Once a winner
Awards are inevitably accompanied by clamorous debates concerning the merits of the winners and losers. This is especially so when it comes to the built environment where one man’s masterpiece is another’s eyesore. Those who recently triumphed in the Housing Design Awards 2006 are no doubt the subject of heated discussions as we speak. But surely, if the goal is to build truly sustainable communities, the gongs should be handed out to schemes that work well ten or 20 years after completion.
history of success
Last year, Wimpey’s Staiths development in Gateshead won the Housing Design Award for a completed scheme by a large housebuilder. Inspired by the designer Wayne Hemingway it has sold quickly and appears to be functioning well. Will this last? We will have to wait and see. But Wimpey has triumphed before in this category. In 1991 the housebuilder walked away with a Housing Design Award for its Northumberland Village development just down the road from Staiths in Monkseaton. The question is: has it been a long-term success? The early 90s was a very different era for the industry. “There was no one in government that gave a damn about housing at the time,”says Stephen Mullin, a director of Design for Homes, which runs the awards. “They just left it to the market.”George Young, the housing and planning minister, apparently took little interest. Mullin adds: “As far as I am concerned planning was a bit of a wilderness, it was anything goes.”
Today a myriad of issues such as density and sustainability complicate planning. The early 90s were not problem-free – nimbies were as prevalent then as they are today. But planning guidelines were close to non-existent, remembers Mullin. “There was some attempt to encourage low density schemes. What has changed is the emphasis on high density.”
This is one area in which Northumberland Village broke the mould. Project architect Jane Darbyshire, of Jane Darbyshire and David Kendall (JDDK), says the success of the high density scheme forced developers to reconsider their approach to design and layout. “The developers and council took an enormous chance as denser schemes were not commonplace at the time. Its success led many of our developer clients at that time to rethink their attitude to higher density – to challenging local authority planning guidelines on distances and acceptable parking levels and seeing landscape as a totally integral part of design and the creation of spaces.”
Steve Hill, Wimpey’s commercial manager in the north east at the time, says the development “set the trend for other Wimpey schemes.”He explains: “It was the first bespoke development that we did. We built the apartments around the existing buildings with a sympathetic design. It would have been easier for us to demolish the old buildings and start from scratch.” Northumberland Village comprises both sheltered accommodation for the over 55s and general use housing. Again this was an innovative and risky step but something that has become commonplace.
“Wimpey’s attitude to mixing different types of tenure and what they see as different markets changed and opened the door to other schemes in North Tyneside,” says Darbyshire.
The two storey flats are laid out in courtyards, all but one of which is car-free, with the public space devoted to landscaped gardens. Hill explains that the high density design pushed the project away from a typical street scene and towards the more communal courtyards. This arrangement drew particular praise from the judges at the time for creating interest in a subtle and unobtrusive way and encouraging community spirit. The sense of community and security the courtyards engender is cited by many of today’s residents as one of the development’s best features (see box). New people are noticed here and trigger a frenzy of curtain twitching.
The flats themselves were designed to mirror the style of the existing family homes. The result is an intimate, rural style which some may describe as “twee.”As he ambles around the site, David Kendall, a JDDK director, insists the word should not be used critically. “Purists would condemn the development outright. We occasionally get the comment that our houses are twee but I don’t think they know what that means. Twee identifies it as domestic and homely.” Keith Wynne, principal technician at JDDK and involved with the initial design, says the courtyards added to the commercial value of the family homes, which Wimpey refurbished to a high standard. In turn, he adds, the “porches, garden walls, garages and car ports of the refurbished homes, created a street scene compatible with the courtyard nature of the housing opposite.”
Kendall says this style came from a “desire to look around and see the architectural context we were designing in.”And it has created, says Dolan Conway, a northern region representative on the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) national council, a development that people like. “We must think about the user, that is the important thing. The contextual between 1880 and 1980 is part of the reason everybody here likes it.”
The site works well on many levels. There is a through-path so that it is not cut off from the surrounding homes; there are no troublesome communal staircases or hidden areas; cars are kept away from the public space, and the internal layouts are spacious.
Its success in creating a secure and friendly environment and the presence of an existing elderly community has inevitably attracted other older people, who have taken up residence in general use homes alongside the retirement homes. So the mixed community once envisaged here and encouraged by today’s policymakers has dissipated. And there is a clear division between the youth that swagger through the scheme to the houses behind and the residents that live in a pensioner-dominated community.
However those that do live here like it and that is surely the mark of a successful and sustainable scheme. It has created and sustained the sense of community that is at the heart of Wayne Hemingway’s design for Staiths and is central to the government’s sustainable communities policy.
not sexy
But would it win a Housing Design Award today? Categorically the answer is no. “It’s not sexy enough and not built to today’s environmental standards,” says Kendall. And looking at this year’s contenders, Northumberland Village does not possess the same dramatic aesthetics: it is both low rise and defiantly not modern. Ironically Hill comments that, if built today, “Wimpey would try and make the apartments four storeys instead of two, to maximise value.” Perhaps resulting in a loss of the intimacy that marks the development out as a success. But the innovation is not in the style as much as the density, mix and tenure of the housing. “It was the process that was groundbreaking in this development,” says Conway. It was a process that brought together a developer, the local council and a housing association to create a place that is still attractive to buyers 15 years on.
It remains to be seen whether we will be saying the same of this year’s Housing Design Awards winners in 2021.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: THE RESIDENTS VERDICT
Moira McCloud, 82, moved into a general use flat 17 years ago.
“The courtyards give people a sense of community and companionship and it gives everyone a garden to use. There is also a sense of safety: you know what is going on and you can keep an eye on each other. We also have a committee to look at issues within the estate. “I like the mix of tenure and the fact there are families with children around, but lots have moved on and it is mostly elderly now. I am very happy with my flat though the communal gardens could do with some work. They were lovely when we arrived.”
Mrs Gayles, 82, lives in sheltered housing for the over 55s. She has been in her flat for 18 years.
“Most people are happy living here. When I first saw the place I loved it. It’s private but you get to know your neighbours and everyone is very friendly. There is a coffee morning every Monday, which gives us all a chance to see each other. The flats themselves are all the same size but have different layouts and I’ve loved living here.”
Ray Robinson, 55, has lived in one of the refurbished family homes with his wife since 1988. His children have now moved out.
“The estate is a nice mix of older buildings with well designed homes and it has attracted a nice mix of people. There is a good community spirit – we are not in and out of each other’s houses but we know the neighbours and one organised a street party for the Queen’s Jubilee. For me the biggest selling point was the size of the garden and having a double garage. The only thing I would say is there wasn’t any access from the back of the house to the garden so we have added a conservatory. “The location is great in terms of convenience and we don’t have any problems with traffic coming through because it is a dead end.”
THE HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND VILLAGE
Originally a children’s home, the Monkseaton site consisted of an administration block converted into sheltered flats, a block of 1960s flats and five Victorian villas. When the home closed in 1986 a supermarket chain sought to acquire the site. This was blocked by North Tyneside council, which consequently bought the site, then sold it on to Wimpey.
Designed by Jane Darbyshire Associates (now Jane Darbyshire and David Kendall), Northumberland Village consists of 101 flats and eight houses. 76 of the flats were new build, each with self-contained entrances. These are arranged in courtyards that face the eight semi-detached refurbished Victorian homes on the other side of the main access road – a road which was criticised at the time for its length and width, and would today perhaps be narrowed and landscaped into the development.
The other flats can be found in an updated 1960s block and in the sheltered homes old administration block, which was built in 1938. The opening ceremony took place just one year after Jane Darbyshire was first approached to join the project. In 1988 the first residents moved in. Feedback from these residents was used as part of the assessment for the Housing Design Awards completed scheme category, which Wimpey won in 1991.
1991: THE YEAR THAT WIMPEY WON
1991 is along time ago and housing was not at the top of the news agenda, but what was?
- Allied forces led by the USA push Iraq out of Kuwait in operation Desert Storm.
- The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved. The USSR breaks up and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is formed.
- Croatia and Slovenia gain independence from Yugoslavia after a brief war. But by the end of the year nearly one-third of Croatian territory is under Serb control.
- Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated.
- Helen Sharman is the first Briton in space.
- Footage of Rodney King being beaten by Los Angeles police officers sparks riots a year later when the officers are acquitted.
