Architects respond to beauty commission report

Architects have broadly welcomed the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission’s final report, despite early fears that Roger Scruton’s involvement would result in a neo-Georgian whitewash.

米哈伊尔·里奇公司的联合创始人安娜莉·里奇说:“我发现自己几乎同意所有的事情，这令人惊讶。”米哈伊尔·里奇公司因其位于诺维奇的戈德史密斯街市政住宅获得了斯特林奖。

And RIBA president Alan Jones praised its “withering assessment of public-sector procurement practices” and the condemnation of permitted development rights which he said were resulting in tomorrow’s slums.

但也有人警告称，政府必须果断采取行动，采纳这些建议，尤其是面对要求放松监管的游说活动。政策交流(Policy Exchange)智库的想法对时任住房大臣詹姆斯•布罗肯希尔(James Brokenshire)成立该委员会起到了重要作用。该智库本周发布了一份报告，处理类似问题，但提出了截然不同的建议。

The architect and planner Finn Williams said it was a critical moment for the new government to decide which direction it wanted to take the country in.

He said: “The commission’s report mumbles its recommendations around permitted development and strategic planning, but its broad direction is an about-turn from a decade of short-sighted deregulation, counter-productive cuts to public-sector capacity, and ineffective demand-side housing subsidies.”

Cany Ash说，报告的论点依赖于“在设计规范中捍卫的海市蜃楼”。

RIBA presidentAlan Jonessaid: “The Living in Beauty report exposes just how many public-sector policies actively discriminate against the delivery of good, safe and sustainable buildings.

“The commission’s views on the value of design and lack of resource at local level are echoed by the RIBA; and architects will recognise the withering assessment of public-sector procurement practices.

“The commission has rightly condemned permitted development rights (PDR), which leave local authorities powerless to stop the development of poor-quality and potentially dangerous ‘slum’ housing. The government must acknowledge the dire impacts of this policy and urgently address the commission’s findings.

“The commission’s acknowledgement of work to expand routes to becoming an architect is welcome. I am proud of the new architecture apprenticeships and hope that the government will now take the necessary steps to restart the next stage of education reform.”

他的前任Ben Derbyshire他说:“BBBBC的报告出现在一个有利的时刻——20年代对约翰逊政府、气候紧急状况以及英国脱欧后的世界来说将是一个非赢即输的十年。

“Seen that way, we must hope that the best bits (and there are plenty) in the report positively influence government on the value of planning, quality defined in terms of human well-being, the importance of engagement, heritage, biodiversity and the role of urban design in placemaking.

“The worst excesses of permitted development, out-of-town retail parks and speculative housebuilding are appropriately challenged.

“I might argue about the definition of ‘ugliness’ (the report illustrates mills once characterised as ‘satanic’ now widely regarded as beautiful), suggestions as to perverse interpretations of beauty among architects and the efficacy of zoned design codes, but overall we very much welcome the helpful exploration of social value.”

>> Also read:Architects sidelined as Scruton chairs government’s beautiful homes commission

ButSally Lewis, founder of housing architect Stitch, said: “Who is this report for? It must have been fun for the all the contributors to tally up all the ills of development, and this document will no doubt unleash a backlash wave of new discontent. In the hour available to me to digest its contents I personally recoiled at the incessant use of words like ‘beauty, ugly, should, need to’ etc and the general chatty tone which is quite annoying if you don’t have time to put your feet up with a cup of tea to have a jolly good read. It is woolly, academic and flippant. Certainly not the tone we expect from a government claiming to get things done.

“As my skimming gathered speed my eyes fell on a couple of gems of ideas and I’m sure there’s something in there for everyone. Yes, wouldn’t it be great to have a placemaking champion in every local authority. But how will we encourage these people to take on these roles without funding? The last time issues of design quality were tackled was with Cabe and they did a cracking job until the organisation was axed. The biggest issue will always be the government’s reluctance to put money behind quality. Commissioning a lofty document like this certainly doesn’t cut it.”

Annalie Riches, co-founder of Mikhail Riches, said: ”There is a lot to like. VAT reform, permitted development, increasing density, redistributing development gains, creating walkable neighbourhoods etc. So overall I find myself agreeing with almost everything which is a surprise. The difficulty is that all of these great ideas are hinged around beauty as a driver and assumes this is a universal concept rather than a matter of taste.”

Architect and plannerFinn Williams, co-founder of Public Practice, said: “Whether or not you agree with the term ‘beauty’, or how to define it, there are no reasons to disagree with the commission’s proposals for a more holistic approach to placemaking; a planning system that incentivises responsibility to the future; for strengthening the connection between local democracy and local places; and for government to value quality as well as quantity.

“建筑、规划和更广泛的建筑环境行业必须抓住这个机会，使系统向社会真正需要的社会和环境结果倾斜。这意味着要与社区合作，共同塑造地方政策和地方，而不是将公众参与视为民粹主义的威胁。

“It is also a critical moment for a new government to decide which way it wants to go. The commission’s report mumbles its recommendations around permitted development and strategic planning, but its broad direction is an about-turn from a decade of short-sighted deregulation, counter-productive cuts to public-sector capacity, and ineffective demand-side housing subsidies.

政策交流的报告《重新思考21世纪的规划体系》(Rethinking The Planning System for The 21st Century)也于本周发表。报告指出了许多相同的症状，但指明了一条截然不同的道路，这将使我们回到那些让规划体系失去技能、失去民主化和贬值的政策。政府是会选择老路，还是更有野心，我们拭目以待。”

>> Also read responses and recommendations from the interim report:RIBA and Design Council applaud ‘Building Beautiful’ findings

Cany Ash他说:“它有一种特殊的腔调，有点贵族的味道，有点回到50年代的感觉，当时所有明智的人都能同意许多常识性的主张，对事物现状的荒谬有一种明显的不耐烦。

“And yet so many of us share that impatience around, say, VAT inequalities: honouring built fabric; understanding value over buck; biophilia…so you want to forget the tone and go for the substance. Ultimately however the arguments rely on a mirage defended in design codes, a strange lack of curiosity for evolving tastes, and an ignoring of the focus the young now have on whole-life carbon counting.”

Ben Bolgar, senior director of the Prince’s Foundation, said: “I welcome today’s report which, through the depth of research and breadth of the commissioners, advisors and interviewees, represents a significant shift in industry thinking, challenging the idea that in order to build new homes at volume we need to make places worse.

“At the Prince’s Foundation we have worked on a wide range of housing developments across the UK that challenge the concept of the monocultural housing estate and instead aim to create mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable communities. Key to this has been to open up a dialogue from the very beginning between the local community, landowners, planners and developers.

“Our community engagement toolkit Bimby gives a manual for local stakeholders to set out place-specific design codes that define where new development is best located and what form it should take. We have seen this approach adopted with great success in Nansledan, Newquay, where the code is now being adapted for the whole of Cornwall by the county council.

“Hopefully this report can encourage the fundamental change that is so badly needed to meet the housing and community needs that empower future generations.”

Aecom directorPatrick Clarke, UK & Ireland masterplanning lead, said: “Delivering better-designed homes more quickly through the planning process has been a long-term goal for the government and therefore the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission’s recommendations on how this might be done should be welcomed and given careful consideration.

“Quality design is about more than just the appearance of a project. As crucial as that is, it is also imperative how we address climate change, promote better health and well-being, foster greater bio-diversity and deliver the necessary supporting infrastructure. If proposals for new homes are to win public support and gain planning permission more quickly, then they must not just look beautiful but also demonstrate how they will deliver on this increasingly complex range of public policy objectives. Success will require a fully integrated design approach across a wide range of technical disciplines alongside an extensive programme of community and stakeholder engagement.”

ArchitectPetra Marko, a director of developer Solidspace, said: “The ambition to break silos between housing and infrastructure to look at what makes a good ‘place’ and making planning a positive process ‘moving away from fear’ is much welcomed. The proof will be in the pudding, requiring skilled teams within local authorities to put design and placemaking at the heart of the design process and bringing communities together to combat nimbyism and tackle the housing crisis.”

Historic Englandissued a statement saying: “We welcome the commission’s aim to sustain and create beautiful, thriving places for us all to live and work in. The importance of good design, place-making and giving local people a greater say in how their neighbourhoods develop are stressed throughout the report. These principles lie at the heart of Historic England’s work, demonstrated by our High Streets Heritage Action Zones programme.

”As the report highlights, heritage is an important part of what makes places special and distinctive. Preserving local character not only leads to better and more beautiful places, but the recycling and reuse of historic buildings also makes a significant contribution to combating the effects of climate change.

“The construction industry and buildings are responsible for 40% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, while new construction accounts for 26% of the world’s plastic consumption. The report rightly emphasises both the need to recycle buildings and that reducing VAT for repairing and maintaining existing buildings will help to achieve this. The heritage sector has long argued that the current application of VAT is a disincentive for the custodians of our historic environment to invest in and care for much loved buildings, so we particularly support the report’s call for a change to VAT rules.

“We agree the use of design codes in a planning context needs further exploration, and we are already looking at how they might help create better developments in historic places.

”We will work with government, the construction industry, property owners and heritage and community organisations to take forward the creative ideas and recommendations made in this report, to ensure we really do build better places for people today and in the future.”

DRMM’sSadie Morgan这位生活质量基金会的创始人表示:“这份报告的综合方法真的很受欢迎，尤其是从交付数量转向交付质量和结果的需要;在规划过程中尽早让公众参与，赋予公众更多权力;and the need to incentivise more long-term development models, all of which have the potential to raise people’s quality of life.

“不仅仅是美丽，我们需要使用一系列指标来衡量社会、经济和环境的可持续性，我们真的需要对气候紧急情况说更多的话，这是不值得提及的。但是，看到计划的雄心和范围是令人鼓舞的，我们现在希望工业和政府(以各种形式)能够以掌握主动权的方式做出回应，这样我们就可以开始建造更多的住房和社区，改善人们的生活，应对气候变化的影响。”

Steven Charlton, principal managing director at the London studio of Perkins and Will, said:“For the architecture and design industry, it’s key that we remember the importance of community engagement. We need to work together with local authorities and developers to ensure that residents and communities are far more involved in the planning process.

“Currently, if you don’t turn up at the community centre at a given time, you can’t contribute. The majority of Britons own smartphones and communicate digitally – planning must react to this. We need to get with the times and engage people digitally in the planning process to reduce costs, increase participation and amplify engagement. By increasing digital engagement, it will also be easier for planners, designers and developers to plug into datasets to help identify trends and solutions.”

Steve Sinclairdirector of Fourth Space said: “The report says schemes should be turned down for being too ugly. If that had been a reality since the Planning Act then half of London wouldn’t exist.”

Félicie Krikler, director at Assael Architecture, said: “As architects and designers, it’s our responsibility to create places that will improve the lives of residents and support their mental and physical wellbeing. Countless amounts of research in recent years has shown the importance of biophilic design in improving our mental health and the consumer demand for green design. It’s great to see that the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission is pushing for government action to plant two million street trees within five years. But as designers, we shouldn’t be reliant on regulation. Instead, we must start listening to those who reside on our developments as they hold the key to unlocking insight into how we can create beautiful places to live and work.”

Philip Boxfrom the UKGBC, said: “We welcome the commission’s final report, which comes at a pivotal moment. We have seen recently from the National Housing Audit 2020 that the quality of design being delivering across England is not good enough, both in terms of creating quality places for residents and addressing the environmental challenges we face.

“真正的可持续性和美丽是交织在一起的，我们很高兴看到委员会在良好的设计中呼应了我们关于自然位置的建议。这些方案认识到，有必要促进环境管理，重振我们的城镇和城市，实现我们的气候变化目标，实现真正的再生发展。同样，我们欢迎需要深化社区参与的核心建议，这是英国保守党社会价值计划的核心工作领域。

“我们承认委员会工作的重要作用，它提供了广泛的建议，以应对解决糟糕设计的复杂挑战，我们希望政府建立在这项工作的综合性质上，以确保通过整体决策，而不是权宜之计来交付良好的设计。”