EL PROBLEMA DE LA DENSIDAD DEMOGRÁFICA

The district of Vauban in Freiburg has achieved a rich variety of building types and styles through the introduction of small development parcels and promotion of self-build projects.

Vauban is the urban redevelopment of a 35 hectare, former French army barrack site to the south of Freiburg. A strong participatory process between the City Council and the citizen’s association, “Forum Vauban”, led to the development of an environmentally, economically, socially and culturally sustainable district. One of the many unique aspects of Vauban is the wide variety of housing types and architectural styles that can be found within the urban blocks. Instead of using volume house builders for the development of the district, future residents were encouraged to form building co-operatives and design and build their own homes. To enable this process, Freiburg Council was responsible for the delivery of the infrastructure which was built upfront. Forum Vauban ensured that smaller groups of individuals had preference over the larger developers in the allocation of building

plots. These small “building groups” would jointly buy a building plot and oversee the design and construction of their multi- family dwellings. This enabled residents to participate in shaping their living environment and put their own time and creativity in the building process. As a result, the Vauban community feels closely connected to its environment and is motivated to maintain it.

To achieve the aim of creating a sustainable district, the joint building projects had to comply with strict sustainability codes. Design guidelines were also set with regard to build-to lines and building depth, but many other design aspects such as colour, height and architectural style were kept free from restrictions. The building groups could also specify the width of the plot they wanted to develop, resulting in a diverse range of building types within a single street.

The overall result is rich and varied, accommodating individual building design without compromising the overall quality of the district.

Design codes have been deployed at Newhall to deliver the vision and are seen as the working drawings of the masterplan. These were developed by the masterplanners, studio | REAL to provide the landowner certainty that design aspirations for the site would be delivered. The codes have been devised to raise quality and hence value without unreasonably increasing costs.

The codes at Newhall work on three levels: • movement structure and spatial hierarchy • land use and massing

• architectural and public realm detail

The Newhall code provides clear requirements for shaping and detailing the public realm with mandatory built-to lines,

minimum building heights, parking solutions and construction specifications. The code does, however, allow considerable freedom for architectural expression within these masterplan geometries. There are no controls on elevational appearance other than placement of entrances, the requirement for passive surveillance and, where appropriate, active edges to public spaces. There is reliance on a consistent approach to the public realm, and a colour and materials palette for building, to bring cohesion. Quality materials including hand-made bricks, granite and slate are required and are estimated to only add a quarter per cent to construction costs. A colour palette devised with artist Tom Porter for elevations, roofscape, floorscape and building openings is mandatory but has been enthusiastically endorsed by all.

The design code for Newhall sets out clear requirements for materials, public realm design, building heights, build-to lines, car parking and construction standards whilst allowing freedom for architectural expression on elevations.

DELIVERING QUALITY AND ADDING VALUE 3.4

In residential development, volume housebuilders will typically seek a completion rate of not less than 50 homes a year on a single development parcel. Sites or parcels of sites offering the potential for 200-400 homes are sought to make development worthwhile, although smaller sites will be considered under special circumstances, such as a high- profile development (and in high-value areas, mainstream developers will consider more constrained development opportunities). Smaller developers may look at sites of 20-50 homes. The two markets are distinct and require appropriate decisions on parcel size and marketing.

Avoid cherry-picking. Allowing developers to build only the most profitable elements of a masterplan will mean that the costly or more difficult parts will be left to the promoter, or deferred indefinitely.

Mixing tenures

Good places usually offer a mix of housing opportunities. Developments should deliver a mix of tenures and housing types across all phases. Houses of different tenures should be indistinguishable when built. In distributing subsidised housing, strike a balance between pepper-potting

(scattering it) and creating small groups (ideally six homes or less) for ease of management. Adopting this approach should not reduce land values. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that tenure mix affects neither property values nor sales rates.1

Design considerations

Break down the development into effective parcels. The most important design decisions are how large the parcels should be and where to make the joins. Architectural parcels should be sized according to their position on the street hierarchy. Larger areas should be allocated for low- order streets and smaller parcels for prominent locations to achieve a finer grain. Where a fine architectural grain is required, the number of design parcels defining a public space might be in proportion to its importance within the spatial hierarchy and the scale of the space.

Construction logic

Development parcels may coincide with architectural parcels, or a single development parcel may be divided into several architectural parcels. If the same construction technique is to be used across different architectural parcels (perhaps for economies of construction), this should be made clear from the outset in briefing for the architectural commissions.

Relating the development parcels

To ensure minimal disruption to residents during construction, design or developer parcels can be subdivided along the back of the plot or as seams in the public realm:

• Along the back of the plot for ease of construction on low-order streets.

• Within the public realm at key locations where variety is required.

To ensure consistency, the public realm should be overseen by a single person.

Coordinating infrastructure

Ensuring that the construction of infrastructure and public realm accords with design intentions (and subsequent adoption) can be difficult where land is subdivided into different development packages. The problems can be exacerbated where development parcels join. There are three options to minimize potential disruption and ensure continuity:

• Detailed specifications for infrastructure can be attached to the sale of land and followed by rigorous site inspections.

• The promoter’s team (urban design, engineering, landscape) is seconded to each developer. • The promoter constructs infrastructure in advance,

including streets, providing serviced land.

3.4.3 Design codes

PPS32 _{defines design codes as ‘a set of illustrated design}

rules and requirements which instruct and may advise on the physical development of a site or area. The graphic and written components of the code are detailed and precise, and build upon a design vision such as a masterplan or other design and development framework for a site or area.’

Design codes should comprise a set of mandatory and discretionary design requirements, and a regulatory plan which sets out where the provisions of the code will apply.

Maintaining design quality 055

Design codes have been used to achieve high design quality on many of the larger sites featured as case studies in this Compendium. Examples include: Newhall, Upton, Allerton Bywater and Greenwich Millennium Village. Codes have been developed for each of these projects to help create a coherent sense of place with a variety of architectural styles, and to ensure high design quality across development parcels.

As well as maintaining quality, codes can also produce variety in styles by providing a set of design guidance which can be interpreted in different ways while maintaining common principles.

Research has found that it is sites such as these (large sites where delivery is phased either over time or between different design teams) that benefit most from the use of design codes.3 _{On such sites, codes help to maintain}

quality by identifying the elements of the masterplan that are fundamental in creating a sense of place, and translating these into a set of detailed design instructions.

Codes also produce additional benefits for a range of stakeholders (see table 3.4). But codes should only be developed for sites where all stakeholders are committed to raising design quality.

Content of codes

The content of codes will vary according to the context but, as with frameworks, these can be grouped under the key elements of urban design as set out in the Urban Design Compendium: appreciating the context, creating the urban structure, making the connections, detailing the place and managing the investment. CLG’s ‘Preparing Design Codes: A Practice Guide’ details the possible design elements and provides guidance on how these can be coded.4

Roles and responsibilities 056

It is important that there is clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the coding team. This should cover areas such as leadership, resources and enforcement. Codes are usually developed by an urban design team on behalf of a landowner, in collaboration with the local authority and technical stakeholders. This helps to develop consensus on what is required, and to ensure that codes are compliant with planning and technical requirements. Codes are then provided to developers for each parcel, often with an accompanying brief to detail specific constraints.

Implementation and enforcement

To ensure that the design quality set out in the codes is delivered on site, careful consideration needs to be given to how they are implemented and enforced. A code can be enforced through a development agreement, or a planning requirement where the code is adopted by the local

authority, or both. Which mechanism is most appropriate will depend on how the project is being delivered (see section 3.3), the level of commitment to the project, and the skills and resources available.

Resources and skills

For codes to be effective it is vital that support from skilled staff is available throughout the process. Where possible those involved in development of the codes should be retained to advise developers, landowners and local authority staff as required. This will ensure that designs comply with the codes, and it makes it easier to judge whether suggested amendments will improve the codes.

Table 3.4 Benefits of Design Codes

Stakeholder

Landowner • Can help optimise return from land

• Provides certainty on design quality of scheme

Developers • Provides certainty on design

requirements at the outset

• Planning approvals usually obtained quicker for compliant schemes • Provide assurance that later schemes will be of similar design quality • Can help optimise return from development

Local authority • Ensures that development satisfies

community aspirations

• Provides certainty on design quality of scheme

Community • Ensures that development achieves

the aspirations of the masterplan • Provides certainty on the design quality of the scheme

DELIVERING QUALITY AND ADDING VALUE 3.4

The continued role of the urban designers in the development of Borneo Sporenburg has ensured the creation of a diverse and innovative scheme. The masterplan developed by West 8 for Borneo

Sporenburg in Amsterdam’s Eastern Docklands involved the application of a strict set of design codes. The codes set parameters on a range of criteria including access, parking, private open space, storey height, plot width and building materials. Importantly, the codes also specified that dwellings should be designed by a diversity of architects.

As part of the redevelopment of Borneo Sporenburg, 60 free parcels of land were made available on which private individuals were able to build their own homes under the guidelines provided by the design codes. These individuals consulted with

the architects in organised workshops, challenging them to meet their needs by responding creatively to the design code. The application of the design codes and the continued role of the principal urban designers in the scheme has ensured the creation of a diverse and innovative, yet harmonious development. It has also allowed the scheme to retain the character of the Amsterdam canal house typology. The experience of Borneo Sporenburg has had a significant impact on Dutch urban planning and free parcels are now often integrated into new planned neighbourhoods in the Netherlands.