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What to expect from London’s new housing design guidance
In spring, and with little fanfare, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, unveiled a pre-consultation draft of his new housing design guidance for London, the ‘Good Quality Homes for all Londoners SPG’ [1].
The ‘pre-consultation’ draft guidance was published in March, with the formal consultation exercise anticipated this summer, following the expected adoption of the Draft London Plan. However, with delays to the adoption whilst the Mayor and MHCLG resolve their differences on the draft plan, as well as the evolving situation with COVID-19 dramatically changing how people utilise their homes, question marks exist as to whether the guidance will yet change.
Key points from the new guidance
The new guidance, as currently drafted, represents the culture change the Mayor is trying to introduce in the London development industry, with the focus shifting from site maximisation and housing numbers to site optimisation through good design and high quality homes. Alongside the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission report and the National Design Guidance published last year, the draft Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) adds to the growing requirement for developers to deliver high quality design.
Accordingly, site optimisation is covered by providing detailed guidance on the contextual considerations for assessing site capacity, as well as a focus on optimising sites with different housing typologies and the provision of an Indicative Site Capacity Calculator.
In addition, the draft guidance outlines how to optimise small sites and highlights the Mayor’s desire for small sites to play an increasingly important, and somewhat ambitious, role in providing additional homes. The guidance identifies typical small sites within London that are suitable for development and advocates the introduction of design codes at Borough level to reflect the specific characteristics or opportunities for smaller housing developments in their area.
Finally, the draft guidance provides further detail on the new housing standards introduced by the draft London Plan, importantly with the introduction of the new sustainability credentials. Adding to the Mayor’s approach for tackling climate change, the draft SPG also introduces the requirement for new buildings to be designed in a way that facilitates future retainability, refurbishment and adaptation, including through potential conversion to different uses. The requirement for buildings to support the circular economy is also introduced, through disassembly, allowing for the reuse of materials and products, reducing waste and pollution.
The impact of COVID-19 on future drafts
Since the publication of the pre-consultation draft of the SPG, London has changed significantly with the lockdown restrictions put in place to mitigate the crisis. As people spend significantly more time at home, the importance of a quality home environment has never been more relevant. The industry is already debating whether the provision of home office space, an increase to the minimum size standards for balconies and gardens, fewer units per lifts/stairwells and more natural ventilation will become formal requirements in official guidance. The delay in issuing the consultation draft of the SPG may well provide the Mayor the opportunity to adopt some of these measures.
It is important to note that the guidance does not cover specialist forms of high density residential housing such as PBSA or co-living. However with the prevalence of both uses coming forward in schemes across London, as well as some market scepticism as to how both products will respond to social distancing measures, it may be surprising if the Mayor doesn’t use the opportunity to provide further design standards for these products to ensure that internal and external amenity is at the forefront of developer’s minds.
For more information on the Mayor’s Good quality homes for all Londoners SPG, or advice on making representations to its future consultation, please contact Ben Wrighton or Luke Sumnall.
4 June 2020
[1] Good Quality Homes for all Londoners SPG Pre-consultation draft