Housebuilding in the Gateway - five priorities

Last November the government launched its interim plan for the Thames Gateway. The plan is divided into three parts: a policy framework, a development prospectus describing what is planned for the London, South Essex and North Kent regions, and a technical annex. The policy framework sets out the targets and priorities that will drive development in the Gateway over the next decade. If you are developing homes there, these are five points to bear in mind.

1 — More industrial land, but smaller parcels of public land

The government has increased the housebuilding target for the Gateway from 120,000 homes by 2016, to 160,000 homes. Much of the increase comes from the greater potential for housebuilding in the London area. DCLG has established a taskforce, made up of the Greater London Authority, London Development Agency, English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation, the Urban Development Corporations and others to look at how to speed up delivery of Gateway homes. Under its draft planning guidance, the GLA is aiming to release 30-50ha of unwanted industrial land a year for residential development.

Rory Brooke, managing principal of URS Economics and Development, said at the Thames Gateway Forum last November: “Former industrial land is probably going to be the main opportunity for regeneration and development in the Thames Gateway: it is one of the reasons why it has such potential.” But he cautioned: “Vacant industrial land is generally scattered around and is not necessarily in the best location either for industry or other uses.”

The policy framework says that publicly owned land will in future be sold to developers in smaller parcels. The government believes this will encourage a wider range of developers to get involved in the Gateway, stimulate greater competition and, hopefully, improve delivery. The government is also looking at opportunities for larger registered social landlords to lead mixed-tenure housing programmes.

2 — Design quality must be high

The government wants local authorities to set the standard for design quality. The recommended instruments for doing this are design codes and design briefs. Following on from initial work by Cabe, Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership is developing a Design Pact that local planning authorities will be invited to sign up to. Under the pact, local authorities will commit to ensuring new development is of high design quality and in keeping with the character of the area.

3 — Look at more innovative ways of providing affordable homes

Broadly speaking, the government wants 35% of new homes in the Gateway to be affordable. A Gateway-wide affordable housing plan will be produced by DCLG and the delivery partners after the next spending review. Regional policies will be developed for the allocation of new social housing, covering the levels, types and broad locations for affordable housing, as well as spend.

One innovative approach that could point the way ahead is being developed at Barking Riverside, where EP and Bellway are working together to deliver a 10,800 home community. Their joint venture aims to equip the scheme with its own local housing company – a vehicle that affordable housing providers, financial institutions and even residents could invest in. This would manage affordable housing, recycling shared ownership home receipts according to local need. Clive Wilding, project director of Barking Riverside, says: “It gives greater flexibility to respond to local demand and need.”

4 — Look at more innovative ways of providing homes suitable for families

The low land values of much of the Thames Gateway make high-density residential development commercially desirable as well as fitting with the government’s agenda. But with PPS3 restating the case for family homes, housing providers both inside and outside the Gateway will be looking at ways of marrying the seemingly opposed forces of family living and high density.

Barking Riverside’s Wilding says there is a need to break free from the apartment mono-culture: “It’s about choice of product. It is about not only building one-bedroom flats, but about building two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom flats and houses. But urban locations give some real challenges for families – the key to mixed communities is how we develop family accommodation at medium to high densities.”

At Barking Riverside the joint venture development team has come up with the idea of effectively stacking a house on top of a house to increase density, and replacing the traditional garden with a terrace.

5 — Environmental standards

The government wants the Gateway to be a showcase for best practice environmental standards, particularly in energy and water efficiency, for all forms of development. The framework recognises that the Gateway is characterised by poor quality public spaces. In an attempt to redress this, it is establishing a new identity for the Gateway as the Thames Gateway Parklands. The identity is intended to be more than a rebranding exercise: DCLG is producing a parklands framework that will set out the region’s priorities for a green infrastructure.