'Tis the season of giving, so, we decided to offer some key built environment industry experts – from architects and activists to advisors and specialists – the chance to draw up their own Christmas wish list where no expenses are spared.
We did warn that some of the larger deliveries might take a little time, however…
Joking aside, our Christmas contributors have, as ever, provided thought-provoking and inspiring answers - as well as direct challenges to us and to the profession - that encompass and address all sorts of topical issues.
Do you agree with them? Or do you have something on your own personal wish list? Let us know.
1. Best practice in biodiversity
Nick White, Principal Advisor – Net Gain, Natural England, is calling on everyone to share best practice on biodiversity net gain in the New Year.
“With mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) almost upon us, and with many developments already implementing the requirement ahead of it becoming a legal requirement in England, I would like to see the sector continue to share examples of good practice and how they have successfully implemented BNG.
This is a new policy that will take a while for architects, ecologists, landscape architects and planners to get used to. The more we can keep sharing best practice and learn from one another the better.
Here at Natural England, we are keen to help highlight the work of others and foster a greater understanding and awareness of how to deliver BNG through our blog. Done well, BNG can help address the nature crisis, create more resilient developments and communities and bring nature close to where people live and work, improving people’s health and well being along the way.
“BNG represents a real step-change in what we can expect from development and a fantastic opportunity for architects and their professional colleagues to work together and bring forward creative approaches to incorporating nature into schemes. Merry Christmas and a wishing you a biodiversity-richer New Year.”
2. Creative risk taking
Anthony Staples, Associate at RCKa, wants to see more ‘creative risk taking’ in what is likely to be a challenging 2024.
“2023 has been a challenging year. Soaring build costs, material and labour shortages, and low investor confidence have contributed to a sense of nervousness in what the future holds. Colleagues are already talking about ‘riding out 2024’ in the hope of a better 2025. Not a great outlook on the eve of a New Year!
As I was emerging from university in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, I remember talking with an older artist friend as she reflected on her career. She memorably advised that times of apparent contraction are in fact an opportunity for renewed creativity, a moment to forge new relationships and discover alternative ways of working.
As I look ahead to 2024, and consider the challenges facing our profession, I hope we can turn away from ‘business as normal’ and adopt the position of creative risk takers.
This could mean addressing the lack of diversity in our industry by supporting more equitable pathways into the workplace, to reconsidering how we connect with stakeholders to redefine power relations, and addressing the climate emergency by facing up to some uncomfortable truths about how and what we build. Taken together, we can place the profession on a better footing as bringers of genuine value and the champions of community need.”
3. Rebuilding investor confidence and planning reform
Allan Wilen, Economics Director at industry forecaster Glenigan, wants the government to help rebuild investor confidence:
“My ideal Christmas gift for the industry is for government to help rebuild investor confidence and unlock the pipeline of planned construction projects. Higher interest rates and economic uncertainty have deterred private investors over the last year, while budget caps have blocked central and local government schemes. Greater funding for a clear public sector investment programme would help transform the nation’s public services and infrastructure.
It would also kickstart a stalled economy and unlock private sector investment as economic prospects brighten.”
Elsewhere, Richard Wooldridge, Director at HPA and chair of RIBA North West, would like to see reform across all areas of planning.
“I’d like to see a reboot of the planning system: a refocus on delivering a properly-resourced, proactive, collaborative planning process with the goal of promoting good design and allowing the right development in the right places.
The planning system has become too bogged down with bureaucracy and red tape, which has increased the workloads of already stretched and under-resourced planning authorities.
This has clogged the system making applications longer to process, slowing down decision making and affecting the speed of development. Every recent tweak of the system seems to create complicate rather than simplify matters (please, please, please no more Prior Approval Processes with the double negative text in the legislation!).
The picture is very varied across the UK. There are some authorities who have good design guides, which promote innovation and avoid the trap of creating a ‘paint-by-numbers’ approach; but there are other authorities who are all too eager to refuse something that is non-standard.
A growing concern is the increase in reports from RIBA Members that planning officers are becoming ever-more reluctant to meet during the application process to try and resolve design issues. This is mainly down to time pressures in local authorities (due to resources, backlogs and having to deal with ever more complex legislation). However, I’ve found that those meetings are often the moments where you can resolve differences and move projects forward collaboratively for everyone’s benefit.
We desperately need a properly-resourced service (where application fees do fund Planning Departments!), which attracts a balanced mix of experienced staff who are given the time to look at submissions thoroughly and work with applicants to focus on delivering well considered sustainable designs.
So, for Christmas, I’d like a better-resourced system with simpler, more user-friendly policy (especially local planning policies), design guides that allow for individuality and collaboration with a design champion in each authority. I know it’s a lot to ask, but it’s worth a try!”
Hear from RIBA Senior Policy Advisor, Charlotte Watson on the the next stage of the Long Term Plan for Housing, following the Rt Hon. Michael Gove's visit to 66 Portland Place.
4. End homelessness and increase affordable housing
Nigel Ostime, Partner at Hawkins\Brown, sets out a schedule of his wishes as you might expect from the author of The RIBA Job Book.
“An end to homelessness – On average homeless men die aged 45 and homeless women aged 43. They are over nine times more likely to take their own life. People sleeping on the street are over 16 times more likely to have been victims of violence. More than one in three people sleeping rough have been deliberately hit or kicked or experienced some other form of violence whilst homeless. (Source Crisis: about homelessness).
Homelessness is on the rise. In 2018 there were 207,600 homeless households in Britain and by 2019 there were 219,000. In 2021 it had risen to 227,000 and this year it is projected to be 300,000. (Source the Homelessness Monitor). The facts about homelessness are hard to swallow. But it could be ended.
More social housing – In 2023, over one million people are on the social housing waiting list and a quarter of people on social housing waiting lists have been there for five years or more. The number of social homes is at a record low. Social housebuilding in England is at its lowest rate in decades. Since 1991, there has been an average annual net loss of 24,000 social homes.
A government that takes housing seriously – Since May 2010, the Conservative government has replaced its housing ministers 15 times, with an average tenure of less than 11 months.”
5. Refocusing on diversity and inclusivity within the profession
Kudzai Matsvai, EDI Specialist and activist at Kumacon, sends a heartfelt plea to Santa, RIBA, practitioners, and educators.
“Dear Santa, as an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) specialist working to improve architectural education and practice for all, what I really want for Christmas is for RIBA, and in turn the practitioners and educators, to refocus their attention on:
- E – Education on Equity – Are educators and practitioners striving to stay on top of the changes in discourse and equitable best practice that directly impact on the way we teach and design? How is RIBA working to support this continual and dynamic education in a way that is equitable for all?
- D – Delivering on Diversity – How are educators and practitioners adapting the way they deliver knowledge and projects to reflect the growing need for a diversity of thought and ideas? How is RIBA actively working to address the extreme lack of diversity in terms of race, disability, sexuality and social class within the profession?
- I – Intersections in Inclusivity – Are RIBA, educators, and practitioners aware of the paramount need for a continued intersectional approach to all issues of inclusivity in architectural education and practice? Is this reflected in the people, projects, and pedagogy we see?
I want more than anything for us as an industry to begin to see tangible and long-lasting changes that result from our relentless pursuit to leave the profession better than we found it, and I want RIBA to be at the forefront of this change.”
Read more about RIBA’s coverage of Black History Month: saluting our sisters.
Read more about RIBA’s commitments to inclusive education.
6. Promoting positive change
Architect and inclusive design specialist, Amy Francis-Smith, suggests we’re all capable of taking action, big or small.
"The world feels in a very unstable position at the moment, with pains and difficulties both at home and abroad. It can sometimes feel like as a profession, as architects or individuals, it's an uphill battle to enact change and improve our situation.
We are all capable of taking action! This could mean explaining to a client why best practice improves the scheme for everyone, swapping out a material for a more sustainable specification or asking how your company could adopt more inclusive hiring methods.
Encourage others to recognise their passion or purpose, to become involved in a cause close to their hearts, be inspired to use their voice against injustice or simply offer a warm smile and open hand to someone struggling.
Activism doesn't have to be big or shouty, with lots of banners and placards. It can be small, local, unassuming and may go almost completely unnoticed by the majority, but there is still power in considerate action."
7. Retrofit for everyone
Dr Sarah Price, Technical Director at low energy specialist QODA Consulting, wants a retrofit for everyone suffering fuel poverty or an overheated home.
“I would love the industry, the general public and the government to see the value in good quality energy efficient retrofit above and beyond the payback period.
We spend 90% of our lives indoors, and since the pandemic, much of that is in our homes. Yet, we are only just starting to understand the impact of indoor air quality on our health, both physical and mental.
Having an uncomfortable home in hot or cold weather is seen as the norm, just something we have to put up with. But our 13,400 excess winter deaths and 3,271 excess summer deaths in the last year tell us that perhaps there is something we can do.
Some 3.26 million households were in fuel poverty in 2022, spending more than 10% of their income on heating, or rather not spending it and living in cold homes because it’s not affordable.
And what about the climate emergency? What price should be put on reducing carbon emissions? Everyone will give you a different answer.
Retrofit can be a solution to all of these things, and provide many more benefits that I haven’t listed here. There is much work to be done in the retrofit industry, and that’s why I’m devoting more of my time to domestic retrofit in 2024. It would be great if more people joined me!”
8. Let’s all work together
Colin Briggs, Associate Director at Bowman Riley, would like to see architects thinking about collaboration and mutual support, rather than cutthroat competition – it is Christmas after all.
“I walked into a room of property professionals a few years ago, all primed and ready for an industry networking event. Everything was all very typical – a name badge, a complimentary beverage and a slice of pizza. I didn’t know anyone there, so I scouted the room for a conversation to join in with.
I approached two smartly dressed professionals and introduced myself. I swapped pleasantries with the first one and said hello to ‘the other one’ who turned out to be another architect from a local practice, and who had brought along his client.
I stood there chatting for a few brief moments but then I felt a tap at my shoes. I noticed the fellow architect was physically trying to move me away from the conversation, presumably in fear I was going to poach his client!
We operate in an industry that needs to collaborate, support and nurture our talent to provide outstanding services to clients. All I’d like for Christmas is that we shift away from this mentality that we’re all competitors, and work towards a harmonious appreciation and respect for our individual talents.”
All views expressed in this professional feature are the views of our contributors.
Text by Neal Morris and the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
RIBA Core Curriculum topic: Business, clients and services
RIBA Core curriculum topic: Sustainable architecture
RIBA Core Curriculum topic: Inclusive environments
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