Building better for London: calls for beautiful, well-designed homes to be fast-tracked through planning

The Living With Beauty paper published at the end of last month made 45 recommendations to improve the design of residential schemes, championing beauty as an essential condition for planning permission.

The aim is to see beautiful homes fast-tracked through planning, with the addition of an urban orchard particularly recommended.

The report was written as part of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, set up to advise the Government on how to stop the spread of shoddy new housing.

Some major housebuilders and leading architects have complained that the report is unrealistic in its demands and claim that implementing its recommendations will, paradoxically, slow the planning process further.

Bob Weston, founder of Weston Homes, says: “It is not acceptable to build poor-quality homes but the Government should be wary of anything that could stifle delivery.”

London architect Matthew Lloyd wades in, too: “The report has not had a favourable reaction. Architects don’t set out to design pretty houses so much as solve urban problems.”

Among the report’s recommendations is the appointment of a “placemaking” housing minister to sit in the Cabinet — an irony given that only last week the 10th housing minister in as many years, Esther McVey, was sacked in the Cabinet reshuffle.

The report recommends reliance on classical and traditional architectural styles, suggesting glass and steel skyscrapers be avoided, says Peter Murray, chairman of New London Architecture.

“As well as the Georgian influences the report favours the new London vernacular that is emerging,” says Murray, referring to modest, low-rise brick schemes which he describes as “rational and elegant”.

Beechwood Mews is a 97-home scheme in Barnet designed by Peter Barber Architects for developers Kuropatra on an old Transport for London site.

Construction is under way on this contemporary take on the terrace street. Once completed it will have a café and a corner shop and half of the homes will count as “affordable”.

A similar scheme by the same team was so popular there is only one home left. Ninety Five Peckham Road is a modern mansion block of 33 apartments. The remaining two-bedroom apartment costs £555,000 (visit acorngroup.co.uk or call 020 7089 6566).

Though the use of the term “beautiful” in the report has sparked debate as to what beauty is and how it is defined, underneath sits a sensible tick-list for new schemes, from placemaking, to building with nature, to consulting the community.

Much-admired King’s Cross regeneration has a strong sense of place.

The 67 acres of abandoned canalside warehouses now has 2,000 new homes and 20,000 people work in the area.

The retail centre Coal Drops Yard showcases emerging brands, cafés and bars, while children play in the Granary Square fountains leading down to the canal.

Big-name companies are on their way, too. Google, Universal, Nike and Sony are all setting up headquarters at King’s Cross, bringing even more bustle.

Next week will see the launch of the first new homes to be sold on site for two-and-a-half years.

The six-sided Cadence building has a striking terracotta façade with homes above viaduct-style arches and a colonnade of shops. Its apartments and balconies overlook a rectangular pond. Prices start from £585,000. Call 020 3691 3966.

The creation of a new neighbourhood is under way at Ladbroke Grove. The £200 million 1,000-home Portobello Square will regenerate the Sixties Wornington Green estate.

The 10-year scheme comprises three phases and includes social rental homes, replacing those lost in the demolition of the estate.

Homes in phase two, Bond Mansions, went on sale last month, next to a public park which is being upgraded and replanted. Shops, cafés and a community centre will follow.

The apartment blocks are built from “soft” brick with deep windows, a nod to the classical architecture highlighted in the report.

The new neighbourhood’s streets are being linked to Portobello Road and its lively market scene. One-bedroom apartments start from £645,000.

The report recommends VAT relief on abandoned buildings to encourage developers to bring derelict structures that are often antisocial eyesores, back to life.

Battersea Power Station is one of the best examples of safeguarding heritage as set out in the Living With Beauty paper.

The restoration of the four chimneys that powered London from the Thirties to the Eighties is the cherished centre of the 4,000-home Thames-side village, and the surrounding apartment buildings have been designed to preserve views of the towers.

Prices of homes inside the power station building start from £870,000. Visit sales@bpsdc.co.uk or call 020 7501 0678.

The Edwardian Bourne Estate in Camden features in the report as being of beautiful design.

Matthew Lloyd Architects on behalf of Camden council was tasked with adding two new residential blocks that would complete and complement the area.

They worked to a tight budget but added Arts and Crafts styling such as glazed tiles, double-height ceilings and arched entrances. Playing fields and playgrounds have been created.

The new Bourne Estate project ticked another box for the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission which recommends community consultation and “stewardship” for new developments.

“There was a public exhibition and the community appointed us as architects,” says Lloyd.

The pressure is on for developers to ditch gas boilers in the drive towards making new homes carbon neutral.

Eden House at Crouch End by Mood London Design for Fornacelli Homes is almost there. The nine-home block is 90 per cent carbon neutral.

The building has a living roof and walls and an electric car pool for residents, and is powered via solar panels. Prices start from £855,000 through Savills on 020 3227 0481.

Chobham Manor is the 880-home Taylor Wimpey development at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, with the area’s sporting culture running through the scheme.

The new streets all face parkland and there are cycle and walking routes linking the site to the former 2012 Games Velodrome.

Three-bedroom family homes start at £695,000. Call 020 3504 3638.

Craig Bull and his wife Lulu, 39, bought a two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich’s Kidbrooke Village, the £1 billion development set in 136 acres of wetlands and meadows.

Natural playgrounds have been dotted across the site which now has a wide variety of birds including herons and kestrels.

“What I really liked about Kidbrooke Village was that it reminded me a bit of home, because it does feel like a village,” says Craig, 40, originally from Leicestershire.

“It’s landscaped and green, with lakes and wildlife. There is also a mix of housing and the overall architecture looks attractive.”

Homes are on sale in Birch House, a thoughtful and luxurious build at the centre of Kidbrooke.

The block has a sky lounge for morning yoga with views of Canary Wharf. Three-bedroom apartments start from £1,045,000.

There are also homes available in the neighbouring complex Centrum Court with Help to Buy starting from £467,000.