Management

A key challenge facing everyone involved in high-density mixed-tenure development is finding an estate management solution that keeps private developers and housing associations, as well as their buyers and tenants, happy. All too often, development of high-density schemes starts from an external design concept, followed later by thoughts about what occupiers might want, and then later still by a haggle between housing association and developer over service charge levels.

Both affordable providers and developers risk missing the social, economic and environmental benefits of more efficient land use. They also miss business opportunities. We know there is a shortage of first-class facilities management companies with the experience to manage mixed- tenure schemes with the professionalism, expertise and authority required to make residential facilities management work in the long term. So what should affordable providers and developers be doing?

The message to affordable providers

Housing associations should adjust their focus away from getting the best financial deal in social housing and, despite being faced with tight budgetary constraints, resist focusing on demanding schemes which are cheap to run. We know from experience of 1960s high-rise housing that cheap to run and high density do not go together. Repeating the mistakes of the past would almost certainly result in a price far higher than the cost of getting management and estate services right from day one.

Affordable providers want to be involved in a project earlier, but to make this happen they need to be able to identify the right management approach for each scheme and the right service, and accept that the user or beneficiary of these services will pay. It is not reasonable to plan from a position of cost as the main driver and indirectly accept a mediocre service, or expect private residents to subsidise estate services for affordable residents.

Housing associations should demonstrate what they can do in terms of estate management. Many new affordable estates have great-looking buildings, but the external spaces and communal parts are not a good enough advert for the RSL. RSLs need to demonstrate that they can deliver a multiplicity of services including tenancy and asset management, security, on-site facilities management, quality landscaping, lighting, cleaning and streetscape.

Housing associations also need to consider their approach to tenancy management, lettings plans, child density levels, rent setting and introductory tenancies, all of which are important elements of getting management right. These elements should be integrated into their thinking from day one to make a positive impression.

The message to private-sector developers

Developers should think about estate services earlier and with a more open mind. High-density housing and mixed-use schemes impose new responsibilities which require developers to take a longer-term view.

Many residential schemes still struggle to be efficient and adopt a rather formulaic approach to affordable housing, despite increased densities and the opportunities they bring. We spend some of our time working on scheme designs, reconciling awkward relationships between buildings on the ground which can over-complicate estate services and make them costly to deliver. All too often we are doing this after building footprints have been pre-determined, which is hardly the efficient way to work.

The less efficient the housing is, the more expensive it is and ultimately the less opportunity there will be to charge a rent and a service charge which is affordable to lower economic groups.

In managing a project, developers need to make sure there is a clear and well considered brief in terms of how homes should be planned, together with clear objectives in terms of management protocols, estate management, building maintenance and approach to cost recovery from the outset.

The fact is we are building and will continue to build high-rise mixed-tenure schemes. We have no choice if we are going to meet demand, so we need to get it right.