This is a post in two parts. In this first part, I'll set out some reasons for considering green belt development. In the second part, which will follow (eventually), I'll describe a test case proposal for a specific green belt site. Introduction People have made good arguments for developing some of London’s green belt as housing. … Continue reading Building in the green belt: 1
Category: Lobbying
Self-build policy changes in the UK
The UK's coalition government has made some policy changes in favour of self-build. You can see an overview of the changes here. One key change is full exemption from any sort of charge for infrastructure (i.e. the 'Community Infrastructure Levy') as discussed in my last post, on the former Olympics site in Stratford. More information … Continue reading Self-build policy changes in the UK
Danish density
Following the last post, I thought I should try to get some data on housing density in Copenhagen, which is widely taken as a model for urban development. From this paper by Jin Xue at Aalborg, I get a figure for habitable space in Copenhagen of 51 m2 per person. Interestingly, this is at a … Continue reading Danish density
British density
Britain is often described as crowded. London? Well, it seems stupid even to ask the question: of course it’s crowded. But I’d like to flip the question around. How much space can a person in Britain reasonably expect? And, for comparison, how much space does he or she actually have? Some back of the envelope … Continue reading British density
‘Benefits to bricks’
Not directly relevant to baugruppen but still interesting as an indication of a shift in housing public policy: housing benefit funds may be devolved to pay for social housing. The IPPR recommended this, and the Commission on London Finance, established by the mayor, now backs it.
Vauban
Compare and contrast. Chelsea Barracks, 5.2 ha. Sold for £959 million to a housing development consortium in 2007. Site remains empty. Woolwich Arsenal, 13 ha. Parcelled up and the best plots sold, from 2003 onwards, to housing developers such as Berkeley Homes and Barratt Homes. Large parts of the site remain undeveloped; enough for 5,000 … Continue reading Vauban
Groupbuilding 