The Case for Space – RIBA fights its corner
September 21st, 2011
Last week the RIBA published their report on small homes entitled The Case for Space making a perfectly rational and objective argument that British new homes are the smallest in Europe and ought to be larger.
The above is for illustration only and not intended as an example of a small flat
Judging by the hysterical reaction of the house builders and two leading people in the industry you would think the RIBA had somehow shot themselves in the foot.
Design for Homes chief executive David Birkbeck and Homes and Communities Agency head of design and sustainability Jane Briginshaw both resigned from the RIBA’s housing advisory group following the Case for Space report.
Apparently tellling the truth is seen to be disloyal, not being supportive, working against the builders.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation described the report as a ‘missed opportunity’.
He said: ‘We’ll happily work with RIBA and others but if they are serious about the future of housing in this country they must support the proposed National Planning Policy Framework and ensure that they fully understand the pressures on land and viability that home builders face every day.’
What’s wrong with these people? Do they see their livelihoods being threatened because they are being asked to build bigger houses? They sound like the bankers being asked to rein in their bonuses or to offer lower salaries to new staff on the grounds that the taxpayer bailed them out and they are only still in business because of that.
What really shook me was the two resignations, you might think that people on the sharp end of housing would have the sense to support the case for dwellings with adequate space but no, by resigning they have shown their true colours.
I am reminded of what Tony Benn used to say about fighting an uphill struggle. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. The RIBA has got a fight on its hands alright and I sincerely hope it wins. It needs to.
Perversely, the one politician in the country with the right idea is a Tory, support you wouldn’t expect from that quarter but lo and behold Blue Boris has led the way for some time now with his determination to return not only to the Parker Morris standards that herself did away with in 1980 as a vote winner for the developers, but happy to increase them by 10%.
The London Housing Design Guide proposes space standards that are only applicable so far to publicly funded projects but which desperately need to be made mandatory in the private sector as well but judging by the reaction of the house builders to the RIBAs attempts to shine the light of day on the subject, this is going to be an uphill struggle.
In the course of writing this blog I frequently visit flats all over London, and study floor plans from recent decades. Modern flats all suffer from a series of ills the least of which is lack of storage space and this is the result of gratuitous ensuites and the developer trying to cram too many onto a plot.
Until the quality of modern houses and flats is addressed in terms of the floorspace offered these wretched things will continue to be built, and the howls of anguish of the affronted builders may be foreseen when challenged but that is no reason not to do so.
More power to the elbow of the RIBA and long may they fight their corner on space standards, resignations or not.
More comments at BDOnline:- Architects attack RIBA’s space standards campaign
Building Design magazine subsequently published an edited version of the above on their letters page a week later.