Delivering Quality Homes
What is quality?
There are many definitions put forward through planning policy and other avenues – and there will doubtless be many more over the coming years! The Municipal definition of ‘quality outcomes’ is shown here, taking in both the development phase and the ‘finished product’.
| Quality Outcomes | In Development | In use |
|---|---|---|
| Human Value | Local engagement, considerate construction | Comfort, health, privacy, affordability, safety, connection to nature |
| Social Value | Local jobs, training schemes, supply change opportunities, diversity initiatives | Neighbourliness, local character, generosity connectivity, inclusivity |
| Environmental Value | Resource efficiency, embodied carbon, tree retention, waste minimisation | Whole life resource efficiency, nature friendliness |
| Financial Value | Efficient cost targeted at high impact items, value creation | Long term VFM i.e. robustness, ease of management, minimal defects |
Why invest in quality?
‘But how can we afford nice design?’
This is a phrase we often hear from clients, especially as we face viability challenges. Looking back at some of the new housing built rapidly after WWII, much of it is now being demolished. The question should rather be: ‘what will poor design quality cost us in future?’ Claire expands on investing in and finding the funding for quality here.
The Handbook
The Delivering Quality Homes Handbook
Written by Claire for the GLA, the handbook provides public sector housing clients with four levers and 50 ideas to improve the quality of their built output through enhanced quality management.
Claire’s proposition is that much of the power to achieve quality in new housing lies in clients’ hands. Why?
They set the culture of the project
They write the project brief and set the standards
They procure the architects and set out their scope of service; they also procure developers or contractors and again, set their parameters through contract
They steward the project and make financial decisions all the way through
Of course architects and contractors then have a role to play. But without the clients’ culture, intelligent actions and stewarding, the project will not achieve high quality outcomes.
Hero Projects
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1. Blackfriars
Peabody has provided low rent homes to ‘the poor and needy’ of London since 1862, focusing on health. Decried as ‘barracks’ when first constructed, many of Peabody’s robust Victorian blocks are now in conservation areas and much loved features of the capital’s fabric.
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2. Boundary
The London County Council built some of the earliest ‘council housing’, replacing notorious east end rookeries. This estate was hailed as setting ‘new aesthetic standards for housing the working classes’; it included a laundry, shops, and workshops and a bandstand – still there!
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3. Old Oak
In the suburbs, the London County Council fully embraced the ‘Garden City’ principles of Ebenezer Howard. At this estate, the Arts and Crafts vernacular includes steep pitched roofs, chimneys, bays, recessed porches and shared gardens; privacy is achieved using large swathes of privet hedge.
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4 .Liverpool Grove
Octavia Hill was asked by the Church Commissioners to guide the layout of new homes in Walworth, and also to manage them. Street trees and porches give this close packed area a garden city feel. A high density is achieved with walk-up low rise flats and tight block depths.
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5. Excalibur
Various public bodies erected 150,000 ‘prefabs’ after the war, to house people whose homes were destroyed by bombing. Various manufacturers were used, and the price was c. £1,000 each. These ‘temporary’ homes were planned to last 10 years: some have reached 70.
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6. Railway Village
These Swindon homes now form a Conservation Area. Built by GWR for its burgeoning workforce, high density terraces nestle between formative library and health facilities, pubs and churches. Hedges and generous windows offer a an attractive and verdant street frontage.
Our services
Designed around our Delivering Quality Framework, our services are arranged into four key themes. Find out how Municipal can support you on your quality journey.
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Delivering Quality Review
We work closely with public sector housing clients to review their recent housing completions, and also to assess their culture, people and quality management practices.
Services:
Delivering Quality Review -
Culture/People
We help public sector clients to enhance or transform their quality culture, through a diagnostic of the quality culture and expertise of their leaders and wider team members.
Services:
Cultural Audit -
Briefs/Standards
We help public sector clients to set clear and compelling standards for their housing development programmes as well as writing project briefs for complex major projects.
Services:
Design Standards Review,
Brief Writing -
Procurement
We help public sector clients to procure the right development and design partners for their projects, ensuring that qualitative criteria are properly considered as part of the process.
Services:
Developer Procurement,
Design Team Framework
Procurement,
Architect Competition -
Scrutiny
We help public sector clients to procure the right development and design partners for their projects, ensuring that qualitative criteria are properly considered as part of the process.
Services:
Design Review/Champion,
Post-Occupancy Review