Manchester lays out design standards for future housing stock

Manchester City Council’s executive has given the greenlight for a new design and quality guide that will set the bar high for new housing in the city.

The guidance calls for design excellence in the development of all new housing stock, demands high environmental standards and lays out minimum space requirements.

To begin work on the guide earlier this year, a multi-discipline team of architects and housing professionals, led by former Royal Institute of British Architects president Stephen Hodder, gathered to develop the draft.

A consultation was then held during the summer, gathering input from members of the public and the housing sector to understand what they considered to be quality homes.

Paul Beardmore, chief exec of Manchester Place, a government-council partnership established to accelerate to the delivery of new homes, said: “Excellence in housing shouldn’t be luck, or for the fortunate few. Manchester has a great reputation for residential development and in particular for maintaining good design standards.

“This guide has been widely welcomed by our quality developers and designers as it helps set out clearly our expectations and ensures that the quality of place is maintained for future generations to enjoy.”

He continued: “If developers want to bring their business to Manchester, they need to buy into our vision for what housing can and should be in a modern, forward-looking city. This guidance should be seen as the absolute minimum in what we expect in the final product.”

Architect Stephen Hodder, of Hodder and Partners, commented: “From its inception, the guidance was pitched to push developers to excel, to deliver housing that residents will be proud of and to wholesale change the approach to new housing in the city.

“Prodigious home building should not mean a loss of quality, and through this guidance we hope to not only ensure that, but to push the boundaries of design for all new homes.”

Among the key principles of the guidance, which can be found in full on Manchester City Council’s website, are a demand for developers to understand the city’s heritage and ensure a sense of “community and neighbourliness”.

Developers must also give schemes good access to local transport links.

The document was researched and put together by Deloitte Real Estate, design practice Planit-IE and architecture firm CallisonRTKL.