
Ben believes the costs can easily be met from quicker rates of sales, higher values per m2 and higher overall values per home. ‘I have no doubt that good design more than pays, but strong leadership is also required so costs are contained.’
Countryside Properties firmly believes in adding value through design rather than maximising profit by reducing costs. The housebuilder has been expanding its portfolio of sites in northern regions based on their philosophy of designing schemes to look like they have been developed on a bespoke basis whilst using standardisation on specifications, components and floor plans to bring economies of scale.
Countryside demonstrated its commitment to quality at Didsbury Point where it set out to deliver an urban extension that was a responsible development, which ensures a lasting and positive legacy for generations to come. This award-winning mixed- use development features highly contemporary buildings with individual attention to detail using standard components, creating a unique and varied street scene. Many homes have large flexible living areas with generous balconies and terraces. The development promotes a range of sustainable travel options and has acted as a beacon of regeneration for this part of Manchester.