Durkan director warns of higher social housing costs

A major affordable housing developer has warned that government plans to increase the quality and number of homes built in the Thames Gateway may entail higher costs.

Durkan business development director Julian Harajda indicated that, while he broadly welcomed the government’s call for a higher quality of design for housing, it could push the cost of social housing higher. He said: “Pushing for quality is absolutely the right thing to do, however it has to be recognised that there is a cost associated with this.”

Harajda pointed out that in order to get the required value out of a site, densities have to be pushed higher and in such cases, designers would have to maximise the space available, making standardisation of build and subsequent cost savings “difficult to achieve”.

The reaction comes after secretary of state for the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Ruth Kelly used the Thames Gateway Forum to set out an ambitious vision for housing in the area over the next 10 years, which would see a sharp increase in the number of homes planned, as well as tougher design standards.

Kelly indicated that she wanted to see 160,000 new homes built, a third of which were to be affordable and a greater proportion of which were to be family homes. The target is a third higher than the 120,000 the government has previously envisaged.

Both Kelly and new Thames Gateway chief executive Judith Armitt were critical of some of the housing constructed in the area so far. Kelly said: “Some of the homes could have been better designed. We mustn’t be afraid to learn from our experiences.”

Meanwhile Armitt warned that she would use an annual CABE housing audit as a stick to beat underperforming developers with, saying: “We will trumpet what has been good and criticise what has been poor.”

She also pointed out that, despite the fact the DCLG would publish a more detailed version of the plan after the government’s comprehensive spending review in 2007, the strategy was unlikely to differ a great deal from the ‘interim plan’.

“I am not going to write any more strategies or plans. I’ve been appointed to deliver the Thames Gateway and that’s what I want to move on with,” she said.

The Thames Gateway: The story so far…

■ 24,000 homes built 2001-2005

■ 25,000 new jobs in 2003-2004

■ £7bn of government investment 2003-2004 and 2005-2006

Thames Gateway: the aims

■ 160,000 new homes

■ 180,000 new jobs

■ £38bn in private sector investment

■ 3,800ha of brownfield sites available

[Contract Journal, 29 November 2006, p 4]