Communication among inhabitants of the Staiths South Bank housing development has increased as a result of Creative landscaping and social spaces. Ian Darby Partnership, Hemingway design and Glen Kemp were behind its planning.
The scheme is the largest new-build Home Zone which offers real choice at low cost and includes a ground-breaking shared-surface design. It is also supported by the Department of Transport’s first experimental home zone scheme. Wimpey call upon Hemingway design to join him to make a better, more sustainable creation which would attract 70% of house buyers. The same house buyers during a survey said they would not purchase a house in a new estate.
Description
Category of Project: Houses, flats and apartmentsLocation type: Urban(Within city)Complete Address: Tyne Park, Staiths South Bank, Off Team Street, Gateshead on TyneNumber of private houses: 158 for market saleCategory of Houses: two bed, three bed and four bed houses (23 distinct and seven basic types of house) and one, two and three bed apartments (three consist basic design, 32 are dissimilar). Area of Site: phase 1 has a total area of 3. 4 Ha; 63 units are built per hectare. (entire site: 16. 18 Ha (buildable land 11 Ha) So it is expected that there will be roughly 70 units per hectare]Typical unit area: Smallest has an area of 46. 9 sq. m while the largest has an area of 130 sq. mParking ratio: 1: 1, in addition to parking for visitors, bicycle parking and bicycle stores. Cost for each house: preliminary prices start from £70, 000 (smallest) and vary to £280, 000 for largest house.
Design Process
A coal depot, gasworks and coking plant were accommodated at the waterside site in the past. It fascinated more than 40 development applications, subsequent to its utilization for the 1990 Gateshead Garden Festival. In 2001, Ian Darby Partnership was appointed by Wimpey to lend a hand to make the master plan. Afterwards Hemingway design joined the team to provide additional help. Public desire houses with gardens but the car’s presence should be also reduced, according to them. A total number of 158 units were accommodated in Phase 1. This was approved in July 2001 along with outline authorization for the rest of the entire 697 unit scheme. In 2002, work begins on site and Phase 1 was finished in April 2005. It was planned that the entire scheme to house over 2, 000 persons will be finished in 2010. Hemingway design functioned directly with IDP Architects, Glen Kemp (master planner and landscape architect) and other group associates. He also worked closely with Gateshead Council. Gateshead Council acquired Home Zone funding for the scheme.
Evaluation
Characteristics
To encourage communication between residents of Staiths South Bank, artistic landscaping and uncommon social public and semi-private spaces are designed. Trees left behind from the Garden Festival have been reused. Due to this, the scheme looks like fresh and sizeable, full of trees and vegetation.
Wide-ranging house types line up the broad entrance avenue which direct to the Tyne and the listed Dunston Staiths and the development act in response to the scale of its river bank position. The houses form a shape of three ‘ U’ blocks around south in front of courtyards and two riverside apartment blocks. A speed limit of 10 mph adds to inhabitants’ safety and security. First-class street lighting makes the public area considered as safe and secure following dark. The road arrangement presents a simple to navigate, grid-like design. To facilitate pedestrians and cyclists, some of the roads are banned for cars. Gabled house frontage is street facing, nevertheless courtyards also face dead end running beside back gardens on one or both sides. Staiths South Bank’s ambition to communality, with play areas on streets, has made such plan successful. Elsewhere this plan has failed. There is a spectacular symmetrical roofline and a diverse collection of materials and windows on the short terrace which is in front of the scheme entrance. Such features make this a state of the art and beautiful scheme.
Roads, Parking and Pedestrianisation
As we progress through the scheme, the streets become narrow meanwhile the pavements become wide. At the central square, there is a shared surface design with the width strained down to 3. 5 metres that corresponds a different chain of command for drivers. Parking solutions comprise of an on-street parking in front of housing, parking courts and the exclusion of on-plot garages. In most of the estate the streets are quite wide. On the other hand, the street layout needs driving a lengthy way round to park, consequently raising the number of cars being driven within the estate. As only one car per home is allowed, consequently there is an increased pedestrian movement. This is also due to the fact that there is a tactful handling of parking. When public transport connections will be given limited space for parking will become a challenge. To get access to Newcastle and Gateshead centres, both about a mile away from Staiths, A new riverside cycle route and footpath will be built. The Gateshead Road is connected to the entrance road to Staiths via a crossroads. Supplies, strategically placed tables, seats and planting requires a low speed.
Design and Construction
There is a lot of variety available in standard housing types with various interior and exterior alterations. The scheme doesn’t surpass existing building standards but meets them and doesn’t employ advances in construction. Brick and block with render and cedar cladding is used in building with aluminium and traditional tiling for roofs and flashings. Due care was taken in selecting the material, counting brick colours for competence and design. Flexibility is allowed in construction, like bedrooms opening to the loft and first floor living. There are many interior layouts which are well equipped and cheaper. Natural material of high quality has been used in public amenities even though timber and woven-willow furniture along with a few other accessories come with a limited life and require managed protection.
Environment and Community
A sense of community is dynamically encouraged between the residents via the design: communal barbeques, seating areas and primly the front gardens boost integration and social interaction. Each stage of planning involved local people as well to ensure an appropriate and comprehensive approach to design. Free wireless broadband on the ‘ prom’ in front of the Staiths and a free bike pool for residents’ use are some other inventive community proposals. The Arts Council publication acknowledged the success of this approach as ‘ The Power of the Barbeque’. The Dunston railway station is at a short walk from this scheme that lies between the Gateshead Centre and the Metro Centre retail park and is within 400m of recurrent bus service on its southern edge. An express subway lies at the southeast corner of this scheme, though they do not make a stop here. Parking and storage are given to support cycling along with a contribution of £50 on the purchase of a bicycle to all new residents. Public, private and semi-private spaces given by the scheme are designed to put together with the transport and circulation infrastructures. Every stage of this project has its own ‘ play strategy’ that calls upon introducing exploratory and extraordinary equipment surrounded by the streetscape according children’s imagination. A thick soil cover of almost 1150mm is required for decontamination and remediation of high concentration of lead and potassium whereas; unfortunately there were no sustainable drainage system. The requirement of extra wheelie bins and bin Lorries can be reduced by encouraging recycling at strategic collection points in specific arenas. Most of the fittings and other materials of the scheme were locally obtained to reduce the environmental impact. . There are three ” U” shaped adjoined blocks each of which is composed of houses of different shapes, sizes and types thereby providing getting combination of occupants and household sizes. Even as per Wimpey’s wish the prices are kept very low so that average income family can get equal relief. The wading birds in the Dunston Staiths basin were provided potential relief by declaring a 30 metre no building zone. To provoke community the facility of public and semi-private space has been kept separate also the three patios have been designed differently. Separate eating areas have been provided along with a separate playing place for the children in Woven-willow and timber enclosures. The ingenious responses to community commitment have been increased by the project. In 2oo9, an inventive community garden entry was created at Chelsea Flower show as a result of the challenge raised by mismanagement of play areas by youth. The garden received co RHS silver award in the exhibition. With this inspiration some young people were involved in a form of group for creating a show garden. The intention was to use the idea as a permanent feature of the community after the exhibition. The partnership of designed Geradin Hemingway and Gateshead Council was the active force behind this idea.
Case study2
Chimney Pot Park – Salford
The old terraced housing in Salford’s Chimney Port Park has been changed to a novel and high quality housing. The new housing which is designed by Shedkm has modern homes which hold the integrity and character of neighbourhood. In 1999, there was a rejected residential locality of two small up and two down terraced houses in Salford. The main reasons for sufferings were low or no investment for long periods, crime and neglect. All these causes projected as the reason for making the area as properties of low demand, low values which were further worsened by an oversupply of housing type, negligible local comforts and lack of a food environmental insight. The above features played a role in making this locality a typical residential area not only in Great Manchester or Salford but also in all areas of the Great Britain. One part of the national housing renewal program includes the redevelopment by Urban Splash and Shedkm which as a significant demonstration project. The sponsors of the projects were the Salford City Council, North West Development Agency and English Partnerships. The role of creative invention in handling and changing image and perception was shown clearly by the contribution of the team and sponsors. The perception of terraced housing typology was changed by this scheme as a result of reconfiguring the properties imaginatively. The sustainability and long life of neighbourhood is promised by the boost up given by this scheme. Society being a part of housing market renewal program and Central Salford Vision, takes itself into an urban area which has a potential to change with time. We can aspect this change to be an exciting and positive experience as symbolized by The Chimney Pot Park.
Description
In 1910, terraced houses were built in Seedley and Langworthy areas. These houses were adjoined with a neighbourhood park and were built in the form of a regular terraced grid. This park (the Lang Worthy Park), named as the Chimney Pot Park because it was built on a former reservoir where it provided a good roof top sight view for the adjacent properties. The name of urban scheme was based on the design of the scheme which deliberately carefully induces the neighbourhood character. A five by two block parcel of the terraced housing grid occupied by the urban scheme is actually a very minute interference of this scheme in the Seedley and Langworthy area. A new and radical design for the modification of the existing houses with the ones having open spaces and street cape without disturbing the original street area pattern and structure was proposed by Urban Splash and architect Shedkm. In this proposal, the only thing to be retained as design without modifications was the street fronts. New double gazed timber windows and gates were provided and the brickwork was cleaned and painted. New and distinctive roof capes from the street and park level have been provided by incorporation of new ” chimney roof lights” which also estimate the old chimney stacks. It is possible to bring down the amount of properties ranging between 385 and 349 by turning three houses into two. This can be done by retaining the existing floor space and plan of the mid-terrace houses and knocking down the adjacent mid-terraces. While all of the units keep their two bedrooms, through this configuration, it is possible to introduce a variety of house types that have better proportions and a separate kitchen. It is possible to bring in fresh frontages for the east-west streets by shifting the end units just 90 degrees. Despite all the remodelling that was done, and how much thought was put into the new layout, the overall layout still contains a good deal of flexibility. This makes it possible for the inclusion of services (added into a single wall next to the stairs). Furthermore, all the open space available leaves room for many different configurations. Through internet remodelling of the existing properties, it was possible to create space for a living spare on the first place, along with a mezzanine level on top of it. We have shown two options that are possible thanks to this new space: a kitchen can be places into the mezzanine space or the kitchen can be part of the first floor living area open-plan, with the mezzanine being an office/study area. All types will have the storage, bathrooms and sleeping areas on the ground floor. The prefabricated pod bathrooms have in them a sunken bath, underneath a detachable timber grill shower tray. On the back, we have rear garden decks and fresh balcony structures that come out of the first floor. In addition to this, a glazed panel was included into the light well so that the rear ground floor rooms could have light. It is possible to gain access to the garden decks through the back of the terrace. Furthermore, the garden decks cover the secured parking space present at the ground level. For the covered areas, it is possible to account for almost 50 per cent of the parking block. What cannot be covered can be balanced through on-street parking. Management of vehicular access will be managed through a bollard system. This system would not only give service and emergency and pedestrian’s ample access but would also provide security for on-street parking. First part of the scheme involves several housing interventions that build into a broader set of local initiatives. Along with the housing development, Langworthy Park’s remodelling was started. Thanks to these efforts, the renamed Chimney Pot Park will be having better access and visibility from the Langworth Road. The Part of the Urban Splash scheme’s future steps include building new housing and or making use of different schemes on adjacent land parcels, freshly made housing on small sites, that are facing Highfield Road and an ‘ upside-down’ renovation done up the block on Alder Street’s east side. According to this scheme, work on the site is expected to start in the year 2007 by Maccreanor Lavington and Sarah Hare Architects. Already, the Salford City Council has been looking into the development of family housing towards the east and north of the site. They are looking into the possibility of 2, 3 and maybe 4 bedroom homes. Along with this housing development, several new community facilities will be added to the Langworthy Road. This includes new community space, café, sports facilities, apartments and church.
Design Process
It was after 1999 and being included into a Single Regeneration Budget Round 5 (SRB5) funding program that Langworthy and Seedley were able to deal with the area’s numerous issues. This included tackling poor economic performances, poor community structure and the housing stock quality. However, this does not mean that all issues are linked to the physical state of the community. There are several other issues like anti-social behaviour, crime, littering, neglect etc. tend to be made worse thanks to the ever worsening quality of the building stock and back alleys. While most of the properties were owned privately, absent or irresponsible landlords and tenants haven’t helped the state of the community. Add to this, the people who managed to leave this declining community behind, what they leave behind is a property that no one really wants and a population is struggling to scrounge up even the most basic of local facilities. As a result of people moving away, the owners holding the properties are left vulnerable to loss and despite how much care they took in looking after their properties, drastic measures had to be taken. Through the area-wide neighbourhood renewal appraisal, it was confirmed that several properties present on Langworthy and Seedley were not only unfit but that it would not be economic to push them up to habitable standards. Under the SRB5 program, a partnership has been set up between Langworthy and Seedley which consists of three parties: the community (who are represented by the Seedley and Landworthy Trust), the Salford City Council and a group of independent stakeholders. The last group includes different representatives from Salford Primary Care Trust, the Greater Manchester Police, Buile Hill High School, Manchester Enterprises and the Manchester Methodist Housing Association (which is now known as the Greater Places Housing Group). It was in 2001 that the Partnership Board allowed a framework to be developed for the entire regeneration space. This area included Chimney Pot Park streets for not only clearance but also as recommended spaces for fresh development and improvements. A general consensus was reached that given how much unfit property they were talking about means the creation of several development sites and would also lead to diverse and mixed housing offers. This is why that the council started to help the residents in place with several ‘ homeswap’ packages in anticipation of implementing the proposals. Come September 2004, it was through compulsory purchase orders that complete site assembly was achieved. By included in the Salford city Council, the North West Development Agency (NWDA), Manchester-Salford Pathfinder (MSP), English Partnerships, …, public funding had been secured. To deliver the scheme, a private/public partnership was needed. This means that several informal negotiations had to be done with several parties. Once completed, Urban Splash proved itself to be the sole developer ready to begin and their plan included challenging the set area-wide plan. This led to a viable proposal set which included property retention. For the process to be completed properly, it was essential to get community backing therefore the team handling this venture did their best to get that. They worked day and night to turn around people’s opinion that they sold the low-value residential scheme economically and it was retailed to someone else at a higher price. The locals associated with this entire procedure readily accepted that a revolution was required and this wouldn’t be possible without a widespread interpolation. However, all the changes are being bought keeping in mind the surroundings. The promotion material made by urban splash appeals to various native ‘Britain in Bloom’ triumphs through the images. Urban splash also offered the natives of the municipal, a pre-launch which resulted in 12 auctions at market worth. Before the development was completed, that is in the middle of the first release auctions promotion in April 2006 and January 2007, every single unit of the 227 pieces vended was traded at the market value ranging from £99, 000 to £145, 000 apiece. The closing plan will consist of 91 units even though the requisite was to have a minimum of 50 low-cost home ownership pieces. In June 2007, all these pieces will be on the loose under the a experimental low-cost home ownership scheme, English Partnerships’ First Time Buyers’ Initiative, and will be looked after by an association of the Great Places Housing Group, HomeBuy agents Plumlife. The maintenance of this entire program will be under the inhabitants as urban splash will make available maintenance facility only till the developmental phase. The present-day VAT regulation on housing to residential renovations has encouraged this form of progress to take place. The purpose of this task was to maintain the present features and nature of the streetscape. Therefore, the per piece cost was augmented as focus was shifted towards holding and for the time being assisted the delicate fasciae and it was further enhanced by the interruptions due to re-designing and consensus on the financial configurations.
Evaluation
As this project is made in accordance with English Partnerships’ Quality and Cost Principles meant for housing arrangements, it also aims to satisfy the Eco Homes ‘very good’ ranking and also seeks to satiate a minimum of 14 from a total of 20 Building For Life conditions. The use of advanced construction equipment, the benefit that the municipal has received from this scheme and ease of access to local facilities and conveyance will help get this score. As there are metro link stops and bus stops present on the Eccles New Road, the Salford and Manchester city centres and Salford Quays become very easy to get to from the developmental place. A lot of time and effort, as well as the land, have been invested by the Salford City Council to bring into reality this sort of growth as this growth will also motivate people to renovate the Central Salford. Furthermore, it wanted to portray Salford as an authority determined to bring in metropolitan regeneration keeping in mind the importance of design in it. Even though there were a lot of monetary and corporal restrictions on designers and clients, they have still managed to provide a highly effective plan in metropolitan designs and marketable terms using a design-led procedure ensuring that the public is on the same foot as they are. Provision of this scheme has been made possible only because a highly effective vision has been carried by the stakeholders all along the process hence, making this scheme as a typological prototype. The past of this scheme displays areas that could have helped it be substantial at a much greater level. Due to VAT’s effect on funds, verdict to devouring everything except the front fascia had to be taken and as a result, the opportunity to see how holding the assembled fabric of a two-up, two-down terraced house could have been utilized meritoriously. As a result, the scheme only delivered newly built houses in arrears of the front walls of the previous houses. This development scheme should serve as an example and inspire others to completely change the lodging stock rather than just making an attempt to renovate it. Areas close-by Seedley and Langworthy have experienced even lighter amounts of renovations and revamps plans along with plans to enhance the nearby environment on the terraced households. Scrutinizing the social impact of this plan at this point of time will be to prompt. It will definitely boost the number of people within the area and therefore, it will have an overall positive impact and will also provide a chance to the local facilities and the communal infrastructure to continue. However, movement of new people within the area will for sure create some adjustment problems. All the families earning £22, 240 annually will find the per piece price out of their finances as per piece cost within this area is excessively high thus emphasizing the significance of low-cost home ownership bundle and greater infrastructure for the entire plan. Therefore, the presence of a diverse income public is vital and it will only happen after this project takes place. The Salford City Council however stresses on provision of variety and a combination of house categories and sizes. An important role will be played by the Chimney Pot Park in the long-term in helping develop a maintainable municipal. Looking at this project from an urban perspective, this project has been successful in using all the good aspects of the prevailing design of the houses to get rid of all the hitches. One of the tried-and –tested methods of accomplishing an outstanding urban housing design is provision of a modest block building with the façade of the houses facing the boulevard and the back in the direction of a cloistered or a semi-private surrounding. In this way, the project cleverly tackled the sanctuary matters related to the rear lanes as well as with the nonexistence of parks and absence of impregnable area. The Chimney Pot Park shows its concern towards the housing projects regarding the parking and security issues. However, there is a public-private boundary which is in charge with the terraced typology and it is a measured approach, the way the project depicts so far. Therefore, there are some negative consequences of rear parking. The negative consequence of rear parking is that it lessens and diminishes the street activity due to rear parking and it also causes hindrance in the parking area because properties will not be able to enter from the rear area and the properties have to enter through the frontage door on the avenue. Beside this, the design of the rear deck possesses the potential to deliver a different social space from the public street which can be considered as vibrant and it can be in a different manner. We can shift the focus of activity in a home to the rear and away from the ground level if we reverse the arrangement of space within the property vertically and horizontally. Therefore, this is a positive one to preserve the on-street activity and surveillance up to the traditional terraced housing model and it is a portion of a mixed approach and the decision was taken to park the cars on the street. It will be interesting to observe the effect of new design features which may be applied to public and private space, and it can be done by keeping in mind his model. It is important to know the way things will be sold to the possible inhabitants and how the people going to participate in it and the physical form of development is knowledgeable after the implementation of a design-led strategy.
Case study 3
Homes and work for change – Manchester
The MBLC, build for change and Harrison Ince designed the Homes for change cooperative which brings the elegant and reasonably priced housing and workspace into the compassion of Hulme.
It is built in two different stages, Homes for change utilize their creativity and bring the way for other cities and areas and it is an asset designed and monitored by a vibrant urban co-operative. The co-operative has determined from the start of management process which guides the design instead of consulting and participating in the project. A striking architectural style and urban design principle are connecting to a contemporary user-friendly development and adding together to the street and district, and the physical design is remarkable in a same way. For the further urban regeneration schemes, the previously neglected part the south Manchester is the main focus now. It is the credit of a team that they possess the forethought about developing the risky scheme in a doubtful time. Forward planning is companionable with future redevelopment of contiguous blocks with the future regeneration with respect to the connections to the wider city and road networks.
Description
Work for Change and Homes for Change provide 75 flats in 5, 637m2 of housing with 312 bedrooms i. e. 78% of the development, covering a total area of 4, 900m2. Around 22% of the development takes space when workspace measuring 1, 571m2, is placed around the mutual courtyard gardens. It starts with phase one which makes two blocks and later it proceeds to Phase two. It is mainly built of brick, timber cladding large areas, render, timber window frames and timber and steel balconies. The design controversially has an access to the upper floors and it brings the negative consequences of this form of access as it does not come into his arrangement. However, it is built of four and six sores and the development indicate a subdued visual effect of muted colours. With the absence of mass manufactured personalization, it provides an inspirational human feeling. There is an inventive use of the landscaping and it is functional without being too industrial and functional.
Design Process
The Homes for Change cooperative was eventually allocated funding for 75 flats in the heart site of Hume. It takes the benefit of the City Challenge funded development plans in the late 1980, for Hulme to build its vision for the development by creating work space and housing as man cooperative members used to work from their homes. The Homes for Change cooperative chose the Guinness Trust to undertake the development after URBED used the probability and the funding was awarded by the City Challenge, although the cooperative members still participate in decision making and hold the ownership for completion. Architects Mills Beaumont Leavey Channon was chosen for Phase one for their design and their productive attitude. They prepared tenants, did desk research and also visit some other schemes, study materials and attend monthly workshops after a consultation of a year. However, Phase Two schemes were selected for the final choice while nineteen schemes were selected to sketch stage. Softwood timber and a variety of recycled materials with some innovative energy criteria were the options given by original briefs. Therefore, Phase two was started by residents with certain explanations such as high levels of observation were required and CCTV was particularly ruled out and there should n ne any unsupervised places in the public areas of development. After this scheme turned into the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s demonstration project for their URBED conducted research, additional funding came through for ECD, the environmental consultants. Thanks to this, the consultants were able to meet all but two of the total seventeen targets that had been set for waste material recycling and energy conservation. At the end of Phase 1 and 2’s completion (1996 and 2001 respectively), the new 75 flats were managed by cooperating with the people who would be living in them and those who had designed them. Negotiations are being carried out by Homes for Change and Work for Change regarding ownership loans so that they tenants can have a long-term stake in this project that they helped make.
Evaluation
There are few people who don’t know about the Homes for Change landmark. The structure stands out in a sea of one to three story buildings and the nearby business park. This development joins the Old Birley Street pavement, with changes having been made in the form of new, recessed entrances, raised spaces having low walls, grass stripes and bound gravel. It is possible to access most of the ground floor flats from the street directly, which puts the entrances roughly eight to ten meters. An introverted block design was used for the buildings, keeping most of the action on the backside. This makes the streets quiet, possibly more than necessary. With an informal surveillance system in place and the tenant’s being aware of each other. There is a relaxed air to the block which battles against a fortress mentality and creates a more wholesome public space. It is clear to see that the community works well together when one observes the way that they make use of the outdoor spaces. Several owners have taken the chance to personalize their private areas but also some of the shared areas. The Phase 1 area is filled with seats installed in access decks and balconies, play equipment, flower pots, furniture, gardens, personal ornaments, well-tended shared and private small gardens in the courtyards and children’s toys. One of the reasons why Homes for Change can be considered a success is the point that all of the residents took the cooperative route and selected this lifestyle for themselves. In the end however, it was the designers who not only made sure that direct access to the front doors was properly designed but also that suitable access was available to private outdoor space for the majority of the units. Adequate lighting was provided for outdoor spaces through the use of well placed, mounted domestic lamps, especially for access decks and entrances. According to the brief, it was necessary to include proper access to the public areas for everyone, which included pushchairs, the disabled and elderly. It is possible to gain level access to all flowers through lifts (there are two doors that have a stepped access) and they all provide straight access to the residential units and the workshops. Mobility is not a factor to be considered when determining which unit to select. Across the street, we have a Caribbean community centre and a community garden centre. While within a five minute walking distance, one can find several local shops, Hulme Market, a supermarket, pubs and many schools. In addition to these amenities, several more commercial areas and a café was made part of the Homes for Change development plans. These changes were an important part of bringing the diverse area into the broader city culture.
3. 1. 1 Different Concepts of Social Sustainability
Looking at Ageton & Polk (2007), we can define social sustainability as being supportive of equitable resource distribution; community diversity; making investments in human and social capital for meeting environmental and economic vitality and satisfying the resident’s basic needs.
3. 1. 2. 2 Social Cohesion
The Council of Europe (2005) defined cohesion as a group characteristic where all the parts work closely together. Similar to a living organism’s cohesion that we see in biology and molecule links, social cohesion happens between people. The concept is the reverse of division or disintegration.
4. 3Affordable Housing
According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), we can define ‘ affordable’ as that housing which doesn’t cost an individual any more than 30 percent of their household’s total monthly income. We can review a housing project’s quality by considering three key aspects: DesignLocationPerformanceDesign: Energy, sustainability and green issuesAccessibilityLight, noise and servicesLayoutSizePerformance in useLocationSiteOpen spaceLayout, visual impact and landscapingMovement and routes (Harrison, 1999)