News
History Repeating Itself with International Housing Design Competition
9th February 2007
The press release below focuses on the house building element of this competition but there is an emphasis on biodiversity and landscape as it is a Garden City. Hopefully this will be of interest to some of the LI members and registered practices:
Echoes of an international house building design competition in the early 1900s, which captured the imagination of the whole country, will once again reverberate around the world’s first Garden City.
Over 60 high-quality, affordable and environmentally friendly homes will be constructed, based on the winning designs, on land owned by Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation – town founder Ebenezer Howard’s company in modern times. The competition is aptly named ‘Tomorrow’s Garden City.’
In 1905, the eighth Duke of Devonshire opened the ‘Cheap Cottages’ Exhibition in the Garden City, showcasing some 131 entries to an international housing design competition. The brief given to architects of the day was to build innovative housing for a maximum cost of £150 per property – this dream became reality.
The exhibition was a huge success, attracting over 60,000 visitors to the town from near and far and was repeated in 1907. Today, most of these cheap cottages still stand proudly in the Garden City, the difference being that their value has increased dramatically – some of them are now worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
On Thursday (Feb 1), the 12th Duke of Devonshire officially launched the third housing design competition, supported by the Royal institute of British Architects, with the brief to international housing practitioners, architects etc. academics, students etc. to create the 60 plus new homes, designed and built with sustainability in mind. Entrants will be attracted by a prize fund of £25,000.
The winning design houses will then be built by North Hertfordshire Homes (NHH), one of the largest Registered Social Landlords in Hertfordshire, providing 8,200 homes for rent, 800 sheltered houses for older people and around 200 temporary and supported housing places.
The vision is to deliver a high quality environmentally friendly, groundbreaking, housing development and the object is to bring forward a series or selection of housing designs capable of:
* Providing a range of property types and sizes for sale or rent to local people at affordable prices
* Achieving a specific energy benchmark, for example at least level three of 'The Code for Sustainable Homes'
* Achieving low annual running costs, low lifetime costs, and generally value for money
* Incorporating attractive features and architecture which reflect the town’s status as the world's first Garden City
* Social sustainability to include adaptability, flexibility, quality, smart houses etc.
* The site or sites will cater for intermediate or shared equity housing with 25 per cent socially rented. The housing mix will include one and two bedroom flats plus two and three bedroom houses.
Stuart Kenny, director general of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, said: “It is particularly appropriate that we mark the Centenary of the Second Cheap Cottages Exhibition by holding this competition and we are honoured that the Duke of Devonshire is so closely involved.
“Marrying the present sustainability agenda with the Garden City ethos will pose challenges in itself but we will be looking for more – truly ground-breaking innovation which moves the sustainability agenda forward.”
Kevin Thompson, chief executive of North Herts Homes, added: “This is a great opportunity to really influence the future style of development within Letchworth Garden City and the environment in which future generations will live. As the leading social landlord within the area, it will be a tremendous opportunity for us to be involved in the development of these properties and their management once they are built.”
Richard Hastilow, chief executive of the RIBA, commented: “The RIBA is delighted to be involved in such a fascinating competition. The historical link with the 1905 ‘Cheap Cottages’ Exhibition provides an added incentive to design high-quality, low-carbon homes for the next 100 years and more.
“I am sure that this competition will capture the interest of many architects in the UK and overseas. We look forward to receiving a range of imaginative entries.”
The closing date for entries is May 31, 2007 with the awards ceremony on July 18.
Construction is expected to start in 2008.
Source: Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation
For the Competition Brief visit
http://www.tomorrowsgardencity.com
