The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has responded to the ‘Building better places’ report published by the House of Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment.
A number of key RIBA recommendations have been adopted by the Committee, including:
- The appointment of a Chief Built Environment Adviser, a recognised expert appointed from within the sector to lead this work at an official level
- The Government publishing, consulting and adopting a high level policy for architecture and place quality in England
- The Government making design review mandatory for all major planning applications
- The Government reversing its decision to remove the requirement for new homes to generate no net carbon emissions (known as the “zero carbon homes” policy) and its decision to remove the Code for Sustainable Homes.
- The Government taking steps to ensure that local authorities are able to fulfil their potential as direct builders of new mixed tenure housing. This should include reviewing the impact of borrowing restrictions and proposed social rent reductions.
RIBA President Jane Duncan said: “I welcome this important report by the House of Lords. The RIBA will now get to work with our members and other professionals in the built environment to ensure these important policies are adopted by Government.”
Meanwhile, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) agrees on the need to focus on smart regulation to meet the quantity and quality of homes we need.
Eddie Tuttle, Principal Policy & Public Affairs Manager at the CIOB said: “We welcome the Lords’ report which seeks to improve national decision making over built environment policy.
“The findings in the report are clear, we are failing to deliver the number of homes we need to meet demand and are falling short on build quality, primarily due to short sighted policies. The report makes crucial points around the impact of the deregulation agenda to speed up housebuilding. This has seen the scrapping of zero carbon homes and the removal of planning permission to convert office properties into housing. However, we are concerned that the focus on cutting ‘red tape’ is putting quality on the backburner and urge the government to talk with industry and professional bodies to use more ‘smart’ regulation.
“Additionally, we do not believe that we will achieve either the desired quality or quantity of new housing without curtailing the skills gap that currently exists across the sector. In order to create buildings and develop environments which are sustainable we need to ensure that professionals are suitably qualified and receive proper training to meet the needs of a changing built environment and its population.
“The report does mention the need to expand apprenticeships and use outreach programmes to encourage young people to enter the industry, which we are aware that the government is supporting. But we believe that the construction industry, consisting of construction managers, planners, surveyors, architects and more, requires far greater dialogue with government to ensure these skills are fit for purpose and meeting the needs of our country today and in the future.”
