June Barnes and Andrew Beharrell are two of the principal authors of a book by housing experts on the sustainability of high-rise living.
According to the authors: “In London and in other major UK cities we have embarked on building residential towers at scale without properly understanding their long term costs. It is essential that we review the statutory protections for leaseholders, the suitability of this housing for people on moderate incomes and how we can ensure that the new buildings are easy and cost effective to maintain.”
“We also need to better understand the impact of these new homes on local amenities, building on the positive and taking issues like the provision of public open space more seriously,”
New research carried out by LSE London, on the experience of those living in high-density housing, shows that those living in the poorest neighbourhoods have the worst access to open space.
Beharrell says that more research and investment is needed to make new towers easier to maintain, and to ensure that super-dense neighbourhoods provide adequate social infrastructure, such as open space.
The webinar will explore themes such as:
- Cutting through the complexity – design, construction and maintenance of high-rise housing,
- Feedback from residents – what works and what doesn’t,
- In search of the radiant city – high-rise housing and public open space.
The webinar raises important questions about the future well-being of our city and those living in high-rise towers. We look forward to you joining us to discuss these issues as we think about how to make high-rise housing work better.
June Barnes has spent most of her career working in housing associations. She retired in 2014 after 16 years as Chief Executive of East Thames Group, a housing association operating in east London and Essex. Until January 2021 she was a Non-Executive Director of Urban and Civic plc. In the past, June has been vice- chair of the National Housing Federation, Chair of the London Mayor’s Sustainable Development Commission, a member of the London Mayor’s Design Advisory Group, a board member of the Institute of Sustainability and of the Housing Forum and a Trustee of the Building Research Establishment.
Andrew Beharrell is a Senior Advisor at Pollard Thomas Edwards and a former Director and Senior Partner. Andrew has designed and delivered many award- winning projects throughout his 35-plus years with Pollard Thomas Edwards. His architectural, urban design and masterplanning skills have been fundamental to PTE’s evolution and diversification, ranging from urban regeneration to new rural settlements, and across the housing spectrum to embrace education and town centre mixed-use projects.
Photo © Tom Podmore / Unsplash
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