Dense But Pretty: A New Urban Housing Vision For Britain?

Anyone visiting one of Britain’s major cities in recent years is likely to have seen plenty of construction activity, be it JCB diggers on the ground or tower cranes helping to build large apartment blocks or skyscrapers.

However, while many places have seen a lot of development, from central Manchester to the Nine Elms area of London, housing secretary Michael Gove has said there needs to be a greater emphasis in housing policy on much greater density and also aesthetics.

In a speech in London, he said that if just five per cent of the built-up parts of London were as densely populated as Maida Vale, this would add 1.2 million to the capital’s population.

Noting that in recent years there had actually been more housebuilding in rural than urban areas, Mr Gove lamented that: “In our cities, especially those outside London, the population densities are much lower than in comparable competitor Western nations.”

His own solution for greater density in London to meet its needs for 52,000 new homes a year would mean a “Docklands 2.0” project focused on areas like Charlton and Thames mead on the south bank and at Silvertown and Beckton across the Thames, providing “tens of thousands” of new properties supported by government funding.

Moreover, Mr Gove said, these should be “beautiful, well-connected homes and new landscaped parkland are integral to our vision – all sympathetic to London’s best traditions.”

That focus on designing attractive homes has been mentioned frequently by Mr Gove as being important, not least in getting planning permission granted in the first place.

However, the comments about the need for higher density building elsewhere were as important, not least as they included further pledges of government funding to help major developments across the country. Notwithstanding the ephemeral effects of the housing market dip this year, the construction sector could be about to get very busy.

Among these are £400 million for devolved housing investment in Greater Manchester, including £150 million for brownfield development, while the South Bank area of Leeds will also be an area of major focus.

However, these are just two of 20 population centres to get funding, ranging from Sheffield and Wolverhampton to Barrow, which is set for a major economic boost as the AUKUS deal with Australia will boost submarine-making there.

Cambridge will also be expanded as it takes on the role of a major new UK science hub. That will partly involve greatly increasing the number of laboratories, but with that must come the homes to accommodate a growing population.

Mr Gove called for “urban beauty and human-scale streetscapes – emulating the scale and quality of neighbourhoods such as Clifton in Bristol or Marylebone in London” to become a feature of the city.

The point about density in housing construction outside the capital is certainly one that could be significant for the revamping of inner cities. For example, the 2021 Census showed the 20 most densely populated local authority areas in England and Wales were London boroughs. 

However, the fact that government policy is now pushing for higher-density building both in the capital and elsewhere, with some funding to back it, means the construction sector has been set some clear priorities for the years ahead.